Refuting a recent report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) on status of Tibetan refugees in Nepal, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) clarified on Thursday that those taking refuge here should respect law of the host country.

"Nepal has been making it clear time and again that refugees sheltered here cannot indulge in activities that contravene the country's laws and its foreign policy," the ministry said in a strongly-worded statement.

On Tuesday, the HRW made public a 100-page report titled "Under the China's Shadow: Mistreatment of Tibetans in Nepal" in Kathmandu, saying that Nepal has imposed increasing restrictions on Tibetans living in the country as a result of mounting pressure from China.

"The new Nepali government should make clear to China that it will accept Tibetans who flee persecution as refugees and will not restrict basic rights of peaceful expression, assembly and association," the report said.

The report is ill-founded, provocative and malicious in intent as well as an unnecessary meddling into the friendly relationships between the two close neighbours, said the ministry statement. Nepal is home to more than 20,000 Tibetan refugee s, who have been resettled in 13 camps across the county. 

Although Nepal is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, it operates a "Gentleman's Agreement" with the UN under which it guarantees Tibetans in transit safe passage to India, where they can obtain refugee status.

The ministry further said Nepal as an independent and sovereign country makes its own choice in deciding and pursuing foreign and domestic policies. "Nepal is neither a party to 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, nor its 1967 Protocol," it stated.

"However, it is hosting refugees on humanitarian ground and would continue to take up an additional burden of refugees." The HRW report also claims the Tibetan refugee communities in Nepal are now facing a de facto ban on political protest, sharp restrictions on public activities promoting Tibetan culture and religion, and routine abuses by Nepal security forces. "These include excessive use of force, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment in detention, threats and intimidation, intrusive surveillance, and arbitrary application of vaguely formulated and overly broad definitions of security offences."

But the government denied the charges, saying that Nepal has been respecting the principle of non-refoulment and the refugees in Nepal are enjoying rights as per the prevailing laws. "The HRW report draws unsubstantiated stories and notions with no legal base," the ministry statement said.

Dismissing it as an attempt to slander the two neighbouring countries in the pretext of the rights and freedoms of the refugees, the government has also urged the HRW and other international rights bodies and activists not to repeat such kind of activity in the future.

Similarly, the government has turned down the HRW request to open its regional office in Nepal.

Published on: 4 April 2014 | The Kathmandu Post