US to Shelter 10,000 Bhutanese Refugees Soon

Source: The Himalayan Times

The United States will assimilate 10,000 Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal under the first phase of refugee rehabilitation programme, US ambassador to Nepal Nancy J Powell said on Wednesday. Powell was speaking at the inauguration of Overseas Processing Entity (OPE).
Though Powell did not specify when the process will begin, Jhapa chief district officer Shankar Prasad Koirala told this daily that the US and Nepal governments had agreed that the first batch of refugees will leave for the US in March.

Powell told the gathering to take the rehabilitation offers from countries other than the US just as seriously. "We mooted the third-country settlement option after realising that it was difficult to get the refugees repatriated," she said.

Powell said the US will not abandon its efforts to get the refugees repatriated, adding that under the circumstances third-country settlement was the most feasible option. "They left their homes 17 years ago and are leading displaced lives. If their repatriation is forced upon Bhutan, they might be uprooted again," said Powell.

CDO Koirala said that while the government was committed to the refugees' repatriation, it had also kept the option of third-country settlement open for those wanting to opt for it. Newly appointed UNHCR Nepal chief Daisy Dale said the refugees were free to opt for either repatriation or third-country settlement. She added that she will visit Jhapa district again to discuss the issues of the refugees.

Spokesperson for the international non-government organisation IOM's Damak office chief David Derthicke said his organisation will see to the verification of refugees, their rehabilitation and do all the paperwork with regard to forwarding their documents to the host countries. Denmark's and Norway's ambassadors, who visited Jhapa along with Powell, also dropped by at the IOM office.

Interview with US Ambassador Nancy J Powell

In a recent interview with Kantipur Daily, Her Excellency Nancy J Powell, the new ambassador of the United States of America to Nepal spoke about reason for the resettlement of  60,000 Bhutanese refugees in US.
Here is part of the Excerpts:
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Q: The US has proposed to resettle more than 60,000 Bhutanese refugees. Why is the US so keen on taking such a large chunk of refugees?

Powell: UNHCR, the US government and other countries that have been working at resettlement option recognize three durable solutions. We look at the resettlement of he refugee in the countries which have taken up the issue is there. That is a way to solve the issue. Repatriation to the country where they came back from or resettlement. And we are not advocating a single solution. We are recognizing that the international norm is all three solutions to take place.

The origin of the efforts --- the crude effort is to recognize the people, who have been in these camps for nearly 17 years. That is incredibly a long time. Many are working for future of their children. We currently have programs in the United States that allow us to take refugees from around the world. We wanted to make our program available to them. We have been working on small amount of those who are vulnerable in one way or others. But this would be a huge increase in the processing. We are working closely with UNHCR and other countries that have been donating to keep these camps going.

We are working on two or three things now before the processing starts. One is to ensure that there is security in the camps for the refugees to make an informed and free choice that they would not be intimidated by others in the refugee camps.

We also need security for those going to do the processing and those who would be helping us. We have to have a secure environment for the refugees, for those who are processing. In the next two/three weeks we will have ready infrastructure for the police. We will then begin a campaign that includes the government of Nepal, UNHCR, and the resettlement countries. We will be explaining what the offers are, what does it mean to do with resettlements in the United States, or in Canada, or in Australia or in other places. What particular benefits they would enjoy, what are the restrictions, what qualifications do they need.

Those who opt for resettlements will work with UNHCR to process their paperworks. We need to work through how to get people from current location to Kathmandu to resettlement locations, to care for them during that process. There is also logistic thing that has to be worked out. But we will be working with officials that are posted in other parts of the region. I think they come from Bangkok, they come from New Delhi.

Read Full Interview

Bhutan Refugees Wary of US Resettlement Offer

Source: Ipsnews.net
By Damakant Jayshi

KATHMANDU, Aug 14 (IPS) - After languishing for 17 years in temporary camps, some 108,000 ethnic Nepalis, expelled from their homeland in Bhutan, have a real chance to get out of the wilderness.

But while the promised land, the United States -- as well as several first world countries that form a ‘core group’ -- will accommodate the ‘Lhotsampa’ refugees, many of them continue to harbour hopes of repatriation to Bhutan.

"If the Nepal government, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the core group countries merely say, 'get up and board the plane' it will not work," Yadu Prasad Subedi, 27, told IPS. "A detailed dissemination of information is needed to allay the fears of refugees who want to opt for resettlement in third countries but are apprehensive about details,’’ the refugee said.

Although the prospect of resettlement in the U.S. is attractive, suspicion is rife in the camps that this is a ploy to break the determination of the refugees to return to Bhutan. The community stands divided between resettlement in third countries and repatriation to Bhutan -- even though this could mean facing the persecution from which they fled in the early 1990s.

While some are concerned that resettlement in the U.S. will quickly dissipate the movement to compel Bhutan to take the refugees back, others believe that the campaign could be continued and even intensified while based in a first world country.

Just how contentious the issue is became apparent late May when a mob of those advocating repatriation to Bhutan attacked supporters of resettlement in third countries. Two persons were shot to death when Nepali police opened fire to quell the violence.

Subedi says he is tired of ‘’waiting for so many years’’. ‘’I want to take the plane sooner rather than later."

At the beginning of this year, the U.S., Canada, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand -- known as the 'core group' -- announced that they were ready to resettle the refugees. The U.S. alone has offered to take on 60,000 and has set no cap. According to UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) other interested countries are Ireland, Argentina, Brazil and Chile.

But instead of celebrating the refugees in the UNHCR-run camps have, since the resettlement offers were announced, been living in a state of tension with pro- and anti-resettlement refugee groups trading charges and counter-charges.

Many of the younger refugees are impatient. Those in their 20s are eager to avail of the chances offered in the first world countries. Data provided by UNHCR shows that of the 108,000 odd refugees 63,000 are in the 18-59 category.

"I am willing to go to the U.S., my first choice, or to any of the core group countries to study and work," says a 28-year old chemistry graduate who requested anonymity because he is teaching in an institute in the Nepalese capital. Refugees cannot legally work in Nepal.

He and others who have managed to get higher education outside the camp schools -- where education is limited to the secondary level -- are frustrated when they see their chances of making it in the developed world delayed.

Pingala Dhital, 34, who established an organisation called Voice for Change a couple of years ago to press for a durable solution to refugee crisis, says many refugees are tired of seeing no progress in talks between Nepal and Bhutan to settle the issue. "Except for a few older ones who might prefer Bhutan, many would be willing to go just anywhere as long as it means leading a life outside the camps," Dhital told IPS in her rented apartment in the Nepalese capital.

The refugees started arriving in eastern Nepal via India (Nepal and Bhutan do not share a border) in the early 1990s, alleging forced eviction by the Bhutanese government, under an 'ethnic cleansing' drive -- a charge that the 'Dragon Kingdom' denies.

Fifteen rounds of talks between the foreign ministers of Nepal and Bhutan, aimed at securing the refugees' safe repatriation and dating back to 1993, have yielded little progress.

Most Bhutanese refugees say their first choice is to go back home, and their leaders speak of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other international treaties that oblige Thimphu to take them back. But not one refugee has been able to return in all these years.

This year the Nepal government, following a request from the UNHCR and donor countries, decided to open up to resettlement on humanitarian grounds. There are indications that India, where some 20,000 already live, may follow suit.

The chief of the UNHCR here, Abraham Abraham, says the organisation is ready to begin resettlement but wants the government to bolster security in the camps first.

‘’What we need is a chance to make a free choice between resettlement and staying on to continue the movement to pressure Bhutan into granting us our rights,’’ said one refugee asking not to be named. ‘’Right now we live in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.’’