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Canada opens the door to thousands of Bhutanese who have spent a generation in refugee camps
By Sudeshna Sarkar
Over 13,000 Bhutanese will find a new home in 2008 after having been forced to flee their villages and languish in refugee camps in Nepal for over 17 years, a top U.S. official said.
At least 5,000 of them will be resettled in Canada, official estimates indicate.
Nancy Powell, the American Ambassador to Nepal, said the U.S. and four other western countries willing to absorb the refugees are hoping for the resettlement process to start rolling this year.
“It is our hope that in 2008 more than 13,000 refugees will be resettled from Nepal,” Powell said in a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu.
“By the end of 2009, we hope that an additional 20,000 or more refugees who have chosen resettlement will be starting new lives in the United States, Australia, Canada, and elsewhere.”
Over 100,000 Bhutanese have been living in seven camps in eastern Nepal after being driven out by the Druk government in the 1980s when Bhutan began an assimilation drive, overriding the culture, language and dress of ethnic communities, mostly of Nepali origin.
Despite holding over a dozen rounds of talks with Nepal on the repatriation of the refugees, Bhutan refused to take them back.
Besides the U.S., Canada and Australia, Denmark and Norway are the other countries willing to offer a new home to the refugees.
The process had been delayed as Nepal initially sought to return the camp residents to their own country.
However, after 17 years, as donors began to show fatigue and aid started drying up, and under pressure from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the U.S., the Girija Prasad Koirala government finally relented.
Besides donors turning away, the refugees have also been caught in a battle between two groups that have triggered violence and fear in the camps.
The pro-repatriation group has been advocating doubling pressure on the Bhutan government to force it to take the refugees back. It contends that if the refugees start accepting resettlement in a third country, the Druk kingdom will expel even more ethnic citizens.
The group has also spawned an underground outfit that, much like the Maoists of Nepal, is poised to start an armed revolt in Bhutan and overthrow the king, just as the Maoists have done in Nepal.
The second group is more concerned with the welfare of the refugees, and is willing to consider resettlement options.
At least two people died last year in clashes between the two groups.
In a tacit reference to the simmering tension, Powell said each refugee is entitled to make his or her own choice, in an atmosphere free from threats and intimidation.
“We thank the government of Nepal, through the efforts of the Nepal Police and armed and civilian police, for its work in improving the security and safety of the refugees in the camps,” she said.
“We know that many refugees in the camps remain concerned about their security and ask that the government maintain its vigilance in this regard and vigorously pursue the perpetrators of violent acts against the residents of the camps.”
The first batch of refugees is expected to head for the U.S. this month and Powell urged the government to approve expedited exit permits for all refugees eligible for resettlement.
Tibetan refugees in Nepal, who have been refused resettlement in the U.S. by Nepal due to pressure by the Chinese government, will watch the Bhutanese exodus from Nepal keenly.
Last year, Washington wanted to offer a home to 5,000 Tibetans who fled Beijing’s control and escaped to Nepal.
However, China, intent on maintaining its iron grip on Tibet, which it annexed over five decades ago, persuaded Nepal to refuse the offer.
Nepali human rights activists say if Nepal allows Bhutan refugees to go abroad, it will eventually have to do the same with the Tibetans or face international condemnation for employing a double standard.
More than 107,000 Bhutanese refugees, mainly of Nepali origin, are housed in seven refugee camps in Jhapa and Mornag district in eastern Nepal.
Refugees began arriving in Nepal in early 1990 complaining of persecution and harassment by the Bhutanese authorities on the basis of their religion, culture and language.
Bhutan is a remote Himalayan kingdom of only 600,000 people.
Oxford-educated Crown Prince Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk, who succeeded his father who spent 37 years in power, currently rules the kingdom.
Canada is the only member of the G8 besides Japan to have diplomatic relations with Bhutan.
Canada and Bhutan have a history of close collaboration in the education sector. In 1963, a Canadian Jesuit priest, Father William Mackey, travelled to Bhutan at the request of the Royal Bhutanese Government in order to establish a secular secondary school system for the country.
Since then, over 50 Canadians have taught in Bhutanese schools and more than 250 Bhutanese educators have studied in over ten Canadian institutions.
The current ruler, during a visit to Canada as then Crown Prince, was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by the University of New Brunswick in 2005.
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