The government has decided to grant exit permit to the nationals from various countries staying in Nepal as "urban refugees".

Senior government officials said the home ministry has sought the consent of the finance ministry to waive visa fees and penalty slapped on "urban refugees" who have already received acceptance letters from host countries for resettlement.

"We have decided to allow their resettlement as prolonging their stay in Nepal would only complicate matters," said Spokesperson for the home ministry Shankar Koirala. Koirala said this will, however, be a "one-time" provision. "This should not be taken as a precedent," he further said. The government does not recognize foreigners other than Bhutanese and Tibetans who arrived in Nepal before 1990 as refugees. Nepal government has held strong reservation over the UNHCR´s "unilateral" recognition of other foreigners taking shelter in Nepal as "urban refugees". UNHCR recognizes refugees living in urban areas of Nepal as "urban refugees", regardless of their country of origin. Those recognized by UNHCR as "urban refugees" in Nepal belong to various countries including Pakistan, Nigeria, Sudan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

They have been staying in Nepal for years as the government has refused to issue them exit permits labeling them as "illegal immigrants". According to official statistics, currently there are some 272 "urban refugees" taking shelter in Nepal. Of them, 34 have so far received acceptance letters from the host countries for resettlement. The home ministry had recently held a meeting with officials of the foreign and finance ministries to solicit their opinions on resolving the problem of "urban refugees" in view of the request from UNHCR to grant them "exit permit". Officials at the home ministry said the Department of Immigration (DoI) would issue "exit permits" once the cabinet approves the home ministry´s proposal.

The home ministry´s proposal has to be approved by the finance ministry before being tabled in the cabinet. Officials said the number of "urban refugees" in Nepal was much higher a few years back. However, many of them have already been resettled in third countries after paying fines with support from various organizations, including Red Cross. Nepal stopped providing on arrival visas to the nationals of Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Cameroon, Somalia, Liberia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan a few years ago keeping in view the increasing trend of nationals from these countries seeking shelter in Nepal as "urban refugees". Mainly, nationals from these countries take shelter in Nepal as "urban refugees" to make their way into North American and European countries through third country resettlement.

Published on: 2 April 2012 | Republica