Don't cajole

Source: The Kathmandu Post

The third-country resettlement of the Bhutanese refugees, which is supposedly underway, leaves a number of questions unanswered. Those interested in the third-country resettlement option are waiting for the call for interview. While the officials concerned allegedly reiterate that the interview is on “first-come-first” basis, those who have been expressing willingness since the beginning are yet to receive the call.

The concerned officials have remarked that those registered outside the camps do not fall under the “vulnerable category”. Well, being a refugee in itself is being vulnerable, isn't it? The mental, psychological or physical pressure those living outside the camp face in trying to make a living cannot be ignored. Some may have opted for staying outside the camps out of choice but I'm sure many have a logical reason to do so.

Does remaining in the shanty alone make one vulnerable? Fear of being out of job anytime, having to compromise with harassing situations at the work place, and trying to help the relatives financially for higher studies or health etc, among others, are but only a few problems those living outside the camps face. One may wonder why they continue to live outside if they have problems. Well, if they had opted for living in the camps, the educated refugees would have acquired several mental disorders. Let us not forget that those living outside the camps have been contributing to the humanity at large in various capacities.

Agreed that the refugees living in the camps are being given priority and it is appreciated. But isn't it important that those living outside, too, be considered refugees and equally vulnerable?

If the third-country resettlement is viewed as a durable solution, then wouldn't it be swift if those willing be given priority rather than cajoling those who are reluctant?

Totadri Sharma

Kathmandu

39 refugees likely to fly to US by January

Source: The Himalayan Times

The International Organisation of Migration (IOM) today has taken 39 Bhutanese refugees to Kathmandu, citing security reason. The refugees of Beldangi Camp are expected to fly to the US within the first week of January.

Earlier, they have been provided special security after an unknown group shot at Arjun Subba two weeks ago in Sangam Chock and their huts were destroyed. 10 family members of Chhabilal Thapa, 11 of Arjun Subba, and 13 of DB Moktan of the camp and five of Dilliram Gautam of Morang’s Shanischare camp have been taken to Kathmandu.

In a bid to resettle Bhutanese refugees in America, the IOM said it had interviewed refugees of the camps and resettlement processing of over 3,000 refugees is going on. Some other refugees have been submitting their applications for resettlement in America.

Refugees of pro-America resettlement plan have said some 72,000 refugees of Jhapa and Morang have applied for resettlement in America. Meanwhile, Bhu-tanese CPN-Maoist has been forcing refugees to reject the resettlement offer in the US, threatening of giving physical action against those who support opt the resettlement offer.

Bhutan party admits shooting of refugee

Source: The Rising Nepal

The Bhutanese Communist Party (Maoist) has taken responsibility of shooting Arjun Subba, a refugee at Beldangi I camp. The Bhutanese Maoist party chairman Surya in a statement Friday said Subba was shot as per the plan of the party.

He said the resettlement in America was a plan to obstruct the repatriation of the Bhutanese to their homeland. "This action (shooting) was carried to foil the resettlement," the statement said.

"Anyone supporting and advocating for the third country resettlement would face similar consequence, the statement read.

Subba was shot at Sangam Chowk of Damak December 13. Two others CL Thapa and DB Moktan who was with Subba had escaped the shooting. All three of them are supporters of resettlement in the United States. Subba is undergoing treatment at Lifeline hospital, Damak.

Police have arrested three persons on charge of shooting. After the incident most of the Maoist leaders and their supporters have left the camps.

Camp secys irked over resettlement, appeal GoN to help stop hut-to-hut campaign

Source: Apfanews.com

At a time when violence are erupting inside exiled Bhutanese camps, camp secretaries of all seven camps have appealed to Government of Nepal (GoN) to urge the UNHCR to stop motivation by hut-to-hut campaign for third country resettlement.

In an appeal issued to the prime minister of Nepal, camp secretaries have demanded for early repatriation to Bhutan.

“Government of Bhutan must not be allowed to withdraw from its own proposals of categorization and verification process as proposed by government of Bhutan and verification must be continued in the speedy manner”, reads the appeal.

The camp secretaries, however, have extended their gratitude to the UNHCR for providing humanitarian assistance to exiled Bhutanese community.

“But since last six years onwards we found that UNHCR is only working for third country resettlement though it always keeps on telling that repatriation is the best option. Before repatriation of verified Bhutanese and rest of the refugees to Bhutan, UNHCR brought the proposal of third country resettlement for Bhutanese refugees, which is unjust and illogical”, reads the appeal, adding that the UNHCR has instigated many NGOs to support for the third country resettlement of exiled Bhutanese.

The appeal has further accused the UNHCR of splitting the nuclear family in the name of third country resettlement.

The appeal has further stated that the Beldangi incident of May 26 and 27 was a worst conflict between divided people when third country supporting small group backed by the UNHCR and a big group supporting and opting for repatriation when Mr. Hari Bangaley started advocating for third country resettlement openly.

“The UNHCR is giving protection to Bangaley, who is the main culprit of the devastating incident. So far no action is taken against him and no hearing is given for those who lost lives by the concerned authorities”, the appeal reads, adding “UNHCR has intensified its campaign for third country resettlement by hut to hut visit accompanied by armed security forces of Nepal. It certainly reminds the Bhutanese refugees about their past when they were evicted by the government of Bhutan at the gun point”.

The camp secretaries have also made their stance clear that they would not object any individuals who opt for third country resettlement without any motivation.

Meanwhile, the appeal has also demanded GoN to help deliver justice to two innocent youths of Beldangi-II, who lost their lives in the struggle for justice and order for a thorough investigation. Further, it demanded GoN to direct the local authority and the security forces to stop all kinds of harassments, tortures, arrests, and detentions of the people in camps without valid proofs.

Communist Party of Bhutan (MLM) denies shooting

Source: Apfanews.com

Kathmandu, December 14: The Communist Party of Bhutan (MLM) has denied the charge that it shot Arun Subba of Beldani-I quoted Nepalese daily The Himalayan Times.

Subba over a telephone interview with Saranarthi Sarokar from hospital bed has claimed the involvement of CPB (MLM) in shooting. “The incident was the result of the warning that we received in last pamphlet” he told.

His condition is out of risk. Security chief of UNHCR, representatives of aid agencies and chief district officer, Jhapa have visited the LifeLine Hospital to inquire the condition of Subba.

The daily quoted that in a press statement today, in-charge of the party’s rehabilitation coordination committee Muna refuted the charge levelled against the party.

The release said that the incident was the “extreme injustice meted out by the Nepal government and UNHCR on the refugees.” The release alleged that the UNHCR was responsible for the worsening situation in the refugee camp. Regretting the shooting incident, Muna said the party was formed to wage a struggle in Bhutan.

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in all three camps in Beldangi.

Pamphlets, claimed to be posted by the Communists Party of Bhutan (CPB-MLM)-affiliated All Bhutan Revolutionary Students Union and Bhutan Republican Youths Organisation in Beldangi-I camp in Novermber 'blacklisted' at least 12 individuals and carried warning to take people's action against them. Subba was one in the list.

The pamphlet had also issued ultimatum that the accused ones should either leave camps within 15 days or apologies before CPB-MLM.

Bhutanese refugee shot

Source: Kantiopuronline.com

DAMAK, Dec 13 - Unidentified individuals shot and injured a Bhutanese refugee in Damak Thursday. Arjun Subba, 31, of Hut no. 71 in sector D of Beldangi camp-1 sustained injuries to the stomach and right hand. He was rushed to Life Life Hospital in Damak, where doctors said he was out of danger.

According to area police office Damak, Subba was shot at Hawaldar Chowk some two kilometers from the refugee camp. According to Chabilal Thapa, another refugee, who witnessed

the shooting, two motorcyclists stalking Subba fired at him.

Thapa added that a woman shot at Subba from the motorbike which had no number plate.

Two of the shots misfired and Subba was injured by the third shot. Members of the Bhutanese Maoist party had spread pamphlets in the camp during Tihar festival, threatening to kill Subba and many other refugees for failing to vacate the camp within 15 days.

Opening All Options For Refugees

Source: Gorkhapatra.org.np

By T. P. Mishra

The United States' offer of third country resettlement for the Bhutanese refugees has finally gained height, engaging both people and the authorities concerned in hot debates. The offer is likely to put an 'end' to the 17-year-long stalemate following the formal announcement to the refugees to fill up the resettlement forms available in dozens of places, including the Armed Police Force (APF) office.

US commitment
A senior U.S. official has said that if all things proceed smoothly, the first planeload of Bhutanese refugees is likely to land on U.S. soil by late January 2008. Ellen Sauerbrey, the Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, during her recent visit to Nepal and, in particular, the refugee camps, has really geared up the resettlement process of the refugees.

Meanwhile, Sauerbrey has also stated that the U.S. government would recognise the desire of the refugees for repatriation to their original homeland even after their resettlement process. During her visit to two of the refugee camps, Sauerbrey assured the rights of the refugees to return to their home country.

Still a significant portion of the refugees want to be repatriated right now, they do not want third country resettlement. The obvious question at this hour is, what would be the future of those refugees who want to be repatriated under any circumstances? Will the Bhutanese who wish to get locally assimilated in the host country get that chance?

With the U.S. offer for third country settlement, division and polarisation of opinion among the refugees have been distinctly noticed. The incident in Beldangi camp on May 27-28 regarding a 'controversial' interview of Hari Adhikari Bangale, the then camp secretary of Beldangi-II, is a bitter illustration of the division among the refugees.

Even two innocent youths from Beldangi camp were killed in police firing during the latter's attempt to bring the situation under control. This incident occurred simply because Bangale advocated for third country resettlement. In another incident in Beldangi-II extension camp, a few huts belonging to those in favour of third country resettlement were vandalised. Some of them were even manhandled by a mob. All of these incidents leave a clear message that opening only one option would further derail the process of ending the refugee imbroglio.

Polarised Ideology
The literate youths among the Bhutanese refugees are for third country resettlement. The elderly, illiterate groups want to get repatriated. Meanwhile, what cannot be ignored is that a portion of the youths are in favour of a 'revolt' under the banner of the Communists Party of Bhutan (CPB-MLM).
Not only this, a section of the people living inside the refugee camps have already obtained Nepalese citizenship identity cards. This figure has been hiked with the issuances of citizenship cards to four million people in Nepal prior to the Constituent Assembly polls. This ironically leaves a clear message that a portion of the refugees are even willing to get locally assimilated.

It is still a doubt whether those refugees, who have already obtained Nepalese citizenship, would be eligible for third country resettlement.

Majority of the so-called frontline leaders in exile, most of the political and a few apolitical organisations have been frequently opposing the offer of third country resettlement, claiming it would not do justice to the suppressed Bhutanese people. Since there is divided opinion among individuals, the question of driving everyone to a common consensus is difficult.

Thus, not only third country resettlement, the authorities concerned should work towards unlocking all possible options, including repatriation to their original homeland, Bhutan. The long-standing issue will get a safe landing only when all possible options are opened at a time.

It is equally necessary to note that any option, whatsoever it be, shouldn't be made a 'compulsory option' for the refugees. This will invite violence in the refugee camps.

Dignified Repatriation
It is true that options besides third country resettlement, such as dignified repatriation and local integration, are, with the flow of time, getting overshadowed. If the authorities concerned are truly committed to finding a durable solution to the Bhutanese refugee stalemate, then they should be working to promoting the refugee's sentiment by unlocking all options.

An individual's right to expression and, in particular, their right to choose any of the options should be promoted.

(Editor of Bhutan News Service, Mishra is also president of Third World Media Network, Bhutan Chapter)

Prospects Of Refugee Resettlement

Source: Nepalnews.com

By Indra Adhikari

At a time when Bhutanese refugees are busy expressing their interest and giving interviews to government representatives from the US and the Australia in Damak for resettlement to third countries, the country representative of the UNHCR for Nepal Abraham Abraham is wrapping up his five years of tenure in Kathmandu.

Abraham is leaving at a time when years of efforts for repatriation have failed, and the process for third country resettlement is beginning. He will be leaving Nepal for Canada - a month ahead of a section of Bhutanese refugees possibly leaving for western countries to start their new life.

In an interview with Nepalnews at the end of his tenure in Nepal, Abraham expressed hope that his dream of finding a lasting solution to the protracted Bhutanese refugee problem will come true in his absence as well.
Rizal's suggestion to resettle one member from a family was not taken into consideration.
Rizal's suggestion to resettle one member from a family was not taken into consideration.

On Sunday evening at Hotel Soaltee during his farewell party, Abraham in his most humble tone wished the top refugee human rights leader Tek Nath Rizal for early repatriation of Bhutanese refugees to their land.

The process of resettlement has moved ahead as planned by the UNHCR, to which the resettling countries have agreed and it has already been made public that family members would not be split when selected for resettlement.

To accelerate the resettlement process and to protect refugees willing to be resettled from being assaulted by the communist cadres, the Nepal government has deployed security personnel in all the camps at the request of the UNHCR. Alleging that the security personnel have been intimidating and harassing those refugees who advocate repatriation, Bhutan People's Party recently demanded removal of the security posts.

As usual, Abraham denied any straight comments on the demands but said that UNHCR is also mandated to find solution of the refugee crisis if host country and the country generating refugees fail to reach an agreement.

The UNHCR has already started distributing forms to refugees to express their willingness for resettlement. UNHCR office in Kathmandu and contact points in all the camps saw long queues of refugees filling the forms. But as interviews in Damak started, refugees looked confused on how the UNHCR selects people for interviews.

"It is first come first serve. We have no reason to discriminate any refugee," Abraham said.

The resettling countries interview refugees on the basis of the applications and family details forwarded by the UNHCR. The US government team has just completed its first round of interviews and the Australian team has started doing so from Sunday. Canada has informed the UN refugee agency that it will begin the process from 2009 while other countries who had earlier expressed interests to resettle the refugees like Denmark, Netherlands, New Zealand are yet to say anything about the number of refugees they are likely to resettle.

Despite this, Abraham's initiation also received a fair amount of criticism, especially from the refugee leadership. Getting support from the refugee community was difficult without getting permission from the Nepal government, yet his humility towards the government for finally accepting the UNHCR proposal of resettlement remains high.

The major concern of the refugee leaders is the future of those refugees who would not be resettled. There are hints from Indian leaders in recent months that Bhutan might agree on repatriation once the population of the refugee becomes smaller. These statements are in line with the statement of Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee in June this year saying repatriation of over 100,000 refugees to their homeland will cause 'demographic imbalance' in that tiny kingdom.

UNHCR's attempts of getting support from the Indian government for repatriation did not yield any result. And now, the refugee leaders have accelerated lobbying among Indian leaders. In November, a number of senior journalists and parliamentarians on India during a seminar in New Delhi said they will soon visit Thimphu to push Bhutanese authority for allowing the refugees to cast vote in the upcoming elections and their early repatriation to avoid violent future in north-east India.

Under these circumstances, resettlement debates have overshadowed the repatriation agenda.
Euroepan Union also took interest in the refugee issue. EU lawmaker from UK visited Nepal, Bhutan and India as part of EU initiatie in finding solution of the refugee crisis.
Euroepan Union also took interest in the refugee issue. EU lawmaker from UK visited Nepal, Bhutan and India as part of EU initiatie in finding solution of the refugee crisis.

But Abraham claims, prospects of repatriation to homeland will not perish even after resettlement. "Refugees are guaranteed the right to return once environment is conducive in their country. At this time, the conditions are not conducive neither for repatriation nor to stay in camps further," he adds.

The future repatriation of the resettled refugees will largely be determined by the future political developments in Bhutan. At least to this day, hints from inside Bhutan are not encouraging.

The rejection of Bhutan 's election commission to register a political party that has raised the issue of southern and eastern Bhutanese as its agenda for election has indicated that the Bhutanese regime continues to suppress the voices for equality from southern and eastern districts.

It remains to be seen if the resettlement will end the problem or will it lead to a situation where resettled refugees will help the cause of their fellow countrymen inside Bhutan, for instance by helping armed rebellions, about which some Indian leaders have already expressed fears. It can only be hoped that Abraham's departure will not disrupt the process initiated for finding the durable solution.

Refugees from Bhutan get first ID cards in Nepal's camps

Source: UNHCR

The government of Nepal and the UN refugee agency on Monday started a massive operation to distribute identity cards to the refugees from Bhutan living in seven camps in eastern Nepal, a move that will improve protection and assistance for some 108,000 registered refugees.

Issued by the Nepalese government, the photo ID cards are a follow up to the refugee population census that was conducted with UNHCR support in the camps from November 2006 to May 2007. All registered refugees aged 16 years and above will receive the free-of-charge cards.

The first cards were distributed on Monday in Sanischare camp in Morang district. A huge crowd of all ages gathered in the camp's playground to witness the watershed event.

"Although Nepal is not signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, it has been hosting refugees for decades on its soil," said Umesh Mainali, the home secretary of Nepal's Ministry of Home Affairs. "The government of Nepal will always work for the right of refugees and the first step in this is the issuance of identity cards to the refugees in the camps. To have an identity document is the right of the refugees."

Abraham Abraham, UNHCR's representative in Nepal, added: "ID cards are an important protection tool, because the most basic element of refugee protection is to prove one's identity in order to be able to readily access protection and assistance services. The cards would also ensure efficient and accountable distribution as well as better monitoring of assistance, in that it reaches the right person."

Gajman Gurung was one of the first refugees to get the ID card in Sanischare camp. "I am happy that at least now I have an identity, although it is as a refugee. It is going to assist in my protection as well as that of my family," he said.

"I know that the ID card will be very useful to me and my family," said Nar Bahadur Sarki, a father of two in the camp. "The good thing is that my wife and each of my children have their own identity card. It is particularly helpful for my son who goes to college outside the camp. The card will facilitate his movement in and out of the camp."

The ID cards will be issued on a camp-by-camp basis over the next few months. Registered refugees living outside the camps will receive their cards once the camp distribution is completed.

By Nini Gurung
In Sanischare camp, Nepal

Aussie team to interview refugees

Source: Kantipuronline

Australia which is part of the six-nation 'core group' for resettling Bhutanese refugees in their

lands is sending a team of officials this week to interview refugees for the purpose.

"A team is visiting this week to interview refugees," Graeme Lade, Australia's Ambassador to Nepal told the Post here on Sunday. "They will be heading to Damak for the interview."

Ambassador Lade said about 225 refugees would be interviewed by Australian officials. The United States government has already begun the process of interviewing interested refugees.

Besides Australia, the United States, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway are members of the Core Working Group on Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal. Except Norway, the members of the group have expressed interest to resettle refugees over the years. The United States alone has said it would resettle tens of thousands of refugees. There are over 108,000 refugees in the seven camps in eastern Nepal, most living there since 1993 after allegedly being evicted by the Bhutanese government in the late 80s and early 90s.

‘175 refugees applying every day’

Meanwhile, outgoing Representative of UNHCR in Nepal, Abraham Abraham said on Monday about 175 refugees are applying for resettlement every day. In the past two weeks, 14,000 refugees have evinced interest in resettlement.

Abraham who is going to Canada as UNHCR Representative will be replaced by Daisy Dell. Dell is deputy director at

the Asia and the Pacific Bureau of the UN refugee agency. She is expected to arrive in Kathmandu next month.

30 people sentenced for planning seditious activities

Source: Kuenselonline

After five months of exhaustive court proceedings, 30 people, who had joined the Communist Party of Bhutan (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) based in Nepal, were sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to nine years for conspiring to carry out subversive activities against Bhutan.

According to officials of the Samtse district court, the accused were sentenced in accordance with the provisions of the National Security Act of Bhutan, 1992, and the Penal Code of Bhutan, 2004. The court had found that, using a religious façade called the Srijana Sanskrit Sangathan, the group had held several meetings to discuss Maoist ideology and to collect money and food grain for the Communist Party of Bhutan. People who attended the meetings were made to fill up membership forms, a court official said.

Seditious meetings were conducted in Katarey and Ugyentse in Samtse, during which the participants planned to recruit local people, set up camps in the forest for the terrorists belonging to the Communist Party of Bhutan, and to train locals in the use of weapons and explosives to start an armed rebellion against the government.

Some of the accused, including two Class XII students, had gone to the refugee camps in eastern Nepal to attend briefing sessions on “Political and Ideology Training” conducted by the cadres of the Communist Party of Bhutan, the Nepal Maoist and Communist Party of Nepal, Bhutan Peoples’ Party, Druk National Congress, and Bhutan Gorkha National Liberation Front. The Communist comrades briefed them on the collection of arms.

According to the court statement, some of the defendants were found guilty of aiding and abetting the ngolops, and forming secret groups like Pragathisel Sanskriti Pariwars, Srijana Sanskriti Pariwars and Saipatri Sanskriti Pariwars to strengthen the Communist Party of Bhutan in its seditious activities against the Tsa-Wa-Sum.

Two women cadres from the camps in Nepal had met 13 of the accused at the Indian border town of Luksan in Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal, and instructed them to form a separate women’s group to start a door to door awareness campaign of Communist ideology, to recruit party workers at the community level and to be prepared to undertake training in arms and explosives.

The Royal Bhutan Police believe that their main aim was to nurture and expand the Communist Party cadre so that they could set up camps inside Bhutan in collusion with the Maoist cadres of Nepal and ultimately start an armed rebellion against the government.

The Communist party of Bhutan is closely associated with the Maoist Party of Nepal. The Bhutan Tiger Force, which is the militant wing of the Communist Party of Bhutan, was responsible for planting several explosive devices in Phuentsholing town this year.

All the convicts were apprehended by the Royal Bhutan Police in Samtse in May and June this year and the cases were forwarded to the dzongkhag court on June 29. Police recovered detonators and other materials used for making improvised explosive devices, membership forms of the Communist Party of Bhutan and All Bhutan Revolutionary Student Union, note-books containing revolutionary lyrics and coded membership lists, coded names and addresses of donors and five numbers of Nepali textbooks on Communist Party from the group.

According to the court, a few of the convicted are appealing against their sentences, while most have confessed to their crimes and are appealing for pardon.

Refugee camps to remain: Abraham

Source: Kantipuronline.com

Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nepal, Abraham Abraham, has said that UNHCR will not pull out of the Bhutanese refugee camps but will continue working for those not opting for third country resettlement.

"Refugees who don't want third country settlement will continue receiving assistance as long as we receive aid from donors," said Abraham talking to the Post on Friday.

"Every single refugee counts for the UNHCR. We are recommending third country settlement only because there is no (immediate and feasible) solution to the refugee problem," he said.

Expressing concern over misinformation in the refugee camps, Abraham said, "It absolutely depends on individual choice. You can even board the plane and come back out saying you now want to stay behind," he added.

Abraham also said that the resettlement may go on for six or seven years depending on the response from the refugees and it is up to the refugees themselves to choose if and when they want to go to third countries.

The UNHCR representative refuted allegations that the government's failure to issue exit permits for the refugees is delaying the resettlement process. "The matter has been discussed at higher levels. It is already an agreed matter," he said.

He further said there would be no discrimination against those suffering from communicable diseases. They will receive medical treatment first so

that they don't transmit

disease to others during the journey, he said. "HIV positives too are eligible for resettlement," he said.

On the fate of the refugees in the third country, Abraham said government officials and non-government agencies would receive them in the new country and they will get residence, education and all sorts of care, as well as help in finding jobs. "And you can also choose to go back to Bhutan any time when the situation there gets better," he said.

Abraham, among other things, also clarified that enough care has been taken not to split refugee families. "We want the families to be together. We won't split them."

He confirmed that the first batch of refugees would be resettled in the USA by the end of January.

There are over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees languishing in the seven UNHCR-run camps in Morang and Jhapa districts ever since they were evicted from Bhutan in the1980s and early 1990s. The UN body is currently working to resettle them in Australia, the United States and other Western countries.

Resettlement condom can explode

Source: Kathmandu Post

BY SOM N SUBEDY

One of the hottest topics among the Bhutanese refugees in the camps nowadays is the resettlement offer made by the United States and the core group countries. Much has been said and written in favor and against the proposal by various personalities. Being a second-generation Bhutanese refugee, I tried to analyze the much-hyped resettlement offer objectively. And to my surprise, I found it to be very similar to a condom—a much-advertised product for modern living which helps to keep unwanted misery away, but you have to be careful how you use it.

Condoms and the resettlement offer are both temporary things, but there is one vital difference between the two. The former is a use-and-throw item, while the latter, once taken (used), cannot be chucked away. The Bhutanese refugees need to be clear about the resettlement plan even though it comes in a very attractive and alluring package like a condom.

Inside the camps, condoms are distributed free of cost in places like health centers, the Youth Friendly Center, Bhutanese Refugee Women Forum and other outlets. In the same fashion, resettlement forms have been placed in the camps for free distribution to all.

Both are used for protection from angst—one from disease and unwanted pregnancy, and the other has been publicized as providing relief from the anguish of a refugee's life. UNHCR and the core group countries are working hard to convince the refugees to accept their offer by showing them a "dream garden" of Western nations. They make it sound like once the refugees reach the destination decided by these countries, the agony of living in the cramped camps will be over. But the poor refugees are not yet ready to accept their talk fully, because they see no guarantee of their unanswered questions being resolved. Will Jigme Singye Wangchuck be let off scot-free in spite of his inhumane action? If not, who will guarantee that he will be made to stand a fair trail? What will happen to our properties that we were compelled to abandon because of the draconian measures taken by the despotic regime? Will the core group countries guarantee that another exodus of refugees will not happen as a result of the motivation that the resettlement offer may provide to the tinpot despot?

Therefore, the refugees, particularly the senior citizens, are not very much convinced by the calisthenics of UNHCR and the core group countries—as condoms at times burst and put the users in trouble in spite of the guarantees made by their manufacturers.

The refugees are apprehensive that the resettlement condom may explode in the process. This would throw them into unprecedented chaos. This is the kind of unfortunate situation that they fear.

Although there are several parallels one can see between a condom and the resettlement offer, there is a conspicuous difference. The refugees are not told who pays whom and what amount. But all the accounts are debited in the name of the refugees who have been selected to relocate in third countries. This suggests that the ethnic cleansing carried out by the tyrannical regime of Jigme Singye Wangchuck is acceptable.

AMDA has been distributing both male and female condoms in the refugee camps. The US and UNHCR are distributing only one type of condom, that is, resettlement forms but no repatriation forms. Should it not be a priority concern for the core group countries and UNHCR that the refugees be repatriated to their birthplace under the principles of human rights and democracy which they talk so much about?

When condoms were introduced in the refugee camps in the early 1990s, the inmates refused to use the device because they were shy and also because it got in the way during intercourse. They waited for the health staff and educated refugees to use it first. In the present case too, the refugees are waiting for the educated and knowledgeable among them to sign up for resettlement first.

Another reason they are reluctant to fill up the forms is that there is no guarantee they will be leaving for another country. If their applications are rejected, they become vulnerable to reprisals from groups opposed to the resettlement plan.

Just as one uses condoms in private and refrains from showing them in public, UNHCR, the US and the IOM are treating the resettlement process like a secret operation. Nobody knows how many have applied, who they are, how many of them have been called for an interview, what the interview is like and why one is selected when another is not. There are a host of such questions that the refugees want answered, but everything has been kept under wraps in the name of security.

Another side of the resettlement plan is that it may be extended to Tibetan refugees too and thus bring great embarrassment to China. If China does not reproach US Assistant Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey's statement, it would appear that China supports the hidden interest of the US to resettle Tibetan refugees in the US. Nobody knows how the Government of Nepal will take that.

The way Hari Bangaley, former member of Bhutan's National Assembly, used the resettlement condom in the refugee camps for his and UNHCR's interest is widely viewed as one of the reasons behind the opposition to resettlement. He tried to blow the resettlement condom out of proportion and showed it to the refugees, blaming all those who would not agree with him. But Bangaley's condom exploded with a big bang with the loss of the lives of two innocent refugee youths.

Today, he is not in a position to say sorry for his disastrous act. All those who want to use the resettlement condom must pause and think that it cannot be thrown away after use. After you use it you are stuck to it and no one knows what the future holds in store.

(The writer is a Bhutanese refugee.)