The US takes in about 60 thousand refugees a year. When they arrive, they get assistance for several months. In the past, that’s generally been enough to tide them over until they find work. But with the economy in recession, some refugees are weeks away from having no job and no way to pay rent. New Hampshire Public Radio’s Jon Greenberg reports.
Bhima and Lakshu Acharya and their three children came to Concord five months ago. Ethnically Nepalese, Bhima and Lakshu were born in Bhutan, a small Himalayan country squeezed in between India and China. 18 years ago, the Bhutanese government forced many ethnic Nepalese to leave. Bhima and Lakshu have spent most of their adult lives living in refugee camps in Nepal. They could neither work in Nepal nor go back to Bhutan.
A local resettlement volunteer, Doug Hall, takes me to their spartan apartment.
CUT: Jon, this is Bhima//Hello// Hello// sound of door, room sounds
The sweet aroma of Indian spices hangs in the air. The local resettlement agency, Lutheran Social Services, provided furniture and clothes. A mix of federal funds and charitable donations covers the cost of rent and food. Lakshu Acharya says that will soon end.
CUT: Lakshu - Nepali - fade under
Doug Hall translates.
CUT: Doug: beginning Jan 1 they will be responsible for paying the house rent. and what he said was, without a job, how am I possibly going to be able to pay the rent?
Lakshu and his wife have applied at dozens of companies. In the time they’ve been here, he has worked only three days for a small manufacturer. Some of their fellow Bhutanese have found temporary Christmas jobs at retailers like Target but that income will end in January.
The very first Bhutanese refugees to arrive in this country came to New Hampshire. All told, about 40 households. Many of them are in similar circumstances as the Acharya’s.
CUT I would say we have 12-15 families that we’re tracking closely right now.
Amy Marchildon oversees refugee resettlement at Lutheran Social Services. To have a third of her clients without stable income after six months is something she’s never seen before. LSS has no money to continue paying their rent but Marchildon remains hopeful that a special appeal to local congregations and others will bear fruit.
CUT We would depend on the generosity of donors//JG: And if those donors don’t materialize?//Then the refugees in that situation would be just like anybody else in the community who might be in that situation.//JG: Homeless.// Possibly.
A common path for a refugee in America is a few months of assistance followed by a job with modest wages and a hard scrabble to more secure economic footing. Historically, according to government figures, about 70% succeed. The recession is causing many to falter on the way. Livinia Limon is the president of the nonprofit U-S Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.
CUT: We hear anecdotally of refugees being evicted. We’ve not seen it whole scale [sic] yet.
Limon works with many of the local organizations that help refugees in hundreds of communities across the country. Limon says that those groups are scrambling.
CUT: I know that all the agencies that are doing this, are spending lots of money. We’re spending money that we don’t really have, it’s a hedge against disaster. But having a family homeless is a bigger disaster than my balance sheet right now.
Resettlement advocates say federal aid has long fallen short of what’s needed. Local charities try to fill the gap but in a tough economy, that resource is stretched thin. Advocates do not want to see refugees end up on public assistance. They say, at the very least, Washington could provide some extra dollars to help with current crunch.
David Siegel directs the federal office of refugee resettlement. Siegel says right now, he has no more money. He says his hands are tied by a continuing budget resolution that limits spending at last year’s level. But Siegel holds out hope.
CUT: When we have a final budget for 09. If you invited me back, I’d probably give you a different answer. Until that time, the answer is, we do not have any.
There is a common refrain in the resettlement community. As difficult as things might be here, they are infinitely better than life in a refugee camp. Most refugees seem to agree. But not all.
In the parking lot outside their apartment, Lakshu and Bhima Acharya talk about their situation. Lakshu says he would rather be here without a job than in a camp without a future. But Bhima thinks her friends back in the refugee camps ought to stay there until the economy improves.
CUT: Bhima – Nepali – fade under
This time, a Bhutanese neighbor translates.
CUT: She’s not going to tell them to come here. The rent bill to pay, the electric bills, the winter season and children, seeing all this, she cannot say to others to come because they might also face difficulties in later days.
This might be a minority view but it speaks to the uncertainty all these refugees feel as they approach the moment when, in a totally unfamiliar land, they will have no means to provide for themselves and their children.
For NHPR News, I’m Jon Greenberg
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Recession Hits Refugees Hard
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Refugee leaders ask Nepal to solve Bhutanese refugee crisis
KATHMANDU, Dec 17 - Bhutanese refugee leaders, living exiled life in Nepal, on Wednesday welcomed the assurances made by the Nepali government to form a taskforce to resolve the Bhutanese refugee crisis.
Speaking at a programme organised here, on the day Bhutan was celebrating its National Day, Chairman of National Democratic Front (NDF)— the front of three major political parties of Bhutan—Bala Ram Poudel said that the international community and the Nepal government should take initiatives to resolve the Bhutanese refugee crisis in Nepal. "Being the host country, Nepal should take initiatives to repatriate the refugees," said he, adding, "And, the Nepal government should talk to India also to find the solution to this crisis."
The land-locked Himalayan Kingdom observes its national day on December 17 every year to mark the accession of the first king of Wanngchuk dynasty, Gongsar Ugyen Wangchuk, to the throne.
Poudel, who is also the president of the Bhutan People's Party (BPP), further said. "Refugees have been observing December 17—the National Day of Bhutan—as a day of plight."
He demanded that the Nepal government should implement the commitment it made in its annual programmes and policies mentioned in its 85th point apropos to the resolution of the refugee crisis. "Miraculous change has occurred in Nepal," said the president of the BPP, the largest Bhutanese party in exile, adding, "But, the refugee problem has stuck at the same place where it was earlier."
While speaking about the newly promulgated constitution of Bhutan, the Bhutanese leader remarked that it has bestowed a special right to the king which clarifies the fact that the he is above the constitution. "A drama of change is being staged in Bhutan," he said.
Likewise, another Bhutanese leader DK Rai, who was recently released after spending 17 years in a Bhutanese dungeon, on the initiatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), spoke about the torture inflicted on him in the jail.
Rai, who was arrested in November 1991 and detained at the police headquarters in the Bhutanese capital, Thimphu, said that the prisoners of conscience were forced to work in road construction. "We had to bring stones from the river and crush them into pebbles with hammer," he recalled.
According to him, there were altogether 32 political detainees in two blocks in the jail he was confined at before his release. "Some of them have been sentenced to life imprisonment, while others for five to 10 years," said Rai, the former General Secretary of Druk National Congress (DNC). Currently, Rai is under treatment with the help of Center for Victims of Torture(CVICT).
His family, residing in the southern parts of Bhutan, was chased away in 1994 while he was in the jail. They ended up at Khudunabari refugee camp in Jhapa district, Nepal, via India seeking asylum. There are over 100, 000 refugees residing at seven different camps of Jhapa and Morang districts run by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Among them, around 8000 have been resettled in third countries after seven different western countries, including the US, came up with the proposal for resettling around 80,000 refugees.
Of them, 7500 have been resettled in 33 different states of USA, while 365 in Australia, 134 in New Zeeland and the others in Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands. Canada has pledged to resettle 5000 refugees, 24 among them have started to settle at St Jerome, Quebec in Canada recently.
Majority of the leaders claim that the resettlement process will help the democratic movement in Bhutan. "The refugees will support our agitation, wherever they go," said Poudel. He added that the refugees have been divided into two categories—favouring resettlement and willing to be repatriated.
What is more, Rai opined that unless it is not launched from Bhutan itself, the movement cannot succeed. "There is no real democracy in Bhutan. To set up democracy, a movement should be launched from the country," said he.
Meanwhile, Bhutanese refugees residing in Nepal protested the National Day of Bhutan today by organising rallies and demonstrations at various places in Jhapa district.
The refugees living at camps staged demonstrations at three refugee camps today. They said that it is useless to celebrate the national day by Bhutan, their country of origin.
These refugees, mostly ethnic Nepali speaking groups from the southern plains of Bhutan, began entering Nepal in 1990. They fled their country fearing the enforcement of new citizenship laws and the "one nation, one people" policy of cultural assimilation in the late 1980s.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
IOM Assists Over 8,000 Bhutanese Refugees to Resettle Abroad
Nepal - IOM has this year helped over 8,000 ethnic Nepali Bhutanese leave refugee camps in Eastern Nepal and resettle in third countries, including the United States (US), Australia and New Zealand.This year the US accepted over 7,500 refugees, Australia accepted 365 and 134 were resettled in New Zealand. A smaller number were resettled in Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands.
More than 105,000 of the refugees, known as Lhotsampas, fled to seven Nepali camps in Jhapa and Morang regions 17 years ago, following Bhutan’s decision to revoke their citizenship and expel them.
Subsequent negotiations to allow them to return to Bhutan failed and in September 2007 the Government of Nepal signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IOM to carry out resettlement activities in Damak, the Nepali town closest to the camps.
These include the processing of cases referred to resettlement countries by UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, as well as the medical screening, cultural orientation and travel arrangements of refugees accepted for resettlement.
IOM opened a sub-office in Damak in December 2007 and now employs over 200 local staff operating in Damak and all seven Lhotsampa camps.
"The pace of the operation is now picking up," says David Derthick, Head of IOM Damak. "Our resettlement numbers have gone from fewer than 100 in 2007 to over 8,000 this year. The decision of whether to opt for resettlement or not is entirely up to the families concerned, but next year we expect to move between 16,000 to 18,000 people," he notes.
While most of the Lhotsampas are expected to resettle in the US, Australia and Canada, several other countries including New Zealand, Norway and the Netherlands have also agreed to resettle some of the refugees.
For more information please contact:
David Derthick
IOM Damak
Tel: +977 98511085
E-mail: dderthick@iom.int
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Refugees’ Nepali spouses face resettlement hurdles
Bhutanese refugees who have married Nepalis say they are uncertain whether they could be resettled in a third country or not.
Family members of Sunita Bhujel, a Nepali girl married to a refugee, are uncertain whether she would be settled in a third country like genuine refugees who have been living in the camps for about two decades. “I am keen to settle in a third country but the process for the same has not been initiated yet,” she said.
Khem Adhikari, a refugee health worker married to a Nepali girl, is also uncertain whether his wife could go with him. He is worried for the future of his family if his wife could not accompany him to a new country. Many Nepalis who have tied nuptial knot with the refugees are worried that they might be barred from going abroad with their refugee spouses. “We did not marry hoping to settle abroad. Our marriage took place before International Office for Migration started preparations for resettling refugees in third countries,” Khem said.
United Nations High Commission for Refugees does not recognise outsiders married to Bhutanese youths as refugees. Those married to refugees are not provided with food the refugees are entitled to.
TR Gurung, secretary at Beldangi Refugee camp, said, “It has not been clearly stated what happens to the refugee youths married to Nepalis.”
“Keeping a record of such cases has been initiated,” Basanta Raj Puri, contact officer deployed by the home ministry to distribute identity cards to the refugees said, adding, “Such couples may face hurdles for their resettlement at the moment but those enlisted under ‘note of concern’ will be dealt with later.” Puri said the government had agreed to initiate a process for this group of refugees.
A total of 7,661 Bhutanese refugees have been resettled in third countries so far. Of them, 7,090 have been settled in the USA alone.
At least 63,000 refugees have applied for third country resettlement.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Bhutanese refugees tell dark side of Himalayan kingdom
Tom Blackwell, National Post
Published: Tuesday, December 09, 2008
If Canadians know anything about Bhutan, it likely revolves around the tiny Himalayan nation's seemingly enlightened monarchs, often praised for ushering in democracy and championing a state-sponsored philosophy dubbed Gross National Happiness.
But this week, the first of 5,000 refugees from Bhutan arrived in Canada, offering a reminder of the dark side of the country's recent history. The refugees -- ethnic Nepalese and mostly Hindu -- were effectively forced out of Bhutan by that same, Buddhist royal family almost 20 years ago and have been languishing in camps in Nepal ever since.
Their unusual story has continued with the Canadian resettlement offer. Some Bhutanese refugees believe no one should leave the camps until their homeland lets them return and, as part of a sometimes violent internal dispute, have spread misinformation about Canada to discourage immigration here.
Prospective migrants have even been told they will be forced into labour camps in the Arctic if they move to Canada.
"There are lots of rumours circulating," said Yogendra Shakya of Access Alliance, a Toronto-based social service agency, who visited some of the camps in August. "I was asked a lot ‘Is it true that Canada is so cold that you can't have children there, and that's why they want us to go there?' "
The resettlement program is also part of a new approach by the federal government to sponsor large groups of refugees en masse. In support of the project, Citizenship and Immigration Canada this month put out a $1.3-million contract to conduct advance health screening of the Bhutanese coming to Canada and provide treatment for tuberculosis and other conditions if necessary before they relocate.
Refugee sagas usually begin with an infamously despotic leader, or with years of war and strife. This one unfolded differently. Jigme Singye Wangchuck, Bhutan's king until recently, has been widely praised for lifting his people from near-medieval conditions, beefing up public education and health care and opening the window to the outside world. He also promoted Gross National Happiness, a creed which holds that material wealth should not come at the expense of spiritual wellbeing, the environment or culture.
Two years ago, the hugely popular king converted Bhutan into the world's newest democracy and abdicated in favour of his Western-educated son. Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck was crowned just last month, earning glowing press coverage as a handsome and charismatic monarch of the people.
Almost forgotten was a period in the late 1980s and early 1990s when more than 100,000 Bhutanese of Nepalese origin -- a sixth of the population -- departed the country, leaving Bhutan largely to the majority Kruk people.
According to a 2006 article by the UNHCR, the United Nations' refugee agency, "tens of thousands" were evicted, often after being made to sign "voluntary" migration certificates. An Immigration Canada spokeswoman said the camps' residents were "forced" to leave Bhutan, while a 2007 Human Rights Watch report states that most, if not all, the refugees in Nepal have a right under international law to return to Bhutan.
A spokesman for the Bhutanese government, however, argued on Tuesday that few of the refugees are actually from his country, suggesting that many impoverished residents of the region settled in the camps to take advantage of services funded by the international community.
Bhutan has no ill feelings toward its remaining Nepalese minority, with some even serving now as cabinet ministers, added Tshewang Dorji, counsellor with Bhutan's mission to the UN.
"Nobody was forced to leave ... The government didn't want the [ethnic Nepalese] people to leave," he insisted. "People who have ill feelings toward Bhutan have blown this issue out of proportion."
Regardless, repeated efforts to win the refugees' repatriation failed, until eventually a group of seven Western countries, including the United States, Australia and Britain, agreed to accept about 70,000 of them. Canada is taking 5,000 over the next five years.
And yet the humanitarian offer met some stiff resistance in the camps, with certain groups fearing that mass resettlement would spell the end of their efforts to get back to Bhutan itself.
"There have been fairly organized efforts to discourage migration," said Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees. Word spread, for instance, that refugees who ended up here "would have to work at camps at the north pole," she said.
To try to set the record straight, Canada has distributed leaflets with accurate information about this country, and is further briefing those selected to come here, said Danielle Norris, an Immigration Canada spokeswoman.
The years of living in refugee camps, unable to officially work to support themselves, has taken its toll on the displaced Bhutanese, said Mr. Shakya, who is of Nepalese origin himself. "Depression, stress is very, very common in the camps," he said.
And yet, he said the refugees have strived to make the most of their grim predicament. Levels of education are higher than in the Nepalese population outside the camps, and many speak fluent English, he said.
Lately, it seems the refugees have also come around to the idea of setting down roots in the West, with many believing they can continue to fight for return to Bhutan from their new homes, said Mr. Shakya.
National Post
tblackwell@nationalpost.com
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Resettlement to be halted
According to the information given by David Derthick, chief of IOM in Damak, the works for resettlement will be halted from December 19. However, he did not mention when the work will resume.
He informed a total of 7,297 exiled Bhutanese have been resettled so far –6,813 in the US, 30 in Australia, 149 in New Zealand, 19 in Norway, 17 in the Netherlands and 13 in Denmark.
Those expressing interest for resettlement has reached 62,000, he said. Bhutan News Service
Canada Welcomes First Group of Bhutanese Refugees
MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Dec. 8, 2008) - The first of a large group of Bhutanese refugees will be arriving in Canada today, announced Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism.
The group of 24 refugees will be living in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec. They are the first of up to 5,000 Bhutanese who will be resettled in Canada after living in camps run by the United Nations in southeast Nepal since the early 1990s. Canada has been working with members of the international community to find solutions for the long-standing situation of some 100,000 Bhutanese refugees of ethnic Nepalese descent who were forced out of their homeland and have been living in exile for the past 15 years.
"This is truly the start of a momentous journey for the Bhutanese refugees, who are finally in a place where they can be assured of safety and security," said Minister Kenney. "These individuals, and those still to come, bring with them hopes, dreams and skills that build an even richer and more prosperous society. I am proud of our country's long-standing humanitarian tradition of providing protection to refugees, which helps to make Canada respected and envied throughout the world."
Whenever possible, refugees are settled in communities where they have relatives or friends, but they may move to other cities in Canada as they choose. Under the Canada-Quebec Accord, the Province of Quebec is responsible for providing settlement and integration services for all immigrants living in the province, including refugees. Quebec was involved in selecting these refugees and will be providing them with initial settlement funding covering basic requirements such as clothing and household items. All resettled refugees are also entitled to access various integration services, such as language instruction, to help them adjust and adapt to life in Canada.
There are an estimated 11.4 million refugees in the world today. Every year, 19 countries resettle about 100,000 refugees. Of that number, Canada annually resettles 10,000 to 12,000 refugees, or one out of 10 globally, through its government-assisted and privately sponsored refugee programs. In 2007 alone, Canada resettled refugees of about 70 different nationalities.
The next group of Bhutanese refugees are scheduled to arrive in early 2009 and settle in various cities across Canada.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Bhutan "very serious" towards resolving refugee crisis
Dr Pema Gyamtsho, Minister for Agriculture of the Royal government of Bhutan told Nepalnews.com that the protracted crisis has been an "embarrassment" for the Himalayan Kingdom "as much as any other party concerned", and hoped that the new-round of talks that is soon going to start between Bhutan and Nepal on the issue will bear fruit.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had met with his Bhutanese counterpart at the sidelines of SAARC summit in Sri Lankan capital Colombo right after assuming office and thereafter at the BIMSTEC meeting in Thailand. On both these occasions, Bhutanese Prime Minister reportedly pledged Bhutan's commitment to resolving this problem by agreeing to resume the stalled talks.
Minister Gyamtsho, however, said that political stability in Nepal was necessary for the talks to become successful, adding that frequent changes in the government in Nepal in the past was the main reason the high-level talks between the two countries couldn't make any headway.
"We should understand that it is not always Bhutan to blame for failure of the talks," he added.
The Bhutanese minister even went so far as saying that the Nepalese media has been biased in its coverage of the Bhutanese refugee crisis till now, always reporting one-side of the story, hence portraying Bhutan in a very negative light.
According to him, Bhutan wants to see the refugee problem resolved as much as Nepal or any other parties involved, but the "negative coverage" [by the Nepalese media] has become a major hindrance to realize this goal.
"This negative coverage should stop if Nepal wants to see the problem resolved," Dr Gyamtsho said, "the Nepalese press should try to administer positive energy into the whole process so as to derive positive results."
He, however, refused to comment on the third country resettlement program that has clearly divided the Bhutanese refugee community languishing in refugee camps in eastern Nepal where they had arrived more than 17 years back after being forced to flee from their homes in Bhutan.
Some 1,00,000 Bhutanese still reside in makeshift huts built inside these UN managed refugee camps, even though hundreds of them have been leaving Nepal for U.S.A, Australia and other European countries every day as part of the third country resettlement program. However, Bhutanese refugee leaders have been opposed to the idea of third country resettlement, insisting that the only solution lies in the "respectful return" of the Bhutanese refugees.
Minister Gyamtsho is currently in Kathmandu to attend the 25th Anniversary celebration of the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
nepalnews.com ananda gurung Dec 06 08
