Resettled folk commits suicide

Source: BhutanNewsService

New York: Krishna Kumar Rai, 31, from Nashville city of Tennessee State committed suicide by hanging in a closet rod on March 17 at around 2.30 PM. A temporary inhabitant of Goldhap Refugee Camp, Sector B/3 Hut No 23 in eastern Nepal, Mr Rai was resettled in Tennessee in September 2008 along with his parents.

The deceased had just started his job a day before in a laundry at Shared Hospital Services at the night shift where he had to work many hours. It is learnt that his pay scale was very low and the work site was at a far distance. As his family was going to be assisted not more than a month by Catholic Charities, the receiving agency, there was a pressure on him to take the job as there was no one else readily employable in his family. The Rai family was the first Hindu-turned- Christian one in the state. All the funeral expenses were borne by the Christ Church where the Rai family was baptized three month back.

Although the cause of his suicide is not yet known, it is suspected that his low income job may be the reason behind it. Kazi Gautam/Bhutan News Service

Fresh lot reached Nederland for resettlement

Source: Bhutannewsservice.com

Netherlands: When the International Organization for Migration in Nepal is claiming that it has so far resettled around 10,000 exiled Bhutanese under third country resettlement program, a fresh lot of 30 individuals reached Amsterdam Schipol on February 16 for resettlement.
The Dutch Ministry for Immigration and Neutralization confirmed of permitting the fourth group of the exiled Bhutanese for resettlement.
Previously, three families were resettled with their own homes in The Netherlands.
The country is comparatively one of the best in Europe to live in, says Nanda Gautam, the first Bhutanese settled with a political asylum in 1998.
“Refugees enjoy better facilities than the immigrants because they are given social and financial support until they develop the capacity to sustain with self sufficiency,” Gautam added.
The new arrivals are placed in a transit house where they learn the Dutch language and culture.
Gautam wrote Bhutan News Service that education is compulsory and free for children below 18 years.
“The health insurance and medical treatment are very laudable,” said he adding, “Even Americans appreciate the Dutch for the way the politics and socio-economy are managed.”
Like other citizens, the resettled Bhutanese can use the hot line numbers 616 525 884 and 411 686 513 for any help they need.
“The refugees will be called back so that they don’t have to pay for call charges for more than one minute,” said Gautam.

IOM Resettlement of Bhutanese Refugees Hits 10,000 Mark

Source: IOM

Nepal - IOM's resettlement programme for Bhutanese refugees from camps in eastern Nepal, which started in January 2008, has now assisted over 10,000 people.
The refugees, known as Lhotsampas, have been resettled in the United States (9,032), Australia (520), New Zealand (186), Denmark (140), Norway (109), the Netherlands (55), Canada (33) and Sweden (3).

More than 105,000 Lhotsampas, who are of ethnic Nepali origin, fled to seven camps in the Jhapa and Morang regions of Nepal 17 years ago following Bhutan's decision to revoke their citizenship and to expel them.

Subsequent negotiations to allow them to return to Bhutan failed and in September 2007 the Nepalese government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IOM to carry out resettlement activities in Damak, the Nepali town closest to the camps.
The activities include the processing of cases referred to resettlement countries by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 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 Lhotsampas camps.

"IOM would like to express gratitude to the government of Nepal and to our partners at UNHCR for their continuous support of the resettlement programme," says the head of the IOM Damak sub-office David Derthick.

"In 2008 more than 8,000 Bhutanese refugees left the camps. We hope to more than double that number to between 16,000 and 18,000 in 2009," he added.

For more information please contact:

Ann Strandoo
IOM Damak
Tel: +9779851108084
E-mail: astrandoo@iom.int

From Bhutan to Tri-City

Source: The Tri-City News

Local school officials and settlement workers are preparing for an influx of refugees from Bhutan expected to arrive in the Tri-Cities beginning in March.

A meeting is planned for Feb. 20 at Winslow Centre to bring school and community agencies together to figure out how to best meet the needs of refugee families who will be placed in low-cost housing, mostly in Coquitlam, and given the basics for starting a new life here.

“We’re trying to start a proactive process around bringing in a new community,” said Chris Friesen, the director of settlement services for the Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISS).

The Tri-Cities has been identified as the primary location for the settlement of between 800 and 900 Bhutanese currently living in refugee camps in eastern Nepal. Friesen said he expects about 150 people, including about 60 school-aged children, to arrive between March and June, with the rest to follow in 2010 and ’11.

The Nepalese-speaking Bhutanese have been living in refugee camps since the mid 1990s because of a policy of de-nationalization in southern Bhutan. Friesen said the resettlement poses some challenges because he will only get two weeks notice before the first group of refugees arrives — not much time to find housing or hire a Nepalese-speaking settlement worker and train them.

Friesen must also educate community and school officials on what to expect and how to provide services to the first wave of Bhutanese to come to B.C. since the federal government committed to accepting 5,000 Bhutanese refugees between 2008 and 2013.

Julie Pearce, School District 43 assistant superintendent, said the Feb. 20 meeting is “a gift” for administrators, teachers and counsellors, who are focusing their attention on ways to support the refugee families. Six settlement workers hired last fall through the provincially-funded Settlement Workers in Schools program will be introducing the new students and their families to the school system.

Pearce said the district is also looking at ways to improve its services for all refugee families. Among the changes the district is considering is centralizing reception services for refugee families, doing a better job of tracking students through the school system and improving English language services to adults.

“This is all fairly recent for our district,” Pearce said. “We’re exploring some different kind of models.”

Friesen said the Tri-Cities were chosen to house the refugees because Surrey already has a large Nepalese population and it was believed the Bhutanese should have their own distinct community, and because of the mountainous geography, which is similar to the terrain in southern Bhutan.

According to ISS statistics, the Tri-Cities are the second largest destination after Surrey for refugees to B.C. Most refugees to this area are from middle eastern countries.

dstrandberg@tricitynews.com

IOM Assists Over 8,000 Bhutanese Refugees to Resettle Abroad

Source: IOM

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

Refugee Resettlement, Is It Being Carried Out Fairly?

Source: The Rising Nepal

By: T.P. Mishra

The resettlement of an estimated 6,000 refugees in third countries so far is one of the strongest and noteworthy evidences to show that the United State’s offer of Third Country Resettlement (TCR) has finally reached good height.

Heavy response
Not taken seriously in the initial stage, the TCR offer that began in the midst of an insecure atmosphere has attracted more than 50,000 individuals. They have submitted their declaration of interest to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The latest data show that majority of the Bhutanese refugees have shown interest in getting resettled in third countries.

But there have been instances of corruption inside the refugee camps in Jhapa and Morang districts, which have been reported in the media time and again. And there is police suspicion that a racket has been involved in trying to slip non-Bhutanese into the resettlement programme. This is one of the serious concerns of the authorities involved in resettling the Bhutanese refugees of Nepali origin in third countries.

Following the arrest of one Amrita Darjee, 30, a temporary resident of Beldangi-II camp under Sector D/1-16, who confessed to charges of forgery in the resettlement process, the question of infiltration of non-Bhutanese in the resettlement programme has been raised.

Some 100,000 refugees fled Bhutan in the early Nineties to flee suppression by the Bhutanese authorities. These refugees have been living in camps in eastern Nepal since the past 17 years, and the resettlement programme in a third country offers a ray of hope for a better future.

The writer of this piece came across many refugees inside the camps who complained that they were not allowed to re-register until a bribe was issued to the Refugee Coordination Unit (RCU). Many refugees are scared to disclose the reality to media persons about having paid a bribe to the RCU stationed inside the camps.

There are a number of refugees inside the camps who say that even some members of the refugee Registration Team (RT) are refusing to register them. A refugee from Beldangi-II camp, on condition of anonymity, said that he gave Rs. 7,000 to a member of the RT in order to get a refugee status. This is corruption at the highest level since the Registration Team comprises representatives of the UNHCR and Nepal government.

Verification and re-registration of Bhutanese, not registered as refugees earlier, is not moving in a fair and impartial way since officials at the RT are learnt to ask for money. The UNHCR as well as the Government of Nepal should, therefore, look into the ongoing corruption in the TCR programme.

On the other side, the ongoing corruption inside the camps has pushed back vulnerable refugees, since they are not given priority during the resettlement process. As the offer of resettlement is free of cost, the authorities concerned, particularly the UNHCR and Government of Nepal, should be serious towards discouraging such practices inside the camps.

The corrupt officials should not be allowed to go scot free since such incidents will only encourage more of such corruption. It’s certain that the growing corruption in the resettlement programme will derail the TCR programme. And this will only invite frustration in those refugees who are interested in getting resettled in third countries.

Possibilities of fraud cannot be ignored. But genuine Bhutanese refugees should not be denied from resettling in third countries should they meet all the requirements. Sorting out vulnerable refugees is the need of the hour. It is to be noted that already a significant number of refugees, having a sound wealth background, have been resettled in different countries, most of them in the US. But poor vulnerable refugees seem to struggling to be resettled as early as possible. This is a matter of serious concern.

Maoist involvement
This writer also came across many refugees whose process for resettlement was scuttled by the UNHCR for alleged involvement in Maoist-related activities inside the camps. Investigation of such cases should be carried out in a free, impartial and fair manner to ensure that no innocent refugee becomes a victim. Not only this, the authorities are even learnt to have warned the refugees not to disclose that their process for resettlement had been halted.

(Mishra is a Bhutanese journalist in exile in Nepal. He can be reached at: mishratp@gmail.com)

New home for Bhutan's refugees

Source: GuardianWeekly

Nestled between India and China, the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan seems an unlikely starting point for large-scale ethnic displacement. But since the early 90s more than 100,000 members of the Nepalese-speaking Bhutanese population have been living in refugee camps in eastern Nepal, evicted from Bhutan for their pro-democratic activities. This year almost 5,000 Bhutanese refugees will leave their camps for resettlement in the US, according to a report by the UNHCR. Kishor Pradhan, who has been in exile since 1990, hopes to become one of them.

It was in 1986, while I was in high school, that I first felt discriminated against because of my ethnicity. I was a Lhotshampa, which meant I was from the south of the country and spoke Nepalese. My other ethnic Nepalese friends and I wanted to celebrate Dashain, the biggest Hindu festival, so we bunked class. When the school principal berated us for our behaviour we apologised to him – little did I know that far greater repression was yet to come.

After finishing school I went to college in eastern Bhutan. At that time it was the only higher education institute in the nation. I wanted to take science but couldn’t because I had only scored 59%. So I studied commerce.

After Zangley Dukpa (now minister of health) became the college principal, the atmosphere became tense. He introduced stringent rules that were intended to repress my minority Nepali-speaking community. He closed down our Nepali Literary Association, which organised recitals of Nepali poems. We were required to wear the national dress (called Gho, a knee-length robe tightened at the waist by a belt) instead of our ethnic Daura Suruwal, a long double-breasted garment flowing below the waist, worn with trousers.

Then in 1989 Principal Dukpa issued an order that prohibited Lhotshampa students from celebrating Dashain. We saw this as discrimination and decided to celebrate anyway. A debate ensued and the security forces were summoned. Our photos were taken, and later the security forces came to our hostel and arrested my classmates.

When I heard that Lhotshampa people were being arrested and tortured, I left for my home in southern Bhutan. When I got there I found that the area had already become a hotbed of peaceful pro-democratic protest. Soon I was told that the security forces were searching for me, and in February 1990 I left for India. I walked for two hours to Kulkule and from there I rode a bus to Jayagaon in West Bengal, India. In Jayagaon I met a lot of Bhutanese refugees. As the crackdown continued in Bhutan, the number of refugees grew.

In the Indian border town of Garganda, refugees were being relocated to temporary camps. Various refugee forums were established there. I joined a group of like-minded refugee youths and in 1990 we formed the People’s Forum for Human Rights. Some of the refugee leaders went to eastern Nepal looking for a place to shelter the refugees. Nepal, which doesn’t share a border with Bhutan, was generous and provided us with land on the bank of the Mai River in the south of the country. I shuttled between India and Nepal, transporting the refugees – mostly children, elderly people and women.

We were able to draw the attention of non-profit organisations and donor agencies. Caritas Nepal, Oxfam and Lutheran World Service were the first to help us. Then, towards the end of 1991, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) started to manage the camps. To this day, my fellow countrymen still live in these seven sprawling camps.

I was registered in one of the camps, but my desire to learn and explore kept leading me to the outside world. I won a scholarship to a college in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. It felt like my dream had come true when I was accepted to study science. After two years I won another scholarship to study for a bachelor’s degree in Calcutta, India.

In 1999, I married my long-time sweetheart, who was also a refugee. We left for Kathmandu, where I taught accounting in a number of schools. I wanted to teach because I didn’t like depending on the rations provided by the World Food Programme.

Life was good in Kathmandu, but the homelessness, lack of identity and the bitter past always came back to haunt me. Again, I and a few other professional Lhotshampas banded together to form an organisation – this time it was the Bhutanese Refugee Youth Forum.

In 2005 we were invited to attend a UN conference in New York, so I and one other member of our forum flew to the US. While we were there we met others from Bhutan who had sought refuge in America. They advised us to seek asylum. It sounded convincing. After all, the 15 rounds of talks between Nepal and Bhutan had failed to bring any hope to the 100,000-plus refugees languishing in camps in Nepal.

A year after I applied for asylum I was interviewed by the US Department of Homeland Security. But I have not been given asylum and no one has contacted me to tell my why. I have done several odd jobs while I’ve been here. For the past couple of years I have been working in New York, in software quality assurance. But every year I have to renew my employment authorisation card and life is still in limbo.

I am happy that the US has offered to resettle 70,000 Bhutanese refugees. Many of them are still trickling into the cities and communities of the US. I just hope that I will be granted the right to stay here – and I hope my wife and nine-year-old daughter will be able to join me. I hope that eventually we will have a place to call home.

UNHCR says mixed marriage cases unlikely for TCR

Source: APFANEWS.COM

Kathmandu, September 23: When there are several pending cases of mixed marriages in camps, between exiled Bhutanese and Nepalese or Indian citizens, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has addressed some key issues connected to this.

A monthly bulletin of UNHCR published last month attempted to clarity an instance regarding resettlement of a family if a member has married a Nepali or Indian citizen.

UNHCR said, resettlement is a solution intended to provide assistance to 'refugees' and is not a right. For applying for resettlement, a person must be a 'refugee' from Bhutan registered with the Government of Nepal. If someone in such a family is married to a Nepali or Indian national, and that person is a dependent family member, UNHCR is reluctant to separate the family members and therefore additional assessments of the situation would be required before making any decision to process that case for resettlement.

The bulletin explained that UNHCR would refer the case of an exiled woman, who is married to a Nepali national, to the Nepal Bar Association which advises the woman on the Nepal law regarding citizenship.

"A refugee woman married to a Nepali man may not be eligible for resettlement because she is able to naturalize in Nepal", wrote the bulletin adding, "She would therefore no longer be a refugee''. According to UNHCR, such women do not require international protection and resettlement as a durable solution.

However, if an exiled man marries a Nepali woman, he may be eligible to apply for residency status in Nepal. "It is UNHCR policy, however, to conduct a thorough assessment of the entire family to determine the refugee family's situation and whether they should be referred for resettlement to a third country together due to the nature of dependency bonds between family
members."

Further, regarding marriages between exiled Bhutanese and Indian citizens, UNHCR has said that if an exiled Bhutanese has married an Indian national, the former may be entitled to residency status in India, and even citizenship.

"Each refugee married to an Indian will be carefully interviewed and assessed by UNHCR to determine the options for that person and the situation of the refugee family before referring them for resettlement."

The UN Refugee Agency has asked households having such cases to be patient. The agency said that additional interviews with such families are to be conducted which would delay the process.

Mix marriage complications in several families have rendered the burden of family separation among members whose cases for resettlement are pending since several months of relocation of other family associates. Bhutan News Service

Uncertain refuge - Funding cuts jeopardize services to growing influx of refugees

Source: www.goerie.com

By REBECCA HARRIS

rebecca.harris@timesnews.com

(Left) Shyam and Rupa Rai are refugees that recently moved to Erie from Bhutan. The couple live on Erie's eastside with two of their sons, John Rai, 25, and Amos Rai, 23. (Janet B. Campbell / Erie Times-News)

After living for 16 years without grocery stores, refrigerators or phones, the Rai family found their new East 23rd Street apartment a bit foreign.

There was the heating system they had never seen.

And the locking front door.

"Two times we are already locked (out) here because our parents do not know how to use things," said John Rai, 25.

For their apartment -- as well as the English as a Second Language classes they attend, and the shiny new sneakers that John Rai bought at Walmart -- the Rai family can thank the International Institute of Erie, a resettlement agency that helps refugees intensively during their first six months in the area.


The apartment is about twice as big as the mud-and-bamboo hut the family occupied in a Nepalese refugee camp.

But John Rai's parents, Shyam Rai, 65, and Rupa Raini, 63, have yet to learn English or find jobs.

And starting Oct. 1, cuts in funding for social services to assist refugees after the first six months of resettlement funding ends, which might leave some refugees' needs unmet.

Social programs statewide have suffered cuts for the coming budget cycle.

But refugees in Erie may be facing a particular crunch.

Funding for the year starting Oct. 1 is based on the low numbers of refugees who came to Pennsylvania between October 2004 and October 2007, state refugee coordinator Norm-Anne Rothermel said.

In the year since, however, the number arriving in Erie has doubled to more than 300.

On Thursday, the Legislature allocated $350,000 to help fill the gap, restoring funding to 2007's level, Rothermel said. A $300,000 shortfall remains because a new refugee service agency in Philadelphia now shares in the funding.

Before the cuts, Erie County's three refugee agencies had big plans for working together.

The International Institute works with refugees in their first six months here. The Hispanic American Council provides social services for years after they arrive. Catholic Charities does both.

Since the beginning of 2008, they have met jointly to come up with a self-sufficiency plan for each family, said Joel Tuzynski, executive director of Hispanic American Council.

Funding for a certified counselor and a medical advocate began in April, he said.

But by May, a 10 percent funding cut put the cooperative effort's future in jeopardy.

Tuzynski had envisioned sharing resources such as driving simulators and financial-management classes. A shuttle could transport refugees between different agencies, and even to their jobs.

But those ideas could now be moot, leaving Erie's increasing numbers of refugees with fewer options.

Funding allocations will be announced in letters mailed this week, Rothermel said.

Tuzynski is waiting.

Refugees from Bhutan like the Rai family are the third-largest group arriving in Erie, according to numbers provided by John Flanagan, director of the International Institute. Nearly 70 have come to Erie since October 2006.

Although John Rai has been in the U.S. only since July, he already looks like any other American 25-year-old, from his short black hair tousled with gel to his sneakers.

When his family left for a refugee camp in Nepal in 1992, John Rai was 8 and attending school in India. Within a couple of years, he joined them in the camp because his parents could not pay for his education.

The Bhutanese government expelled many ethnic Nepali families like the Rais in a drive to "purify" the country, John Rai said.

For decades beforehand, his parents had suffered doubly because they are also Christian.

Bhutanese police raided house churches on Christmas. Shyam Rai was repeatedly summoned to the mayor's office and forced to stand against a wall for hours.

"We can't say with our head lifted up that we're Christian in our country," John Rai said. "Sometimes we have to tell lies. We have to hide it."

Shyam Rai and Rupa Raini, both pastors, raised their three sons in the faith. John Rai sprinkles the phrase "by the grace of God" into everyday conversation. He started teaching Sunday school at age 12 and preaching at age 16.

He studied theology in college and graduate school in India. He relied on scholarships, help from friends and income from preaching to pay the bills.

"I didn't eat, and I didn't buy new clothes, but I used my money to buy books," he said.

He left 40 of those books behind in the refugee camp.

On a desk the International Institute gave him, he keeps a small stack of books that he brought, as well as a Longman Dictionary of American English from the International Institute and a stack of Bibles from Crossroads Community Baptist Church.

The Bibles, he said, are to give to other refugees. While his parents don't know enough English to be pastors here, John Rai has already found employment at Crossroads doing community outreach.

After growing up in a refugee camp, he said, a desire to help others motivates him.

"God has given me that privilege and responsibility to follow his path. I am in the right track, I believe," he said, putting his hand on his chest.

"I have died many times, but God helped me resurrect."

REBECCA HARRIS can be reached at 870-1739 or by e-mail.

Refugees In Erie And The U.S., By The Numbers

• 50,000: Number of refugees who come to the U.S. each year.
  
• 
  
• 60,000: Number of Bhutanese refugees U.S. has pledged to accept by October 2012.
  
• 
  
• 5,000: Number of Bhutanese refugees who have arrived in the U.S. in the past 12 months.
  
• 
  
• 69: Number of Bhutanese refugees who have settled in Erie since October 2006.
  

SOURCES: Ben Sanders, spokesman for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants; John Flanagan, director, International Institute of Erie.

Resettlement In Australia

Source: The Rising Nepal

By: T. P. Mishra

The offer of Third Country Resettlement (TCR) for now has become an immediate solution to the protracted Bhutanese refugee issue. Even looking at it statistically, an escalating number of refugees are showing interest in the TCR. As many as 3,000 plus Bhutanese refugees have already been resettled in different countries, including the US, the biggest of the resettling core group comprising Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway.

Why the delay?

Majority of the refugees being resettled have reached the US. The other six countries in the core group have been a bit slow in expediting the resettlement process. The latest statistical data show that as many as 62 individuals among the 1,000 already interviewed have been resettled in Australia. The process for resettlement, particularly in Australia, is confusing to the people living in the different camps. A number of refugees, whose process for resettlement in Australia has been completed, have been frustrated by the delaying tactics opted by the Australian government.

Refugees who began the necessary process for resettlement in Australia following the visit by Ellen Saurbrey on November 1, 2007 are yet to get their confirmation date to leave Nepal for Australia. Ganga Woti Bhujel (name changed) of Sanischare camp began the process for resettlement in Australia in 2007. Ganga Woti says she was given assurances of resettlement within four months of undergoing her medical check-up in February 2008. What is interesting is that Ganga Woti will have to undergo more medical check-ups once the date crosses six months. Ganga Woti further says that she has been wearing the clothes and using other basic necessities which she intended to use after resettling in Australia. Like many others, Ganga Woti has also sold all her belongings after the medical check-up.

A number of refugees have already undergone numerous medical check-ups. A source very close to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), on condition of anonymity, says that the IOM usually carries out the medical check-ups for refugees to be resettled in Australia without wasting a single day once the file is received at the office. Thus it is only natural that those who have undergone medical check-ups should be greatly frustrated.

In comparison to the resettlement programme in the US, those applying or whose process is already underway, particularly for Australia, are in a sea-saw position, meaning they do not know whether to withdraw and apply for another country or wait and see for new developments, if any. There is no concerned authority stationed near the refugee camps where the refugees can put forth their inquiries regarding resettlement in Australia.

Many refugees complain that the staff at the Damak-based UNHCR office do not cooperate when the refugees reach the office for any inquiry. This unfair and unjustifiable trend should be immediately stopped. It is necessary on the part of the resettling countries to establish an inquiry office near the refugee camps. This will help the refugees to stay free of any mental harassment. The UNHCR must state clearly if it is capable of handling all these issues single-handedly.

It is worth drawing the attention to a case of one Raghu Bhandari (name changed) of Morang-based Sanischare camp. His brother has gone mentally ill following the delay in the resettlement process in Australia. He had undergone the medical check-up as early as January 2008.

Another Bhandari family (surname changed) in Beldangi-II camp regrets choosing Australia as their resettling country. "If it is possible, we want to withdraw our case from resettling in Australia," says the father who leads the family. The other problem is that the UNHCR gradually cuts off facilities for refugees whose resettlement process has begun. This family has had the bitter experience of seeing rude behaviour from the UNHCR staff while making inquiries about their resettlement process in Australia.

Solutions

Dissemination of reliable information is a problem, with which the refugees are getting impatient. The IOM is not the agency to deal with resettlement in Australia, and the UNHCR is unresponsive to the queries put forth by the refugees. To be honest, people in the camps say Australia is not the best country to be resettled. This might not be true, but the concerned authorities have the moral obligation to disseminate reliable information to the refugee community. They have the right to know why the delay in the resettlement in Australia.

Those refugees visiting the Kathmandu-based Australian Embassy quoted officials as saying that the Australian government would resettle only as many Bhutanese refugees as the Canadian Government does as agreed in the core group negotiation. The Canadian government has resettled a little more than a dozen refugees till date and has yet to resettle a considerable number within this year. The Australian government might be waiting to see what number of refugees the Canadian government would resettle this year and make its plan accordingly.

Many refugee students have already quit their studies after getting assurances from the Kathmandu-based Australian Embassy. But the same embassy has now been saying that further inquires need to be made directly with the New Delhi-based immigration head office. So the delaying schemes of the Australian government need to be read between the lines.

(The author is editor of Kathmandu-based Bhutan News Service)

Bhutanese Refugees Resettle In Atlanta

Source: 11alive.com

They are called the "forgotten people" by relief organizations. More than 100,000 Bhutanese are estimated to live in refugee camps -- homeless and stateless. And nearly 6 dozen refugee families from Bhutan now call Atlanta home in one of the largest resettlement efforts.

For 17 years, she has known nothing of life except the life of a refugee.

"We knew we were in a camp. We don't get any right and justice. And outside people discriminate us and they did badly to us," said Sita Timsina.

Timsina was only 6 years old when her family was forced from their quiet life in Bhutan as orange farmers into a refugee camp in neighboring Nepal.

Until 3 months ago, a make-shift hut of bamboo and plastic was home. Sita says life was primitive, and at times, unbearable.

"No we don't have any power, electricity, no toilet, no bathrooms, no nothing. In the beginning we use open ground for the toilet."

"It's very difficult. There is no electricity, no light. We have to eat food before getting dark at evening time because there is no light," said Indira Nepal, who lived in a different refugee camp in southeast Nepal.

But with the aid of the United Nations and other relief groups, Sita and her family escaped that life as a part of one of the largest resettlement efforts. Of the 60,000 Bhutan refugees allowed in the states, Sita's family is one of 70 refugee families, who have resettled in Atlanta around Clarkston.

"They are coming in great numbers. And their numbers are equal to refugees from Iraq and Burma right now. And we are expecting their numbers to increase. They just started coming this year," said Honishka Adish with the International Rescue Committee.

There are 105,000 ethnic Nepalis, a Hindu minority in Bhutan, who human rights groups say were politically, socially, and religiously persecuted, and eventually exiled from Bhutan.

"It's almost one-six of the population in Bhutan," said Narayan Katel, who was a former Bhutanese diplomat and now helps resettle Bhutanese refugees into Atlanta.

Most of them have lived as refugees in southeast Nepal for nearly 20 years. Their life, their story, their plight is that of what relief groups call the "forgotten people."

"It's basically an issue of human rights," said Katel, who sought asylum from the Bhutanese government.

Sita yearns to return to her homeland of Bhutan. But for now, Atlanta is home. And it is her life here...That has allowed her to hope and dream of more.

"This is the land of opportunity."

The International Rescue Committee in Atlanta provides financial assistance for the refugee families and helps them find housing and jobs.

To make furniture, clothing, monetary donations, you can call IRC at (404) 292-7731.

The Jewish Family Career Services has also set up an emergency fund for the families. Donors looking to donate money can call (770) 677-9300. Item donations can be made by calling (404) 983-2004.

Refugees from Bhutan begin arriving in Everett

Source: HeraldNet

There are so few people of Bhutanese descent in the United States that the federal Census doesn't offer them a category.

The landlocked Asian nation of Bhutan has fewer than 1 million residents. Over the past 20 years, more than 100,000 Bhutanese have fled to neighboring Nepal to escape persecution based on their Nepalese ancestry.

The U.S. agreed to resettle up to 60,000 of those refugees late last year.

Last week, one Bhutanese family of five arrived in Everett, said Jan Stephens, director of this region's resettlement program for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.

By Wednesday, the fledgling group is expected to double, to 10 people. Stephens' organization is expected to pick up another family of five from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

"After that there could be another 10 people, for a total of 20 over the next couple of months," Stephens said.

That's more certainty than Stephens has had about the refugees coming to the Puget Sound region in some time. Resettlement restrictions that emerged after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have stalled the flow of refugees. Federal officials are so cautious about blocking entry points for potential terrorists that other groups have suffered, Stephens said.

The Bhutanese are the largest group the U.S. has agreed to accept in recent memory. Still, the arrival of the refugees is a trickle compared with the waves of other groups such as Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s and 1980s, and refugees from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s.

Everett isn't a major resettlement city for Bhutanese refugees, but it's never clear where later groups will end up, Stephens said.

The city has large Iraqi, Russian and Ukrainian refugee communities, as well as growing communities of African refugees.

In one major way, the Bhutanese refugees don't fit the stereotype of third-world arrivals: most speak English.

That will make a big difference in their immediate success here, Stephens said.

The family, which could not be reached for comment, is living in northeast Everett. They have been given $450 per person to pay for their first month at a nonsubsidized apartment, Stephens said. The only other assistance they'll receive is whatever they can get through public social programs, which are available to all families that meet state requirements.

The father already has enrolled in a welding training program at Everett Community College, said Van Dinh Kuno, director of the Snohomish County Refugee and Immigrant Forum, which helps families enroll in classes and find jobs. The father began classes on Monday.

"They are so eager to learn," Kuno said. "They're willing to do anything."


Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.

Refugees come home

Source: Manawatu Standard

Twenty seven refugees from Bhutan arrived in Palmerston North yesterday, several of them friends or relatives of a group of 17 who settled in the city in April this year.


There were cries of delight, hugs and in one or two cases a few tears as many years of being displaced persons came to an end. Some had spent 15 years or more in refugee camps in southern Nepal.

For children born and raised in the camps, Palmerston North represents a chance to move into a home of their own for the first time in their lives.

"They are fresh from six weeks at the Mangere Reception Centre where they received orientation," said RMS Refugee Resettlement volunteer programme co-ordinator Lorna Johnson.

"Volunteers will spend the evening with their [assigned] families, have dinner with them and help them settle in and catch up with families from the other intake.

"We have quite a mixture this time. Some are highly educated and others have trade skills."

Appropriately, yesterday was World Refugee Day.

Many earlier refugees were waiting at Palmerston North International Airport to greet the arrivals.

"What's it like to be on the other side of the line this time?" one was asked.

"It is good, very good," he said.

Tonight the latest refugees will be guests of honour at a welcome dinner organised by earlier Bhutanese, Burmese and Congolese settlers.

Mrs Johnson said it could be two months before RMS Refugee Resettlement hears if any more refugees are likely to be directed to Palmerston North.

US embassy says no non-Bhutanese has been resettled in US

Source: Nepalnews.com

The American Embassy has said no non-Bhutanese refugee has been resettled in the US and that recent news reports saying a few people have managed their way to the US, as refugees, are unfounded.

"There have been several reports published in Nepal that contain factually inaccurate information regarding refugee resettlement in the United States. UNHCR and the U.S. Embassy confirm that all refugees resettled so far have successfully gone through an exhaustive process and have been confirmed to be genuine candidates for resettlement.

The embassy further said, "Each refugee who is resettled goes through an extensive screening process, first by UNHCR, second by IOM, then by representatives of the resettlement country, in this case by officials of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security."

The identity of each refugee is checked several times against a data base containing the refugee's picture and finger prints, the embassy added.

From Bhutan to the Bronx

Source: BBC News

Kina Maya is 50.

She has lived in a refugee camp since she fled Bhutan with her husband and son in the early 1990s.

Now she is in New York.

Imagine, from a camp in Nepal to New York. Culture shock doesn't even begin to describe it.

"We can't understand anyone, and they can't understand us. We walk on the street, and everybody is a giant. It's scary. We go into the subway it's strange, getting into a lift is odd," she says.

"Everything is strange."

She giggles as she describes her new life. It's all alien, but so full of hope. For the first time in 17 years the family have a proper home.

The tiny Buddhist kingdom, Bhutan, sits between China and India. More than 100,000 ethnic Nepali Bhutanese fled or were expelled from the country in the early 1990s.

The majority have been living in camps in Nepal ever since.

As well as America, some are now going to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway.

Kina Maya's son Banu shows me around the spacious one-room apartment in the Bronx, just north of Manhattan.

They are proud of their little domain: it's squeaky clean, carefully protected. The plastic is still on the dining room chairs.

Coming to grips

It is a far cry from the world they left behind at the camp.

"The situation was very horrible, the home we lived in was not good at all," she says.

Now the family is coming to grips with living in an entirely different environment.

It's the basics that are challenging: what do you do if there's a fire? You call 911. Of course, it's obvious, but only if you know.

The organisation involved with bringing them over, International Rescue Committee (IRC), ensures that details such as this are covered, along with how to use a fire extinguisher, how to use the cooker, how to use the subway and where to buy groceries.

Bhutanese refugees in Nepal camp
America has agreed to take in 60,000 refugees

For now the family have some new arrivals staying with them.

Tika Maya is 28 years old, her son Suraj is seven. He was born in the refugee camp, it's all he has ever known.

For her America is centred around her son; she is hopeful but scared.

"The most exciting thing is now we're in New York, now we'll get a lot more opportunities. My son will get a better education and he will work more, and he will earn for me. The most frightening thing is how to get a job, how to enrol my child to school."

At the IRC, as well as helping with basic information, they run a series of orientation programmes.

The aim is to ease the refugees into the patterns of a new life. School enrolment is one of them.

Challenging

"There's naturally a period of transition and adjustment once they arrive to the US, especially for children. Some of these kids have known nothing but refugee camp life, so when they come to the US they're expected to sit in a classroom, follow a routine they may not be used to," says Christine Petrie of the IRC.

"Whilst many refugees work in a camp setting, working in a structured work environment can be challenging."

The first step is the language.

Almost every day, the two families travel into central Manhattan to learn English.

Map showing Nepal and Bhutan

Banu helps his parents with the alphabet. He is the only one of the two families who can speak English.

Getting a job, being independent is a priority. Banu is confident that with his language abilities he'll get something fairly quickly.

The IRC says most refugees become self-reliant within four months.

Mingled with this urge for forging ahead, is sadness for the death of a dream - of one day returning to Bhutan, but it's one they accept has to be given up.

They have had almost two decades without an identity - as Banu explains, the concept of citizenship, is precious.

"For the first couple of days we are feeling very lonely, very upset. Now here for 15 days, everything going smoothly. The goal is to earn money, to be a citizen of a country, to earn a house, and to get freedom and rights and everything that is the goal."

Banu's family, Tika Maya and her son belong to the first wave of the 60,000 refugees the US has agreed to take in.

There is no doubt it's going to take a while to adjust.

But although this is a foreign land, for the first time in 17 years they have a place to call their own, they have a country that is home.

Bhutanese refugees find new home

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Bhutanese siblings Dilli Prasad Odari, 20, Man Maya Odari, 25, Yani Maya Odari, 22, stand in the doorway of their Whitehall apartment.
Photo: Andy Starnes/Post-Gazette
For 17 years, the Odari family was among more than 107,000 Bhutanese refugees in camps scattered among the southeastern plains of Nepal, hoping to return to their rightful place: Bhutan.

The nine-member family shared a small hut with thatched roof and dirt floor that had no electricity, running water, toilet or kitchen. They lived on sparse rations of rice, lentils, vegetables, salt, sugar and oil distributed twice a month by United Nations agencies, but the food never stretched far enough to fill hungry bellies.

Then on April 9, three members of the Odari family arrived in Pittsburgh to start a new life.

"We were having a tough time in the refugee camp. We're happy to be here," said a beaming Man Maya, 25, who is living with her younger sister, Yani Maya, 22, and brother, Dilli Prasad, 20, in an apartment in Prospect Park in Whitehall.

Last night, their elderly parents, two more brothers -- one 24 and disabled and another 17, and two more sisters, 21 and 25, were expected to arrive here to join them.

The family's relocation is being assisted by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Man Maya was only 9 when she was forced to leave Bhutan with her parents and other family members. They were among the 120,000 Nepali-speaking Bhutanese -- mostly Hindu and Buddhist -- who were evicted from Bhutan in the late 1980s and early '90s when the Bhutanese rulers forced them to wear traditional dress, required that they speak the Dzongkha language and deprived many of citizenship. Protests against the stringent rules resulted in the mass exodus of tens of thousands to neighboring India. India, in turn, forced most of them to enter Nepal, which does not share a border with Bhutan.

The Odaris lived in a Beldangi refugee camp -- one of seven camps run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In some camps, many children died from the lack of health care and the scorching climate in the plains.

"At times, there were 14 funerals a day," said Kishor Pradhan, a board member at Association of Bhutanese in America. Mr. Pradhan, who has been living north of Pittsburgh in New Castle for nine months, sought refugee status in the United States three years ago.

The United States has offered to resettle 60,000 of the 107,000 of the refugees. Six other countries -- Australia, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Denmark -- have offered to resettle the rest.

"After 17 years of suffering, the day has come for the Bhutanese to start fresh," said Mr. Pradhan, a senior quality analyst at Coventry Healthcare in Cranberry. "There is now a ray of hope for the refugees because numerous attempts to repatriate to Bhutan have failed."

The International Organization for Migration is screening and transporting the refugees. The United States plans to resettle 10,000 by the end of 2008, many going to New York, Maryland, Arizona, Missouri, Illinois and other places.

Dilli Prasad Odari said all of his family decided to resettle in the United States. "In camps we had to rely on UNHCR for our daily needs. But here we can live on our own, and it's also good for future generation," he said. Some of his other relatives have been resettled in Texas.

The family is gradually becoming accustomed to their new surroundings in the Whitehall area in the South Hills.

They are taking English classes in the mornings. They received health screenings shortly after their arrival. They also received food assistance to shop at Wal-Mart.

Even though he's 20, Mr. Odari last attended 10th grade in the refugee camp and hopes to further his education here. He likes to compare Pittsburgh with Ilam, a city in the eastern highland of Nepal that has similar topography. A lover of Nepali music, he has brought a collection of the Nepali lyrics. "But I'm dying to listen to Nepali songs," he said.

Man Maya, a high school graduate, said it's hard to keep connected with her loved ones across the ocean. "It's hard to make phone calls to Nepal," she said.

Yani Maya is a little worried about finding work. "I hope we'll be able to work after four months," she said.

"They seem happy and are feeling good about being here," said John Miller, director of refugee services for Catholic Charities. His organization is resettling a total of 170 refugees in 2008.

Catholic Charities also provides core services such as applying for Social Security cards, medical screening, enrollment in English language training, employment counseling and orientation to the refugees. According to Mr. Miller, Catholic Charities provides its services for five years after they arrive. Catholic Charities in Pittsburgh also has helped resettle Vietnamese, Burmese, Sudanese, Somalian, Burundian, Iraqi, Meskhetian Turks (from the former Soviet Union) and Haitian refugees.

"Each refugee group has a different set of challenges," Mr. Miller said. "They have struggles but they also have emotional and psychological issues."

Mr. Odari hopes more Bhutanese will be resettled in Pittsburgh. "It feels good to be here but I'm also missing my friends in Nepal," he said, adding that he is developing friendships with young Burmese refugees in the neighborhood.

He's learning the bus routes of the city and has learned how to follow maps to visit places. On a recent afternoon, when he saw a deer in the nearby woods, he was thrilled.

Eventually he hopes to return for a visit to Nepal to see the place where he said he has spent "some of the hardest times of my life."

Maoist victory casts shadow over Bhutan refugee resettlement

Source: Thaindian News

By Sudeshna Sarkar

The historic victory of Nepal’s former Maoist guerrillas in this month’s crucial election and their bid to lead the new government has cast a dark shadow over the process started by the US and other western governments to offer Bhutanese refugees in Nepal new homes abroad. The Maoists, who fought a 10-year armed battle to overthrow Nepal’s Shah kings, are opposed to the US-led initiative by seven western governments to resettle over 105,000 Bhutanese, who have been languishing in refugee camps in Nepal for almost two decades after being evicted by the royalist government of Bhutan in the 1980s.

“We oppose the process started (under the Girija Prasad Koirala government of Nepal) to resettle the Bhutanese refugees in third countries,” said Maoist foreign affairs chief Chandra Prakash Gajurel, who was also one of the winners in the April 10 election.

“How can Nepal give documents to the Bhutanese to go abroad when they are not Nepali citizens?” Gajurel told private radio station Ujala FM. “Our party will try to ensure they go back to Bhutan.

“From there, they can go to foreign countries if they want to.”

The Maoist announcement comes even as the International Organisation for Migration and the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Nepal (UNHCR) jointly started flying out Bhutanese refugees from closed camps in eastern Nepal to the US, Australia and New Zealand.

So far, about 150 refugees have left for fresh pastures abroad.

Last month, when the resettlement started, UNHCR chief Daisy Dell said seven western governments - the US, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Denmark - have offered to absorb as many refugees as are willing to go.

“By 2008, we estimate 10,000 refugees would have left the camps,” Dell had said.

The US, which considers the Maoists as a terrorist organisation though they signed a peace pact two years ago and could now head the new Nepal government, has offered to take the largest bloc of Bhutanese refugees - 60,000 initially, followed by as many more as are willing to relocate.

When the refugees were evicted from their homes in the 1980s because of their ethnic origin and arrived in Nepal, a succession of Nepal governments tried to persuade Bhutan to take its citizens back.

However, 15 rounds of negotiations failed to see any thaw in Bhutan’s attitude with the Druk government saying the refugee camps had been infiltrated by Maoists and to allow the refugees back home would be tantamount to “importing” terrorism.

As the donor governments, which helped to keep the camps in Nepal going, began to grow weary of the deadlock and started cutting aid, the US, also goaded by the fear of a militant movement brewing in the camps, played a major role in persuading the Koirala government last year to allow the refugees to go abroad.

The resettlement offer has polarised the refugees and sparked an international debate.

Camp inmates who want to be able to return home say the exodus will make Bhutan think it can get away with ethnic cleansing and will trigger further expulsions in future.

There were violent clashes in the camps between the pro- and anti-resettlement groups, causing the death of at least two.

The group that wants to return to Bhutan has been trying to march back home in the past but were forcibly stopped by Indian police at the India-Nepal border, resulting in further unrest and deaths.

Last month, when Bhutan held its first general election as a vaunted step towards democracy from an absolute monarchy, it was renounced as a sham by weeping refugees, who were being herded out abroad on the same day.

“How can it be a democratic election?” said 43-year-old Ghanshyam Timilsinha, who was evicted from Danabari in east Bhutan 18 years ago.

“As long as the refugees are not allowed to return home and take part in the election, it will have no meaning.”