Thursday, October 16, 2008

Testimony from Bhutanese refugee living in exile

Following the screening carried out in 2001 in Khudunabari, one of seven Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal, the Royal Government of Bhutan declared in July 2003 that over 75% of those screened were either Bhutanese citizens, or Bhutanese citizens who had relinquished their nationality under Bhutanese citizenship law by migrating voluntarily. All were eligible to return to Bhutan, on terms set out by the Royal Government of Bhutan. It seemed possible that a resolution of the problem might be based on the right to a nationality and the right to leave and return to one’s country.

The bilateral process between Nepal and Bhutan appeared to collapse after the withdrawal of the Bhutanese verification team from Khudunabari camp in December 2003.

Apparently putting aside Bhutan’s July 2003 commitment, King Jigme Singye Wangchuk was reported at a press conference in New Delhi in January 2005 as saying that the people in the refugee camps were not Bhutanese citizens, and could have been living in India or Nepal previously. He spoke as if the screening at Khudunabari camp had never happened.

In the absence of any progress towards a resolution of the issue, the US government offered in 2006 to resettle some 60,000 Bhutanese refugees. The resettlement process began in early 2008. By May 31, 2008, 828 refugees had been settled: 673 in the US, and smaller numbers in Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway. The process is being managed by the International Organisation for Migrations (IOM).

While many refugees welcome the prospect of third country resettlement after up to seventeen years of living in camps, others strongly oppose it, and the disagreement is causing serious tensions. The opponents of resettlement see it as eroding their right to return to their country.

Both the political parties running in Bhutan’s National Assembly election held on March 24 declared in their manifesto that they would work for a resolution of the problem of "the people in the camps". However, thousands of Bhutanese people of Nepalese origin (Lhotshampas) still living in Bhutan were, reportedly, denied the right to vote in the election. During the election campaign, candidates were barred from speaking about matters of citizenship and security, issues which are crucial to Lhotshampas living in Bhutan and to refugees seeking to return to Bhutan.

Bhutan’s new government has taken office under Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley, whose party, the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa, won seats in 45 out of the country’s 47 constituencies. The new government has not yet spoken about the question of the “people in the camps.”

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