Rizal, Gazmere meet Sauerbrey

Source: Apfanews.com

Bhutanese human rights leader Tek Nath Rizal and Ratan Gazmere have separately met with the US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Ellen Sauerbrey at the US Ambassador to Nepal Nancy Powel’s residence in Kamaladi, Kathmandu Wednesday evening. Sauerbrey arrived Kathmandu on Tuesday evening.

Leader Rizal denied speaking on what the meeting was based on. However, another leader Gazmere informed the Bhutan News Service (BNS) that he heard about European Union’s wish with Rizal to support exiled Bhutanese for only another three years.

“I also heard that Rizal was told by the EU members that it would see if no any progress was made on resettlement process of exiled Bhutanese within the next three years”, said Gazmere.

Leader Gazmere also informed the BNS that his meeting with the Sauerbrey was almost based on hi-hello.

Gazmere further informed that the US was committed to begin the process of at least 1000 exiled Bhutanese for resettlement from January until February and then increase the number up to 1500 from March.

“Since few days Rizal has been saying that an individual must be allowed for resettlement rather than the whole family. This is against human rights norms and is a total crime”, added Gazmere.

Sauerbrey, who arrive on Nepal Tuesday evening, will travel to Nepal, Bhutan and India from October 29 to November 9.

While in Nepal, Sauerbrey will meet United Nations and Nepalese government officials working in projects assisting the exiled Bhutanese. She also plans to travel to camps in Jhapa and the newly established resettlement processing center there.

After Nepal, Sauerbrey will travel to Bhutan and India, where she will seek assistance from the Bhutanese and Indian governments in promoting durable solutions, including voluntary repatriation, for the exiled Bhutanese.

Rizal tells US to talk to Nepal, Bhutan and India before resettlement

Source: Apfanews.com

Chairman of Bhutanese Movement Steering Committee (BMSC) Tek Nath Rizal urged the United States to hold talks with Nepal, India and Bhutan jointly before beginning the third country settlement of the exiled Bhutanese on Wednesday.

Speaking to journalists in the Nepalese capital Rizal said resettlement merely would not give solution of the two-decade long crisis. “Most of us want to return to our country and if the US government is indeed serious regarding resolving the crisis, joint meeting is absolutely necessary as all three countries are involved in the crisis.”

Rizal also promised that he will continue struggling for the respectful return of exiled Bhutanese to Bhutan.

He further said the exiled Bhutanese should be repatriated before the general elections take place in Bhutan so they participate in the election next year.

On Sunday, Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala had said he favors return of the exiled Bhutanese for their elections to guarantee their franchise rights.

Thinley Penjore, vice president of BMSC, said that resettlement offier is only a short term solution.

Expressing gratitude towards the US government for its willingness to resettle some exiled Bhutanese, Penjore said, “We will not stop those who want to be resettled in the third country but selection procedures should be transparent.

Nepali human rights Dr Gopal Krishna Siwakoti said resettlement would provide opportunity for the exiled Bhutanese to begin a new life but that would tarnish the democratic struggle in Bhutan. He said wherever they are taken, their national identity must the guaranteed.

Dhruva Joshi of Friends of Bhutan said third country settlement would not help protect the rights of the southern Bhutanese.

UNHCR starts providing info on resettlement

Source: Apfanews.com

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has begun providing information to the exiled Bhutanese on matters relating to third country resettlement, quoted Nepal's national news agency Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS).

RSS has further stated that people in Camps are being invited to the UNHCR Office where they are briefed about the issue.

Everyday more than 20 individuals are being provided such information, according to the UNHCR sources, further quoted the RSS.

The Refugee Coordination Unit under the Home Ministry has also said that it would expedite the work of rehabilitation to the third country immediately after Tihar festival.

The Unit is preparing to provide the necessary form to the interested people in the camps itself.

Art exhibition of exiled Bhutanese children kicks off in Nepal's capital city

Source: Apfanews.com

Kathmandu, October 29: Bhutanese Refugee Children Forum (BRCF) has begun three-day art exhibition at Nepal Art Council in the capital city of Nepal from October 29 targeted at giving a comprehensive overview of the situation prevailing in exiled Bhutanese camps.

Speaking on the inaugural session, UNHCR country representative in Nepal Abraham Abraham said that the voice of refugee children was unheard. He also stressed on the significance that the voice of the children should be always heard.

Abraham also termed that the BRCF was playing significant role in the career building and organizational development of exiled Bhutanese children.

The exhibition displays the most recent art, photography, writing, music and handicrafts of the BRCF.

On the inauguration session, 'Voices in Exile’, a small book of photographs and writing by the BRCF, published by PhotoVoice, which gives a unique insight into the camp situation has been released.

Meanwhile, the website i.e. www.bhutaneserefugees.com has also been launched.

Photo Voice, in partnership with the LWF, has been BRCF, a participatory Arts program in the exiled Bhutanese camps, for the past four years. Involving the young population, the project focuses on photography, art and journalism with the aims of providing vocational training in these areas, encouraging and supporting the creativity of the participants and building confidence by empowering them to play a positive role in the lives of their family and community.

An estimated 37,000 of one hundred seven thousands exiled Bhutanese are children languishing under the UNHCR-sponsored camps in Nepal for the last 17 years.

Rizal-Nepalese PM meet, discuss on resettlement process

Source: Apfanews.com

Chairman of Bhutanese Movement Steering Committee (BMSC) Tek Nath Rizal has met with Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today morning and discussed on the issues of third country resettlement.

Rizal quoted the PM as having said that the Nepal government has given formal approval for third country resettlement.

Rizal further informed that he urged the PM to allow at least a representative from a hut to opt for the option of third country resettlement rather then allowing whole family.

Leader Rizal also informed that the PM was serious towards future of those who do not wish to opt for third country resettlement.

US assistant secretary to assess resettlement updates

Source: Apfanews.com

The US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Ellen Sauerbrey will travel to Nepal, Bhutan and India from October 29 to November 9.

According to State Department, she will meet with refugees benefiting from United States government funded programs in the region during her visit.

She will also assess the progress and implementation of a program that will resettle vulnerable exiled Bhutanese in the United States over the next few years.

While in Nepal, Sauerbrey will meet United Nations and Nepalese government officials working in projects assisting the exiled Bhutanese. She also plans to travel to camps in Jhapa and the newly established resettlement processing center there.

After Nepal, Sauerbrey will travel to Bhutan and India, where she will seek assistance from the Bhutanese and Indian governments in promoting durable solutions, including voluntary repatriation, for the exiled Bhutanese.

In Bhutan, she will hold discussion with ministers, bureaucrats and king on keys issues of bilateral relations and the issue of the evicted Bhutanese taking asylum in Nepal since last 17 years. Bhutan News Service

Refugee resettlement process to start after Tihar

Source: Nepalnews.com

The resettlement process of Bhutanese refugees is to begin after Tihar with more than 10 thousand refugees having shown interest in voluntary third country resettlement.

According to Abraham Abraham, chief of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nepal, Bhutanese refuges had shown interest in this plan even before it formally publicized a notice regarding voluntary resettlement in a third country and the government disseminated this information in the refugee camps.

He informed that the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has already set up its office in Damak, Jhapa and that it would come into operation within the next two weeks. “However, we haven’t taken the refugees’ application for third country settlement as the last straw in this matter,” he said.

Abraham also said that the security situation in the refugee camps is slowly improving as 25 Armed Police Force (APF) personnel have been stationed in each of the 7 refugee camps on the request of the United Nations including countries like United States of America, Norway, Australia and Canada that have shown willingness to resettle the refugees in their countries. “On the basis of the application filed at the UNHCR, we will recommend the names of refugees willing to go for voluntary repatriation to the IOM.”

He also said that this process would start immediately after the Tihar festival.

According to a population census conducted by the UNHCR and the Home Ministry in the refugee camps two months ago, there are approximately 160,000 refugees in the camps, among which America has already pledged that it would take in 60,000 refugees and Canada 5,000.

Time for Bhutanese refugees to choose their future path

Source: Refugees International (RI)

Many of the 108,000 Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, where they have been stuck for 17 years, are tantalizingly close to a resolution of their plight. A vigorous response from the government of Nepal, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and donor governments is needed to create the conditions for refugees to exercise their right to choose their future path.

Background

A year ago, the United States offered to resettle 60,000 Bhutanese refugees, and Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have since followed the U.S. lead with combined offers of an additional 10,000 places. But certain refugee political leaders, few of whom actually live in the camps in eastern Nepal, are portraying the acceptance of resettlement as a betrayal of the long-desired return to Bhutan and therefore tantamount to treason. Death threats, physical attacks, and destruction of the property of leaders known to be sympathetic to resettlement have forced at least 50 people from the camps and prevented the resettlement program from going forward.

1. Establishing Security in the Camps

This has not been a good year for camp security. Incidents in Beldangi II, one of seven camps in Jhapa and Morang districts in eastern Nepal, involved the destruction of houses, assaults on leaders known to favor the resettlement option, and attacks against Nepali police brought in to quell the rioting. Two refugees died in the course of these incidents, and a third was murdered in mid-September. On top of these acts, refugees believed to be members of the Bhutanese Maoist political party and radical youth groups have repeatedly issued death threats against particular individuals, such as posters in Beldangi I with the names of nine refugees labeled “agents of America,” over the phrase, “You are warned!”

The government of Nepal accepts its responsibility for providing security for the refugees and has committed to deploying 25 members of the Armed Police Force in each of the seven camps. This step is very welcome, though its impact may be less than hoped for. APF expertise is in riot control and response to physical violence, and refugees told Refugees International that they doubted the ability of APF personnel to reduce threats and quiet intimidation in the crowded camp conditions. The perpetrators of the attacks are widely known, and pre-emptive steps, such as removing ringleaders from the camps may be necessary.

2. Protecting the Especially Vulnerable

The atmosphere of intimidation has driven at least 50 and as many as 150 refugees from the camps. Others remain, but feel under constant threat. While security is the responsibility of the government of Nepal, UNHCR has a special responsibility, especially as the resettlement effort goes forward, to ensure that those needing protection receive it.

Among the refugees outside the camps, there are those who have no means of accessing basic necessities. They are unable to receive their camp rations and do not have family members in a position to provide them with what they need. While UNHCR provided a one-time grant of NRs10,000 (about US$160) to families forced from the camps, it is refusing to provide additional assistance on the following grounds: it has no mandate for aid programs outside the camps; it wants to avoid drawing more people out; and most refugees outside the camps have no need of additional assistance. This approach is excessively narrow and conservative, and is leaving an uncertain number of individuals in a vulnerable position. UNHCR should quickly survey the refugees forced from the camps, and provide assistance to those requiring it based on this needs assessment.

3. Clarifying Nepali Government Policy

The Nepali government deserves credit for granting sanctuary to the Bhutanese refugees for 17 years and investing scarce diplomatic resources in periodic negotiations on returns with the government of Bhutan. Its reaction to the resettlement offer, however, has been equivocal. While senior officials, notably the Foreign Minister, have endorsed resettlement as one possible durable solution, the government on the whole has failed to take the necessary steps to make it a reality. Especially problematic is the delay in granting exit permits to 41 individuals in urgent need of protection as identified by UNHCR and potential resettlement countries. The current process forces the refugee to get documentation and approvals inside the camp, which exposes the individual to intimidation and potential violence from the anti-resettlement groups. This contrasts with the relative ease of granting permits for Tibetan refugees to cross Nepali territory into India.

One thing that unites Bhutanese refugees across the political spectrum is the desire for the Nepali government to state clearly and publicly in the camps its policy towards resettlement and towards resolution to the refugee problem more broadly. Representatives of both UNHCR and the United States government told Refugees International that there could be no way forward without such a statement. Nonetheless, the person designated by the Nepali government to announce the policy, the Chief District Officer of Jhapa, the district where six of seven refugee camps are located, told RI that he is not prepared to make a public statement expressing Nepali support for resettlement, preferring instead to issue a letter to be distributed in the camps by government staff. Given the previous lack of clarity on Nepali policy and the volatile atmosphere in the camps, this would fall far short of what is needed.

4. Developing a Comprehensive Approach

There is a profound sense of injustice in Nepal that the efforts devoted to resettling Bhutanese refugees in third countries have not been matched by efforts to convince the government of Bhutan to create the conditions for return. While the leaders know that accepting resettlement does not forever preclude the possibility of return should political change come to Bhutan, in their hearts they know that large-scale resettlement will remove a mass of Bhutanese refugees from the region, making political mobilization at the local level more difficult. Further, the Bhutanese leadership will have paid no political penalty for violating the human rights of one hundred thousand of its citizens. The impunity is galling.

The proponents of resettlement in the international community hold out hope that as the number of refugees decrease in Nepal, Bhutan will be more open to returns and Nepal itself will be open to local integration. But neither development will occur without diplomatic engagement. India is the major power in the region, but it has refused to use its leverage under treaty obligations as the guarantor of Bhutan's security to negotiate a change in Bhutan's approach to the rights of its Nepali inhabitants. India and major donors to Bhutan, such as Japan, Austria, and Denmark, need to insist that as Bhutan begins to open up its political system, treating Nepali speakers equally, granting them their rights as citizens, and allowing for refugee return will enhance Bhutan's stature regionally and globally.

Policy Recommendations


1. The Government of Nepal announce officially and publicly in the camps that it supports refugee choice, including third country resettlement, and simplify the process for considering resettlement cases and granting exit visas.

2. UNHCR provide assistance and consider special protection measures for refugees forced to leave the camps due to violence and intimidation.

3. UNHCR in cooperation with the government of Nepal and resettlement countries mount a comprehensive information campaign on durable solutions, including the use of media such as radio and video.

4. The U.S., in the context of its generous resettlement offer, engage with India and Nepal on a fresh diplomatic initiative with the government of Bhutan to recognize the citizenship rights of Nepali speakers and allow the return for those refugees desiring to do so.

5. The U.S. begin a dialogue with Nepal on local integration for those unwilling to opt for resettlement or return.

RI Vice President for Policy Joel Charny just returned from a two-week assessment of the situation for Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.

CPB-MLM warns of people’s action

Source: Apfanews.com

Beldangi, October 19: CPB-Maoist-affiliated Republican Youth Union-Bhutan and All Bhutan Revolutionary Students Union have cautioned people in camps that the pro-resettlement activists were trying to mobile people in camps during Dashain.

In a pampletting done all over camps, on Friday night, these organizations have said they would launch ‘people’s action’ if pro-resettlement activists try to mobilize people in camps. Bhutan News Service

NEPAL: REFUGEE ISSUE A CALCULATED INDIAN PLOY

Source: Telegraphnepal.com

Tek Nath Rijal, the first lone crusader of the Bhutan refugee movement talking to this website today said that his movement has been the victim of poverty and there has been a trend which leads us to conclude that the country which itself sponsors state terrorism-read Bhutan-is being applauded by some countries who claim themselves as “democracies”.

The current act of resettling some of the Bhutanese refugee by certain countries has even more encouraged the Druk regime to pounce upon the refugees languishing in Nepal under one pretext or the other.

Though the Bhutanese regime which has been defeated morally has got a fresh encouragement to further enhance its atrocities against the remaining Bhutanese of Nepali origin.

In the recent days the regime there has been telling the remaining Nepalese in Bhutan to go to Nepal and manage third country settlement easily, says Rijal.

Talking on the present role of Nepal as regards the Bhutanese issue, Rijal says that the government here must have been in favor of the Bhutanese not settling for third country.

“Nepal must take this issue as a political one and thus what is expected of Nepal is to take up the refugee issue in purely a political manner and talk to India for its settlement”, added Rijal. To recall, the Bhutanese refugees entered into Nepal via Indian Territory in 1990.

“Nepal must talk to India”, adds Rijal.

Rijal claims that there had been a tacit treaty in between the Indian and the Bhutanese government prior to the evacuation of the Bhutanese of Nepalese origin.

According to him, Nepal must take into confidence some powerful countries in the globe who could impress upon India which in essence is the country which regulates Bhutan’s foreign policy”, continued Rijal.

India must tell the entire world as to whether India has relations with the people of Bhutan or only with the Druk regime?, adds Rijal.

“It’s is all a calculated ploy of the Indian government which has so far not allowed this refugee issue to get settled”, explain Rijal.

Talking about the Bhutan King, Mr. Rijal says that the King which aided and supported the BODO and the ULFA outfits in order to chase the Southern Bhutanese of Nepali origin can in no way be considered to be a benevolent King”.

The King even encouraged the anti-social elements and the prisoners in chasing the Bhutanese of Nepali origin, he recalls.

A word of caution to the world leaders: Rijal says that the developed West must not encourage Bhutan which is in effect is sponsoring terrorism.

If the world is to be freed from the escalation of terrorism from the globe, the leaders in the developed west must peep inside the politics that is going inside Bhutan at the moment.

“How terrorism is growing inside Bhutan, who is creating terrorists” must be taken into account.

Film South Asia (FSA) to feature documentary based in lives of Bhutanese refugees languishing in camps in Nepal.

Eviction
American filmmaker Grady Walker chronicles the lives of Bhutanese refugees languishing in camps in Nepal. Eviction focuses on different perspectives and stories from camps in Jhapa, and also follows a refugee seeking asylum in New York City.

Show Time
Kumari Cinema, Kamalpokhari, Kathmandu
Hall A
Ticket Price: Rs. 30/-
THURSDAY
11 October
6.15 PM 
Eviction (11’)
Bhutan, 2006, dir – Grady Walker
Lhotshampa refugees in legal limbo
6 Yards to Democracy (55’)
India, 2006, dir – Nishtha Jain & Smriti Nevatia
Election promise of free saris leads to stampede

Source: NepaliTimes

Protracted refugee situations: When the quality of mercy sours

Source: Refugees International

One of the most disturbing aspects of protracted refugee situations ---- when people have been sitting in camps waiting for some resolution of their plight for a decade or more ---- is the mutual resentment and distrust that builds between the refugees and those trying to assist them. The relationship gradually deteriorates under the weight of the despair of seeing no end on the horizon.

I recently completed a visit to the camps for Bhutanese refugees in Jhapa district in eastern Nepal, where more than 100,000 people have been living since the early 90s. While the camps themselves are in many ways model communities, with schools, training centers, medical facilities, and small shops, the refugees are increasingly frustrated. They point to cuts in rations and a switch from kerosene to charcoal briquets for cooking as evidence that the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and its implementing partners are starting the slow process of abandoning them. Individuals under threat within the camp for pursuing the possibility of resettlement to the United States and other countries, rather than waiting for return to Bhutan, accuse UNHCR staff of dismissing their fears and shuttling them off to uncaring Nepali police to seek protection and redress.

For their part, UNHCR staff come dangerously close to blaming the victims. They maintain that their noble efforts to assist the refugees are rebuffed and misinterpreted. Providing special protection and assistance to individuals chased from the camps would only provoke a greater outflow of people seeking similar treatment. They start to lose their sense of humanity and perspective, and hide behind excuses that sound bureaucratic, claiming that they have no mandate to provide assistance outside the camps and that their protection role is a purely legal one. When RI raised the material needs of a specific group of refugees, the frustrated response was "We all have material needs," as if the needs of refugees could be compared to those of an international civil servant.

From my perspective as an outsider to this dynamic, I accept that both aggrieved parties to the deteriorating relationship are partially justified in feeling the way they do. And the irony is that the Bhutanese camps have been in many ways a model of international cooperation. The refugees should be proud of their self-help efforts and high level of social organization. UNHCR should be proud that it has been able to maintain this operation for 17 years, while retaining a level of basic services to the refugees as high as any in the world.

Ultimately in such situations UNHCR has a special responsibility to transcend the negative dynamic, overcome the pressure of feeling besieged, and retain the core focus on the well-being of individual refugees while working with local and international support to find permanent solutions. In the case of the Bhutanese refugees one solution --- third country resettlement --- is very close to being implemented, which will bring a measure of relief to all parties. But implementing the process well depends on maintaining respect for refugees as people rather than clients. HCR staff in Nepal need to take a symbolic deep breath and remember that refugees are not scam artists but human beings trying to find the best possible future for themselves and their families.

--Joel Charny
Vice President, Refugees International

UNHCR Begins Refugee Verification Task

Source: THT Online
Damak, October 2

The UN High Commission for Refugees has begun the work for verification of Bhutanese refugees living in camps here from the past 17 years.
The work of verification and interview with the refugees stareted a few days ago.
The UNHCR has started interviewing refugees living in the seven camps in Jhapa and Morang districts but has not yet disclosed the details of the work it is conducting.
Refugees in several camps said the verification and interviews began suddenly without consultation with the refugees' organisations.
Staff at the commission's office here carried out the interviews even during their day off. The refugees also declined to say why they were called or what sort of interviews were being taken. The commission is sponsoring the travel and food expenses to refugees coming to the commission office.

Let Individual Refugees Decide

Source: Rising Nepal

T. P. Mishra
Of late, the offer of third country resettlement of the Bhutanese refugees has been gaining momentum, shadowing other options viz repatriation and local assimilation. Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of Nepal and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the resettlement option has been opened.

Solution
Hot debates have already begun as to whether third country resettlement is a lasting solution to the long-standing Bhutanese refugee crisis. The fact that resettlement can only be a step towards a durable solution and not a permanent outlet in itself to the Bhutanese political problem cannot be denied.

The increasing violence inside the UNHCR-sponsored cantonments in Nepal since the last few months, particularly concerning the resettlement offer, clearly hints that the authorities concerned should work towards creating a favourable and intrepid atmosphere so that individual refugees can decide their future.

Refugees have had long experience with politics inside and outside the host country. Thus, there is divided opinion among the refugees. Considering all these factors, individual refugees must be given a chance to decide on the options available - repatriation, resettlement or local assimilation.

More interestingly, the refugees' divergent opinions have only baffled the concerned bodies. Each of the organisations or political parties formed inside the camps to work for a solution to the crisis has always strived to manipulate the people in their own way. Be it the Tek Nath Rizal-led Bhutanese Movement Steering Committee or Hari Bangaley-led Bhutanese Refugee Durable Solution Co-ordinating Committee (BRDSCC), they have their own stance on resolving the crisis.

On the other side, the Communist Party of Bhutan (CPB-MLM) has recently warned the concerned authorities not to begin the process of third country resettlement. Organising a press conference at an unknown place, Binod, a member of the CPB-MLM's Co-ordinating Committee in Exile, had warned that they would come up with protest programmes and also take physical action if the UNHCR begins the resettlement process by using organisations from within the Bhutanese community.

Manipulation and internal intimidation by the Bhutanese organisations themselves pose a challenge to security in the camps. No matter how the situation proceeds, a favourable atmosphere should be created for individual refugees to decide their fate. Unlocking a single option - whether repatriation, resettlement or local assimilation - cannot deliver a suitable outlet as there is divided opinion among the refugees.

In the name of establishing democracy in Bhutan, a few political parties as well as dozens of other apolitical organisations have come into existence. But most of these organisations that claim to be working for the welfare of the Bhutanese people are making zero progress especially in the context of fighting for democracy in Bhutan.
The political and apolitical organisations formed in exile do only paperwork. The question of a unified ideology towards finding a solution to the refugee stalemate is a farce. And these days it is growing even harder. There visibly exists three groups - one favouring repatriation through peaceful means, the other preferring a revolt to establish democracy in the country, and another favouring third country resettlement. The possibility of bringing all these groups to a common point, however, is difficult. All this is leading the people to more confusion.

The offer of third country resettlement itself may not be a bad option, but it cannot be a solution to the Bhutanese political problem. The Bhutanese people's struggle towards democracy should continue under any circumstances and regardless of wherever they resettle or assimilate.

Actually, the refugees are fed up with the activities of some of their leaders. The ideological differences within these groups have, in fact, left the general people in a quandary. This difference has created havoc inside the Bhutanese refugee camps. Thus, this trend should not be allowed to continue to ensure that individuals have the right to decide their future on their own without manipulation and intimidation by a third party.

Sentiments
Meanwhile, all the political and apolitical organisations in exile must work to create an environment of consensus. They must understand the sentiments of the general people in the camps. The refugees shouldn't be forced to adopt any of the options available on the table. The concerned authorities should provide adequate and reliable information on the options available so that the people are well informed to take informed decisions.
(Mishra is Editor of Bhutan News Service)