Choosing Australia with Bhutan in heart

Source: Nepalnews.com

By Indra Adhikari

Bhawani's house in Bhutan shows that poverty was part of his life in that country as well.

Bhawani Acharya faced it twice when he had to change the way of his life. Two days before the festival of Dashain, he left Nepal for what he hoped as a wonderland.

In 1993, he was forced to flee his country of origin, Bhutan, to take asylum in Nepal – a country he had never seen before.

Acharya is among thousands of Bhutanese refugees to leave Nepal for resettlement to western countries, who have assured to absorb over 70,000 of them in the next five years.

However, this was, as the refugees themselves say, is not the solution of their choice but an alternative to get rid of their miserable life as refugees.

His eyes had welled up even though tears did not roll down the cheeks, when he talked to Nepalnews in Kathmandu before flying to his new homeland – Australia. The tears were reflection of his love and affection to his motherland, not of happiness, according to him. Bhutan, in recent years, talks of gross national happiness while over 100,000 of its citizens languish in Nepal, in UN-monitored refugee camps.

An illiterate, who was born in a remote village in southern Bhutan, Acharya had absolutely no idea what lies in store for him in a distant land, 'across the seven oceans' to borrow his words. Language barrier, culture shock, religious differences and separation from relatives have added woes to his elderly life.

Don't you like to be repatriated?

Wife of Bhawani (middle in red blouse) outside her hut in Khudunabari refugee camp in Jhapa, eastern Nepal, before her departure to Australia.

He frowned and replied, "What are you asking? Bhutan is my country and I have the right to go back there. If not me, at least my children will go there. This (third country resettlement) is not a lasting solution."

His son and nephew were smiling when Acharya spilled over the sentimental statement. Nephew Dhyanu added, “Yes we hope to get back to that land from where we came. Australia is not our choice.”

US, Australia and Europe have been craze among residents of many countries, yet Bhutanese refugees put priority to their own homeland. It has astonished many, like rights activist Tapan Bose, who in an interview with Australian radio some months back said he was amazed by the choice of refugees.

A nervous Dhyanu is all set to begin a new life in a new country

Dhyanu was merely seven years old when his family was evicted from Bhutan. He hardly remembers under what situation he lived or under what threats his family left Bhutan. Even though he grew up in Nepal, completed his Bachelors degree here, Dhyanu speaks of his affiliation and affection towards the land he was born to. He was the only one of his family to leave Nepal that day for Australia and was quite nervous from the separation.

Both these people can hardly imagine their life in an Australian metropolis. They are confirmed to be resettled in Melbourne, the second largest city of the Island-country. "I don't have any idea what I should do," Dhyanu says.

Nervousness had engulfed Bhawani more because he was not only illiterate but also has poor health and cannot do physical works. "Will I be a milkman?" he assumes about his work because he had little milk business while in camp that helped him buy vegetables and clothes for children.

"I will do anything that comes. After all, I have to live."

Dhyanu was a teacher in a boarding school while in Nepal. This has given no chance for him to acquire any professional skills that might be helpful for him in Australia. The orientation classes organised by resettling countries he attended made him more confused about choosing a profession. It was just like an information session on life and laws of that country.

Bhawani still hopes his children will be able to get back to Bhutan one day

What Dhyanu and other family members of Bhawani, since Bhawani personally did not attend, learnt from orientation classes was that Australia has stricter laws. Dhyanu assumes he would have a hard time to adopt with the situation because he has grown up in Nepal where freedom has superceded responsibilities.

Bhawani rests his hope to live a decent life compared to his days in Bhutan and Nepal. He is more hopeful about the future of his children who are growing up and likely to get acquainted with the Australian society faster.

Above all, they hope to get back to their country to overcome the suppression Nepali speaking people have been facing in that country since two decades like this song says – we shall overcome one day. nepalnews.com Oct 11 08

'They said Bhutan was their country, not ours'

By: Peter Biro

Purushottam Ghimire, 30, has lived in quiet desperation for most of his adult life. Surviving on humanitarian food rations, he is unemployed and unable to leave the confines of Goldhap, a camp in eastern Nepal that houses nearly 10,000 of the country's 108,000 refugees from Bhutan.

"It's not a good or interesting life we have here," he contemplates as we sit down over a cup of tea under a blue tarpaulin flapping in the wind. "We have neither Bhutanese nor Nepali citizenship and we are not allowed to work. All of us here have become inactive and depressed."

In the early 1990s, the Bhutanese government began expelling its citizens of Nepalese origin, known as Lhotsampas. Seen as a demographic and cultural threat, the authorities stripped them of their citizenship and drove them from their homes in a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing. They now live in seven refugee camps in Nepal's eastern Jhapa district.

As another cup of tea is served, Purushottam tells me that he was 15 years old when his family was driven out of their home in southern Bhutan. He still remembers the harassment and abuse they suffered at the hands of the authorities before they were expelled.

"We were threatened by the Bhutanese army many times before they finally chased us out," he recalls. "They said that Bhutan was their country, not ours. And if we didn't leave they said that they would set fire to our house at night while we were asleep. Soon after, they torched some of the nearby houses and we decided to leave for good."

The camp is gloomy, its pathways muddy and the majority of the inhabitants are squatting under plastic sheeting after an accidental fire roared through Goldhap a month ago. Most of the refugee homes were destroyed along with a camp school. All that remain is a veritable forest of concrete pillars and charred wooden planks. The International Rescue Committee helped with hygiene kits, clothing and emergency supplies after the disaster.

"The fire just added to our desperation," Purushottam says. "Under normal circumstances, it's hard enough to survive. Since we can't work, money is always a problem. If someone in the family gets sick or there are any other unforeseen costs, we have a big problem."

Prohibited from working, some refugees have the possibility to volunteer as teachers and health workers in the camp. For this they are paid what is called incentives, which is lower than a normal salary. Most refugees, however, just kill time, Purushottam tells me.

"Sometimes people leave the camp and find small jobs in the local informal sector. But most of the time we play cards, drink homemade alcohol and wait for humanitarian rations."

Despite these dire conditions, Bhutan has not allowed a single refugee to return and no prospects for a solution are in sight. Recognising the predicament of the refugees, several Western governments have pledged to resettle the Bhutanese, with the United States offering to receive about 60,000, which is almost half of them. In addition, thousands of refugees will get the chance to resettle in Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway.

Once they reach the United States, the IRC is one of nine humanitarian organisations that will resettle the Bhutanese across the country, helping them find housing, employment and access to English language instruction and health services. But since the resettlement announcement, tensions in the camps have been building because of rumours and misinformation about the nature of the offer itself. Some of the refugees also tell me that they have been intimidated by groups militantly opposed to resettlement who insist that the only acceptable solution is return to Bhutan.

"But we hope that the tension will ease as the resettlement applications are growing," says Hari Adhikari, another of the camp inhabitants I meet outside the Goldhap school. "Of course we all want to go back to Bhutan - some of us have property that we had to leave behind - but the government will never take us back."

Before I came here, Christine Petrie, the deputy vice president of resettlement with the International Rescue Committee, told me that resettlement in a third country is typically the very last option. For the Bhutanese, there is simply no other solution.

Purushottam Ghimire agrees. He has already applied for resettlement in the United States along with his family of five. Although the thought of never seeing his home country again is saddening, Purushottam says he is very eager to go. At the same time, he has no illusions that life in a new country will be easy.

"It will be very hard and a lot of competition for jobs," Purushottam predicts. "I have no idea what life in the United States will be like, but I have to try. I can't go on living like this."

Published : 04 Apr 2008, Reuters AlertNet

80,000 Bhutanese of Nepal-origin were preparing to leave for Nepal due to the local government's harsh treatment in recent days

Source: Kathmandu Post

Following the declaration of armed struggle by Bhutan Communist Party Marxist-Leninist and Maoist (BCP-MLM) in Bhutan, Drukpas, the indigenous Bhutanese, have allegedly started unleashing atrocities against Nepali-speaking Bhutanese here, and local authorities are not helping the latter.

According to victims, Drukpa employers are denying them their salary, while local administrators, almost all of whom are Drukpas, are beating them for no obvious reason. Some administrators have even begun threatening to force them into exile.

A bus driver, who is a Nepali-speaking Bhutanese, said one Ekka Drukpa, the owner of local Chima Travels, mistreated him. "Drukpa is close to the Bhutanese King. No one dares speak against him despite his atrocities," said the driver who recently faced Drukpa rage.

In another recent case, local police refused to register a complaint filed by one Ramesh Chhetri, an employee at Rinchen Supply Agency in Phuntsholing, after he was allegedly beaten up by his employer Rinchen Dorjee. "Dorjee stopped giving me my salary. Police refused to register my complaint against him," said Chhetri.

Most Nepali-speaking Bhutanese, who have been issued citizenships of 4th and 5th categories by the Druk government, have been doing low-class jobs for a living, local Tilak Chhetri informed.

"They are deprived of all government facilities," he said. The BCP-MLM recently owned up responsibility for the bomb blast that occurred in the southern district of Samchi on February 3, stating "it was aimed at destroying election related documents of the government and starting a war against the government."

80,000 more Bhutanese preparing to come to Nepal

Meanwhile, Bhutanese refugee leader Tek Nath Rizal said that as many as 80,000 Bhutanese of Nepal-origin were preparing to leave for Nepal due to the local government's harsh treatment in recent days.

Talking to journalists at Maidhar of Jhapa Tuesday, Rizal said, "The government has restricted free movement of Nepal-speaking Bhutanese, apart from denying them opportunities."

He claimed that no matter how many refugees are taken for third-country resettlement, many others will arrive in Nepal and deepen the problem.

He also charged that India was the main obstacle to the resolution of this problem.

He was of the opinion that the Bhutanese refugee problem would be solved only through repatriation.

Bhutan's ethnic cleansing

Source: New Statesmen

By:Bill Frelick

Bhutan’s image as an otherworldly and harmonious kingdom was rocked on 20 January by coordinated bomb blasts in the capital, Thimpu, and three other locations. The bombs caused minimal damage but generated political shockwaves at a time when the Himalayan state is struggling to transform itself from an autocratic monarchy into a democracy. The second-round of Bhutan’s first-ever elections, scheduled for 24 March, will test whether its embrace of democracy will include its entire people. The answer may determine whether change ultimately will be ushered into Bhutan by the ballot or the bomb.

Although Bhutanese police initially listed Nepal-based exile groups as their top bombing suspects, their suspicions were based more on their knowledge of historical grievances than forensic evidence. A hitherto unknown group, the United Revolutionary Front of Bhutan, claimed responsibility, saying that Thimpu’s changes were cosmetic and would not benefit all Bhutanese. Though such bombings are never justified, the alarms they sound should not be ignored. This salvo should warn the government to be inclusive in its experiment with democratization. To start, it needs to address a blot on Bhutanese history that remains unresolved.

In the late 1980s Bhutanese elites regarded a growing ethnic Nepali population as a demographic and cultural threat. The government enacted discriminatory citizenship laws directed against ethnic Nepalis, that stripped about one-sixth of the population of their citizenship and paved the way for their expulsion.

After a campaign of harassment that escalated in the early 1990s, Bhutanese security forces began expelling people, first making them sign forms renouncing claims to their homes and homeland. “The army took all the people from their houses,” a young refugee told me. “As we left Bhutan, we were forced to sign the document. They snapped our photos. The man told me to smile, to show my teeth. He wanted to show that I was leaving my country willingly, happily, that I was not forced to leave.”

Today, about 108,000 of these stateless Bhutanese are living in seven refugee camps in Nepal. The Bhutanese authorities have not allowed a single refugee to return. In 2006, the US government, seeing an impasse, offered to resettle 60,000 of the Bhutanese refugees. Processing has been slow to start, and the first refugees are not likely to depart until March.

After 17 years of deadlock, the coincidental synchronization of elections in Bhutan and resettlement of Bhutanese refugees to the United States plays into the fears of some refugees, who believe the US is conspiring with Bhutan to keep ethnic Nepalis from repatriating and asserting their rights. These refugees insist that return to Bhutan is the only acceptable solution and they are increasingly intimidating refugees who want to accept the US offer - through beatings, burning huts, and death threats.

Even if the Bhutanese government were to respect their right to repatriate under international law, its treatment of the ethnic Nepalis who still live in Bhutan suggests that the basic rights of returnees cannot be guaranteed.

A Bhutanese government census in 2005 classified 13 percent of Bhutan’s current population as 'non-nationals', meaning that they are not only ineligible to vote, but are denied a wide range of other rights. An ethnic Nepali non-national living in Bhutan told Human Rights Watch, “they don’t ask me to leave, but they make me so miserable, I will be forced to leave. I have no identification, so I cannot do anything, go anywhere, get a job.”

The militants should not deny their fellow refugees the choice of going to the United States or remaining in Nepal. But a genuine choice between resettlement, integration in Nepal, or return to Bhutan can only happen if Bhutan allows refugees to return and restores their rights. Bhutan should make citizenship available to all people with legitimate claims, including the refugees who can trace their statelessness to the events of the early 1990s.

If Bhutan aspires to be truly democratic, it should choose a path of reconciliation with the disenfranchised ethnic Nepalese inside and outside its borders. If instead it deliberately excludes many of its people, it may strengthen the hand of the militants and discover that simply holding elections will bring neither real democracy nor peace.

Ethnic Nepalis And Bhutan's Citizenship Acts

Source: The Rising Nepal
By Kazi Gautam

THE ethnic Nepalis residing in Bhutan have been facing different problems off and on. There is no peace and security, and the ethnic Nepalis have to succumb to different forms of torture. The government introduces policies and acts, brings them into force and amends them after a period of time. But all these acts are measures to exclude the Sarchhops (Nepali speaking people) from participating in governmental activities.

The Druk government has always swindled the international community by appearing benevolent. Backed by the greatest democracy in the world, the Druk dictators have very easily succeeded in establishing "a clean relationship" with the outside world. This has always benefited the Bhutanese government. Although it has been preparing for the first general election to be held in 2008, and also towards establishing democracy, this move of the Bhutanese king plausibly needs to be read between the lines, as thousands of Nepalis within and outside the country have been excluded from obtaining citizenship.

Citizenship Acts
Among the different acts introduced by the government, the Citizenship Acts deserve special mention as they were intended to hit a hard blow to the ethnic Nepalis. The latter first migrated to Bhutan in the 19th century. Most of them became eligible for Bhutanese citizenship under the 1958 Nationality Law. Furthermore, from the mid-1950s, ethnic Nepalis began to establish them in different fields.

The 1977 Citizenship Act increased the residency requirements for citizenship by 10 years: from five to 15 years for government servants and from 10 to 20 years for all other foreigners. The growing concerns about the threats posed by ethnic Nepalis to Bhutan's cultural identity were reflected in an additional requirement for applicants for Bhutanese citizenship to have "some knowledge" of the Dzongkha language and Bhutan's history. As the Nepalis had little or no knowledge of Dzongkha, this requirement was difficult to meet for them. The 1977 Act also very easily excluded the Nepalis to avail the opportunities to obtain the citizenship. It did not grant citizenship to anyone who had carried out activities against Tsawa Tsum (king, country and people). Following the country's first National Census from 1979 to 1981, citizenship was granted only to those identified as citizens according to the 1977 Act.

The Citizenship Act that followed the 1977 Act further tightened the requirements for citizenship. Under this new 1985 Act, a child automatically qualifies for citizenship if both parents are Bhutanese. This Act further complicated the process of obtaining citizenship through the naturalisation process. However, if one had resided in Bhutan on or before December 31, 1958 and had one's name registered in the Ministry of Home Affairs Census Register, he would be provided citizenship.

There are certain points to be noted about the new census of 1988. This census was conducted only to add to the retroactive implementation of the 1985 Act. The census was conducted only in southern Bhutan. It excluded ethnic Nepalis from becoming naturalised citizens, as provided under the 1985 Act. Instead, the authorities restricted Bhutanese citizenship to ethnic Nepalis who had records, such as tax receipts, to prove they were residents in Bhutan in 1958 - 30 years before the census.

The Bhutanese officials refused to accept residency records from 1957 or earlier, or from the years 1957 and 1959 to establish citizenship. They disregarded the citizenship identity cards issued after the previous census: the authorities classified people who could not prove residence in 1958 as non-nationals, "returned migrants", or other illegal immigrant categories, even if they possessed a citizenship card.

Along with the different Citizenship Acts, the king implemented various policies that were intended to exclude and, thus, expel the ethnic Nepalis. Eventually there was a mass demonstration in September and October 1990. Almost all participants were termed "anti-nationals", and thousands of them were detained.

In the light of the above-mentioned points, one can figure out how fruitfully the government can carry out the developmental activities in the country. Majority of the Nepalis residing inside Bhutan do not possess citizenship. They shall never be allowed to exercise their political rights. The political parties that have been recently registered to participate in the country's election are, in fact, under the beck and call of the king. The refugee political parties have not been recognised till date.

Repatriation
It is also noteworthy that the politically-conscious people have been languishing in the refugee camps. The Druk regime always plays fast and loose if it is a question of repatriating the exiled people. Its erstwhile commitment to repatriate at least those refugees who fall under category one (genuine Bhutanese) is too far to come into effect. Instead, it has termed the peaceful and innocent refugees to be "highly politicised and terrorists".

According to the agreements reached by the governments of Bhutan and Nepal, refugees in category two (genuine Bhutanese who are deemed to have left Bhutan voluntarily) would be allowed to return to Bhutan, but would have to reapply for Bhutanese citizenship. However, the provisions of the 1985 Bhutan Citizen Act would exclude most, if not all, people in this category.

(Gautam is Chief Editor, The Bhutan Reporter)

Bhutan offered southern district to India, claims scholar

A group of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, who have been trying to go back to their homeland from where they were evicted because of their Nepali origin nearly two decades ago, says it has learnt about 'an astonishing exchange of parleys' between India and Bhutan regarding the protracted refugee problem.

The National Front for Democracy in Bhutan, an umbrella of several Bhutanese political parties in exile, says the Bhutan government made a 'desperate' proposal to India to solve the refugee impasse that has tarnished Bhutan's image in the eyes of the international community. It has also cast doubts over King Jigme Wangchuk's abdication in favour of his son in an avowed bid to promote democracy and usher in the first election next year.

The exiled Bhutanese group is citing an article written by academic Mahendra P. Lama of the School of International Studies at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) that was published along with other papers last month.

'The Politics, Human Rights and Implications of Protracted Refugee Situations', published by Oxford University, United Nations University, Tokyo and Centre for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, last month carries a paper by Lama where he says he learnt about an offer made by Bhutan to India during discussions with senior Indian officials.

According to Lama, Bhutan offered to give up one of its southern districts, where the population includes people mostly of Nepali origin, and which was subjected to a massive eviction drive that forced people to flee to India and Nepal.

Thimphu offered to hand over the district to India, its biggest donor, trade partner and foreign affairs adviser, for re-settlement of the refugees and other Nepali speaking Bhutanese citizens, Lama's article says.

Had India accepted the proposal, it would have badly affected the already much-frayed India-Nepal relations with Nepal regarding India as having annexed the once independent Sikkim.

While lauding India for turning down the proposal, the refugee group has begun a campaign against 'the deliberate anti-national attempt of (the) despotic regime' of Bhutan to 'disintegrate the country in order to continue holding on to power'.

Issuing a statement in Nepal, NFD-Bhutan said it would launch a mass awareness campaign in Bhutan, adopting the model of the non-violent protests organised by Nepal's opposition parties last year that succeeded in toppling King Gyanendra's government, though it was backed by the army.

The organisation warned that the campaign could include general strikes and taking the issue to international forums to highlight the 'anti-national policies' of the Bhutan government.

It also said it would stage a second long march to Bhutan soon and was garnering support from the liberal parties in India. Many Bhutanese refugee leaders are in Indian cities and are expected to give a boost to the march back home.

The Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, who number over 106,000, have been in a stage of ferment since the US government said it was willing to resettle in American cities and towns as many Bhutanese refugees as favoured third-country resettlement.

The offer came after the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which administers refugee camps in eastern Nepal, said the donors maintaining the camps were growing weary of an impasse that showed no sign of resolution and funding was increasingly slashed.

The resettlement offer has divided the refugees, part of whom want to accept it and part who favour returning home.

The pro-repatriation group is reported to be trying to intimidate those who want to accept the US offer, leading to growing tension and violence in the camps.