The government today strongly condemned a recent report of the Human Rights Watch on Tibetan refugees that had claimed the Tibetan exiles were ill-treated in Nepal due to strong pressure from neighbouring China.

In a strongly worded statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the HRW report titled Under China’s Shadow: Mistreatment of Tibetans in Nepal was ‘ill founded, provocative and malicious’ in intent as well as an unnecessary meddling into the friendly relationships between Nepal and China.

The 100-page report unveiled on Tuesday by the HRW in Kathmandu had claimed the Tibetan refugee communities were facing a de facto ban on political protests, sharp restrictions on public activities promoting Tibetan culture and religion and routine abuse by Nepali security forces such as excessive use of force, arbitrary detention, ill treatment in detention and threats and intimidation.

The government has described the report as ‘an unnecessary politicisation in the name of human rights’. It warned the organisation not to repeat such kind of activity in future. “Nepal as an independent and sovereign country having its own place in the comity of nations makes its own choice in deciding and pursuing foreign and domestic policies,” read the MoFA statement. The ministry stated that Nepal was neither a party to 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees nor its 1967 Protocol.

“However, it (Nepal) is hosting refugees on humanitarian ground and would continue to do so despite its own socioeconomic situation that does not allow the country to take up an additional burden of refugees,” it added. MoFA also made it clear that Nepal had been respecting the principle of non-refoulement and refugees residing in the country were enjoying rights as per the prevailing laws and they are expected to respect the laws of the land. It stated that refugees sheltered in Nepal couldn’t work in contravention of the domestic laws and the principled foreign policy path of the nation.

Published on: 4 April 2014 | The Himalayan Times