For many of Nepal’s Bhutanese refugees, resettlement wasn’t their first choice

SECURITY personnel came to my house several times looking for me. I received several death threats, and then I decided to leave the country.” This is a statement made by of one of the refugees I interviewed during my stay in eastern Nepal. He also talked at length about his memories of his beautiful house and its cultivated land in Bhutan.

In 1990, tens of thousands of Lhotshampas (Nepali-speaking minority groups) from Bhutan’s southern regions fled the country in the face of discrimination and forced displacement. Ethnic Nepali refugees from Bhutan became a problem when King Jigme Singye Wangchuck carried out a Bhutanisation campaign between 1977 and 1991, with the intention of creating a Buddhist state free of foreign influences. After crossing through India, they sought refuge in Nepal. More than 107,000 Lhotshampas are living in seven refugee camps in Nepal’s Jhapa and Morang districts, while some of them have already been resettled in different countries. But, based on what many of the refugees told me when I interviewed them in Nepal, resettlement was not their first choice: they wanted to go home. To date, the Bhutanese government has not allowed a single one to return. Several attempts to resolve the Lhotshampa refugee issues have floundered. Bilateral talks between Nepal and Bhutan—intended to facilitate the return of some refugees to Bhutan—resulted in claims by the Government of Bhutan in June 2003 that only 2.4% of one camp’s population were ‘genuine’ citizens of Bhutan. However, even this small number was not permitted to return. Camp residents were so incensed at how few Lhotshampas were deemed ‘genuine’ that they attacked Bhutanese government officials who came to visit the camp, stalling any further discussion of repatriation. The international community has been involved in the promotion of third country resettlement because they think that this is the easiest means by which a durable solution for the Bhutanese refugees can be found. At the start of this year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Stephen Jacquemet said to the media, “repatriation of Bhutanese refugees will be difficult unless the Bhutan government ensures their fundamental human rights”. This statement overlooks the ‘Right to Return’ of the Bhutanese people. The UNHCR should be involved in the repatriation process, in order to create more international pressure. Of course, resettlement is a great opportunity to begin a new life for most of the Bhutanese refugees in eastern Nepal. But most of the people still love their country. Nevertheless, the international community has to bring pressure on the government of Bhutan to allow the refugees to return to their homeland, and must work to facilitate their repatriation with full dignity and the right to equality and full participation as citizens of Bhutan. Despite Bhutan’s move towards democracy in 2006, its government has rejected Nepal’s requests for talks on repatriation 15 times. Bhutan has always justified its stance by claiming that terrorists are hiding among the refugees. In an April meeting with Nepali Prime Minister Jhalanatha Khanal , Bhutanese Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley opened the door to a dialogue over the possible repatriation of Bhutanese refugees. However, Nepal alone will not be able to put sufficient pressure on the Bhutanese government: international support, especially from neighboring India, is key to meeting this end. This issue has to be taken up on the agenda of the SAARC body, and an urgent solution found to this aggravated humanitarian emergency prevailing along the borders of South Asia. In particular, India, Bhutan and Nepal have to address the Bhutanese refugees’ demands to return to their homeland. In reality, the Bhutanese refugee problem is a tripartite problem between the three nations. Since repatriation has been obstructed under several pretexts, the international community must also put pressure on India to cooperate. The International community should urge the Royal Government of Bhutan to acknowledge the right to nationality for returnees. No person in the world deserves to be stateless. The Bhutan government must also oversee the return of land, housing and other property of the returnees. Ultimately, if Bhutan is their home, and they are still calling it so, they have the ‘right to return.’ Bastola is a Masters student in Peace and Conflict Transformation at the University of Basel, Switzerland

Published on: 7 June 2011 |  The Kathmandu Post