Ethnic Cleasning the Bhutan way : Bangkok Post

Source:	Agence France Presse -- 11-07-01
Date:	7 Nov 2001
Title:	Nepal, Bhutan fail to resolve repatriation impasse
Text:	Agence France Presse via NewsEdge Corporation : KATHMANDU, Nov 7 (AFP) - Two days of top-level talks ended in failure Wednesday to resolve a repatriation impasse over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal. Nepal is insisting the refugees, who have been living in eight United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) camps in the south-east of the country since 1990, return to Bhutan. The Nepalese-descended refugees fled Bhutan in the wake of harsh anti-Hindu cultural reforms. But Bhutan says it will only take back those who were forced to leave. It rejects the refugees' claims that most of them were driven out of the country. The foreign secretaries' cordial talks on the issue ended with both agreeing to try to see the other's point of view, and a promise to hold further discussions. "We discussed finding the best solution for the earliest repatriation of the Bhutanese refugees in a cordial and mutually understandable atmosphere," Nepalese Foreign Secretary Narayan Shumshere Thapa told reporters. "After our two days' discussions, we have decided to report to the respective foreign ministers about the verification and the points we mutually agreed upon," he said. The Bhutanese team was led by Foreign Secretary Ugyen Tshering. The two countries have held 11 rounds of talks on the refugee problem.

Source:	AP World News via NewsEdge Corporation
Date:	24 Aug 2001
Title:	Bhutanese refugee repatriation to begin this year
Text:	KATMANDU, NEPAL - AP World News via NewsEdge Corporation : The first batch of Bhutanese refugees, who fled their Himalayan nation more than a decade ago, could start returning as early as October, a Nepalese Nepalese government minister said Thursday. "With the agreement between Bhutan and Nepal to speed up the verification process of the refugees, the work could be completed by October and repatriation of the refugees in the Khadbari camp could begin right after that," Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat told reporters after he returned from meetings in Thimphu, the Bhutanese capital. Since the verification team, consisting of five members from each country, began their work in March, they have only been able to check the documents of about 6,000 refugees at the Khadbari camp. Refugee groups said that at this rate the process could take more than six years. The refugees have been demanding that the process be sped up. Mahat said the two sides agreed to simplify the verification procedure by having support staff help out fill out forms and simultaneously interview the refugee families. "With the new arrangements, the speed would be doubled and we have decided to add one more member from each nation to the team," Mahat said. "This team will now be authorized to take decisions without having to ask ministers and higher officials for help." During the meeting in Thimphu, the Nepalese had sought Bhutan's help to expedite the scrutiny of the refugees' family lineage, a process expected to help the repatriation of those who are Bhutanese citizens. More than 100,000 Nepali-speaking people fled Bhutan in the late 1980s when Bhutan's government, dominated by the Drukpa ethnic group, cracked down on the minority, saying they were illegal immigrants. Most of the refugees now live in U.N.-administered camps in southeastern Nepal. Relations between the two South Asian countries soured as Bhutan refused to take the Nepali speakers back, saying they were not Bhutanese citizens and that the United Nations had not checked people thoroughly before allowing them to enter the refugee camps. After years of deadlocked negotiations, the two sides agreed to verify the refugees by family lineage and not as individuals, as Bhutan had demanded earlier.

Source:	Agence France Presse -- 08-04-01
Date:	6 Aug 2001
Title:	Nepal and Bhutan look for a solution to refugee problem
Text:	KATHMANDU, Aug 4 (AFP) - Nepal and Bhutan will attempt to hammer out a solution later this month to the tens of thousands of Bhutanese living in refugee camps in Nepal, state-run radio said Saturday. Three days of ministerial level talks are scheduled to start in Thimpu on August 20. More than 100,000 Bhutanese of Nepalese descent have been living in United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) administered camps in southeastern Nepal for a decade. The Bhutanese were forced to leave their homeland in 1990 after the government imposed harsh cultural reforms and severe punishments for those who broke the law. Nepal's Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat will be leading the Nepali team. Previously, foreign ministers of the two kingdoms have headed negotiations to repatriate the refugees. Nepal is expected to press for a speeding up of the verification process of the refugees that started for the first time in February. Bhutan previously said the refugees were illegal immigrants while Nepal maintained they were Bhutanese who should be repatriated. The refugees complain that it will take a decade to complete the verification process if it continues as the current slow pace.

Source:	The Observer -- 06/24/01, p. 20
Date:	28 Jun 2001
Title:	Expelled from the Dragon's lair
Text:	The Observer, June 24, 2001, Page 20 ED DOUGLAS THE POLICE were hard at work at Beldangi Camp I, lying in the shade of the gatehouse and enjoying a game of chess. The sergeant didn't even look up from the board as he waved us away. No foreigners are permitted in the camp. But the refugees found us anyway. And for the past 10 years they have had nothing much to do except talk. There are six more camps like Beldangi, crammed into tiny patches of land near the town of Damak in south-eastern Nepal, housing in total almost 100,000 Bhutanese, forgotten refugees who were driven from their homes in the early 1990s under a policy of ethnic cleansing designed to end political dissent and keep the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan for the ruling Buddhist elite led by King Jigme Singye Wangchuk. Bhutan, known as the Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon, is an isolated Shangri- la with a reputation for being the Himalayan region's star development pupil. Praised by the Worldwide Fund for Nature as 'a model for proactive conservation initiatives', Bhutan is also seen as a success by aid agencies eager to promote sustainable development. The north of the country is also a powerful draw for a limited number of rich adventure tourists eager to see the region's Buddhist monasteries and ancient rural culture. But in southern Bhutan, unseen by tourists, ethnic Nepalis, Hindus who have lived for generations on the low land plains of Bhutan, are treated as second-class citizens in their own country, denied schooling and healthcare, their movement restricted. And they are the lucky ones. In the camps in eastern Nepal, 17,000 families wait to hear if they can return to the farms and businesses that were taken from them as they were forced to leave Bhutan a decade ago. 'It was government policy,' says Ratan Gazmere, a former political prisoner who now works for the Association of Human Rights Activists. 'There was a fear among the northern Bhutanese, the Drukpas, that unless they kept the southern Bhutanese under control they were going to have problems.' Gazmere and six others were impris oned for treason after protesting against Bhutan's One Nation One Culture policy, introduced by the king in 1990 to force all Bhutanese to wear the Drukpa dress and practise its culture. He spent 28 months in jail without trial and was sentenced to death. Only when Amnesty International highlighted his case was he spared. 'As soon as we were arrested the government realised things would not be quiet in southern Bhutan and in early 1990 they sent in the army.' Bhimlal Dhamala, now 47, had land in Chirang district. On 18 January 1991 he was arrested by the army. 'I was sent to jail in Thimpu,' he says. 'My family was told to get out of Bhutan.' Dhamala was systematically beaten in prison. On his release, 14 months later, he returned to his village but was told to leave by the local census officer. He has been trapped in the camps with his wife and six children ever since. Half of Bhutan's 300,000 ethnic Nepali population were expelled in this way and are now either in the camps or squatting in India near the border. Dhamala says: 'All I want is to be given my own land back.' Whether or not he gets that chance depends on a process, started in March, to prove that the refugees are genuine. But while Bhutan's European aid donors, led by Denmark, have welcomed verification, the Bhutanese in the camps have warned that the process is flawed. In the first month, only 12 families a day were interviewed. At that rate, it will take at least six years. 'We don't know what's going on,' human rights worker Dilip Bishwo says. 'There is no right of appeal.' Sushil Jung Bahadur Rana, the Nepali leader of the verification team, said that the process was working. 'The process is transparent. And I believe the number of families seen will increase.' Yet critics of the Bhutanese regime say there is no political will to allow the refugees to go home. Already, resettlement programmes have given some of the confiscated lands to Bhutan's third ethnic group, the Sarchhops. While Nepal has spent 10 years failing to persuade the Bhutanese to take the refugees back, real influence lies with European donors. The verification process was announced days after they warned that patience was wearing thin over human rights abuses. But Nepali journalist Kanak Dixit, who saw the refugees arriving a decade ago, believes that time is running out: 'Down the line the Bhutanese will probably get away with this scandal and a hundred thousand refugees will disappear into the South Asian night.' Ratan Gazmere agrees. 'If it takes another 10 years then who knows? People are losing hope.'

Source:	BBC Monitoring International Reports -- 05/09/01
Date:	10 May 2001
Title:	Nepal: World Food Programme to provide over 500m rupees for Bhutanese refugees
Text:	Kathmandu, 9 May: From 1 July to 30 June, 2002, the World Food Programme [WFP] will provide another 568.3m rupees in food assistance to 100,000 Bhutanese refugees camped in east Nepal for the last decade. Foreign Secretary Narayan S. Thapa and WFP Nepal Representative Douglas Casson Coutts signed an agreement Tuesday [8 May]. Nepal will also provide 100,000 dollars in assistance. WFP has been providing food assistance to the refugees since 1992.

Source:	BBC Monitoring International Reports -- 05/04/01
Date:	7 May 2001
Title:	World NewsNepal: Danish envoy concerned over slow Bhutanese refugee verification process
Text:	Text of report by Pramod Poudel entitled: "Danish envoy concerned over slow verification" by Nepalese newspaper Kathmandu Post via Nepalnews.com web site on 4 May Kathmandu, 3 May: Danish envoy and president of the European Union [as published] here in Nepal, Lars Hormann, today expressed his concern on the slow progress of the Bhutanese refugee verification process in Khudunabari camp in Jhapa, eastern Nepal. In an exclusive interview with The Kathmandu Post after his recent visit to the refugee camp, Hormann, Danish charge d'affairs said: "Although we are satisfied with the procedures applied, we are concerned with the speed of the process." The envoy's concern comes at a time when only 1,380 individual refugees have been verified which is just around one per cent of the total number of refugees languishing in over seven camps. The Nepal-Bhutan joint verification team (JVT) started the verification works on 26 March with the motive of verifying 10 families per day. But the achievement is far short of the initial target. Experts say, at the current rate, it would take at least six years to complete the verification. "It would take at least eight months to complete the verification process in the camp alone," he said. Khudunabari is most remotely located camp and once the monsoon starts, there will be more problems while transferring refugees to the JVT office in Damak, which could further delay the verification process. As a way out, Hormann suggested either breaking up the current 10-member JVT into smaller groups or constituting more JVTs. "We also feel it is very important that the verification of the first camp (Khudunabari) be completed as soon as possible since it will be crucial for the whole repatriation process." Recalling his visit to the camp, Hormann said that the refugees were optimistic about their chances to go back to Bhutan. "But they were also frustrated due to the slowness of the process" . However, added the envoy, the refugees' feel that they are being given fair treatment by the verification team and they have been allowed to tell their own story as they wish, without any restriction. The European Union (EU) is one of the major sponsors of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' programme in the camps. He suggested an early meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries to expedite the verification and subsequently the repatriation process of the refugees. "They can speak over phone; that would be the best thing to do." Hormann said that the five head of missions of EU would soon send a report on the current status of the refugee verification process to Brussels, the EU headquarters. He also said that he visited the camp on behalf of all the 15-member EU countries. "This visit hopefully will contribute to illustrate the interest of international community in the process and will help expedite the process," said the envoy. The Danish envoy, expressing the EU's close interest in the verification process, said EU was willing to contribute financially to the repatriation of the refugees.

Source:	Agence France Presse -- 04-29-01
Date:	30 Apr 2001
Title:	Nepal demands swift verification of Bhutanese refugees
Text:	Agence France Presse via NewsEdge Corporation : KATHMANDU, April 29 (AFP) - Nepal's Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola has urged for a speeding up of the process to verify 100,000 Bhutanese refugees sheltered in seven camps in southeastern Nepal, state-run radio said Sunday. The Bhutanese, who are mostly ethnic Nepalis, fled in 1990 following harsh cultural reforms by their government and have been staying in the camps set up by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Bastola's comments followed an inspection of the Damak-based office of the Nepal-Bhutan Joint Verification Team (JVT). "Nepal is trying its best to accelerate the pace of current Bhutanese refugee verification process," the radio quoted Bastola as saying. "At the current rate, it will take a very long time to complete the process," Bastola said, indicating more verification teams could be brought in. The Nepal-Bhutan Joint Verification process, which began in March, has so far verified only 1,380 people from 233 families living in the refugee camps. Bastola added there was also international concern about the slow pace of verification. He said another round of talks between the two kingdoms at ministerial level was scheduled to find out other ways to conduct the verification process.

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Tuesday 22 February 2000
Title:	NOTES
Text:	Xinhua reports Nepal and Bhutan will reportedly hold further secretary-level talks about Bhutanese refugees next month after talks ended last week in Thimpu with Bhutan demanding time to discuss aspects of refugee-verification.

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Tuesday 15 February 2000
Title:	NOTES
Text:	Xinhua reports a Nepalese delegation led by the Foreign Secretary has left for Thimpu to discuss the verification of Bhutanese refugees and fix a date for a ministerial talks.

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Monday 14 February 2000
Title:	NOTES
Text:	The Kathmandu Post reports Bhutanese refugees marched in Kathmandu Friday before refugee talks between Nepal and Bhutan were due to resume this week.

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Wednesday 2 February 2000
Title:	NOTES
Text:	Xinhua reports the Kathmandu Post says a high-level Nepalese government delegation is to visit Bhutan this month to continue bilateral talks on the repatriation of Bhutanese refugees.

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Tuesday 25 January 2000
Title:	NOTES
Text:	The Wall Street Journal reports on how New York City officials blocked approval for Bhutan's purchase of a property on the grounds that it had driven out ethnic Nepalese and Indians.

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Monday 24 January 2000
Title:	NOTES
Text:	The Kathmandu Post reports US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has written to Nepal's Foreign Ministry expressing interest in resolving the long standing Bhutanese refugee crisis.

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Tuesday 11 January 2000
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE REPATRIATION TALKS DEMANDED
Text:	A leading human rights campaigner in Bhutan says he may campaign for constitutional change unless the king grants him an audience to discuss the return of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, reports BBC News. Teknath Rizal, a former royal adviser, was freed last month by King Jigme Singye Wangchuk after serving ten years of a life sentence for subversion. Rizal wants to discuss the return from Nepal and India of more than 100,000 refugees from Bhutan who say they were forced to leave because they are ethnic Nepalis. Rizal said he was hopeful that the King would be sympathetic to his demands. [BBC News – Return of Bhutanese refugees demanded]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Monday 10 January 2000
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE THREATEN TO MARCH HOME
Text:	A Bhutanese refugee organisation in Nepal has threatened to march Bhutanese home en masse if no steps are taken towards repatriating refugees by May 2000, reports the Kathmandu Post. The Bhutanese Refugee Representative Repatriation Committee (BRRRC), in a press release, said this is the Year of Peace for Bhutanese Refugee Crisis Resolution and Reconciliation. The group's chairman, S.B Subba, was quoted as making the statement to a mass meeting in Damak, where some 30,000 refugees had earlier demonstrated peacefully. Subba also appealed to all Bhutanese refugee organisations to work together for the greater cause of the refugees and their repatriation. During the rally refugees carried banners and placards that read "We want to go back to our home," "We appeal the king and international community to look after the safety, security and welfare of T.N. Rizal" and "the king must grant audience to T.N. Rizal." The refugees also demanded that the Bhutanese government immediately stop the resettlement programme on the land belonging to Bhutanese refugees. [The Kathmandu Post – Bhutanese refugee body threatens mass return if no repatriation]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Wednesday 29 December 1999
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE PONDER DISSIDENT'S RELEASE
Text:	The vocal Bhutanese refugee community in Nepal is celebrating the release of a prominent dissident leader but puzzles over what his unexpected freedom means for the future, reports IPS. Tek Nath Rizal's release this month came as a total surprise to Bhutanese refugees in Nepal. After the initial celebrations, they are taking a long and hard look at the new development. They hope Rizal's release, along with 200 other political prisoners, could be the first step towards resolution of the long-running refugee dispute. Rizal is seen as a unifying force among the heavily splintered refugee community, and his fate is linked to the refugee crisis. At the moment, more than a dozen Bhutanese groups in exile are campaigning for refugee repatriation as well as for more rights in Bhutan. Nepal is now lobbying only for refugee repatriation. Some die-hard critics of the Bhutanese government see dirty politics behind Rizal's release. While Rizal has the stature to unite the fragmented Bhutanese dissident community in exile, he still faces a Herculean task. Many analysts now foresee an intensified struggle among the groups to gain supremacy. Already, many dissident leaders are asking Rizal not to set foot in Nepal but to stay back in Bhutan and continue his struggle from there. [29 Dec. 99: Refugee Leader's Release May Better Ties Bhutan – IPS]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Tuesday 28 December 1999
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE REPATRIATION HOPES
Text:	The release from prison of Bhutan's pro-democracy leader is positive and might lead to the repatriation of nearly 100,000 Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, according to some analysts, reports the South China Morning Post. Tek Nath Rizal was released Dec 17 after serving 10 years for treason. He is considered the leader of Bhutan's Nepali-speaking minority who make up the bulk of the refugees in Nepal. Lok Raj Baral, of the Nepal Centre for Contemporary Studies, a former ambassador to Bhutan, said the Foreign Ministry in Kathmandu should now expedite bilateral negotiations for the return of the refugees, who were expelled by Bhutan in the early 1990s. Eight rounds of talks on the refugee issue have failed to produce a solution, with Bhutan insisting many of the refugees are Nepali nationals. Nepal's media welcomed Rizal's release, but voiced scepticism that the granting of clemency will bring about a breakthrough on the refugee issue. "To prove sceptics wrong, King Jigme (Singye Wangchuk of Bhutan) will have to follow up by tackling the issue of repatriating about one-sixth of Bhutan's population," said the Kathmandu Post. US Assistant Secretary of State for Refugees, Julia Taft, will visit Bhutan next month. [Activist's release brings refugees hope – The South China Morning Post]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Monday 27 December 1999
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE DISSIDENT SETS TASK
Text:	One of Bhutan's most noted dissidents released from prison after 10 years Friday said he would work to help Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, reports AP. Teknath Rizal was charged with treason in 1988 when he objected to legislation that stripped tens of thousands of people of Nepali origin of their citizenship. He fled to Nepal but was soon arrested and returned to Bhutan, where he was sentenced to life in prison. "I had been tortured while in custody but now I would like to keep my suffering behind and work for the thousands of homeless refugees living in Nepal," he said. Nearly 100,000 people of Nepalese origin were evicted or encouraged to emigrate in the early 1990s when the ethnic Drukpas cracked down on what they called illegal immigrants. Most are housed in UN-administered refugee camps in Nepal. Amnesty International said in a statement that Rizal had been pardoned in 1993, but his release was made conditional on the success of talks with Nepal to resolve the refugee question – a linkage the rights group condemned as unfair. [Released Bhutanese dissident leader says he was tortured in custody – AP]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Thursday 23 December 1999
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE CRISIS SHOWS UNHCR LIMITS
Text:	Bhutan, a Himalayan kingdom caught in a decade-long refugee crisis that has opened the country to charges of "ethnic cleansing," has released all prisoners that human rights groups regarded as political detainees, according to Bhutan's UN representative, reports the New York Times. The case shows the limits of what UNHCR can do, even as tens of thousands of people say they have been made refugees by events in Bhutan. The Bhutanese say the number is far smaller, and that only one side of the story has been heard, through aid organisations, diplomats and politicians in Nepal. With huge refugee crises elsewhere, there has been little effort internationally to settle the dispute. For the past decade Bhutan, whose people are mostly ethnically Tibetan Buddhists, has been the target of an ethnic Nepali movement along the southern border. A sparsely populated zone drew illegal immigrants from overpopulated Nepal and India, rapidly increasing the local Hindu Nepali population and raising fears they would outnumber the Bhutanese Buddhists. When Bhutan began expelling people it said were not citizens, ethnic Nepalis around the region responded with accusations of "ethnic cleansing," and a rebellion began. Thousands of people fled or were forced out of Bhutan in years of unrest that followed. [Ethnic Rivalry in Remote Bhutan Leads King to Free 200 Prisoners – www.nytimes.com]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Tuesday 21 December 1999
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE LEADER WANTS REPATRIATION TALK
Text:	The Bhutanese human rights leader, Tek Nath Rizal, who has just been released from prison, says he has asked to see the King, Jigme Singhe Wangchuk, to discuss the repatriation of thousands of Bhutanese refugees from Nepal, reports BBC News. Rizal said he was grateful to the international community and human rights groups for campaigning for his release. He was jailed 10 years ago on charges of treason and was released on Friday with 40 other political prisoners. Bhutanese refugee leaders and human rights activists based in Nepal gave a cautious welcome to the releases, saying they may be part of a plan to offset growing international criticism. The South China Morning Post reports Rizal, often described as the "Nelson Mandela of Bhutan," had been detained since November 1989 on treason charges. Bhutanese officials had abducted him from asylum in Nepal with covert co-operation from Nepal police. Human rights activist Rakesh Chhetri, who was also a government officer before seeking asylum in Nepal, expressed concern at the way Rizal was released without the fulfilment of key demands. "King Jigme had publicly said Rizal would be released after the problem of the Southern Bhutanese was resolved. But the problem is where it was in 1990," he said, alluding to the plight of nearly 100,000 refugees in UN-run camps in eastern Nepal. [Bhutanese opposition wants talks with King – http://news.bbc.co.uk; Activist's release greeted warily – www.scmp.com]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Monday 6 December 1999
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE FOOD AID AGREED
Text:	The Nepalese government and the World Food Program (WFP) signed a letter of understanding Friday for protracted relief and recovery operation in Nepal, reports Xinhua. WFP will provide US$7m for the year 2000 to the Nepalese government to be used for the procurement of food commodities and non-food items for the Bhutanese refugees living in UN-run camps in eastern Nepal, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. [WFP Provides Assistance to Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal – www.xinhua.org]

Source: Refugees Daily

Date: Tuesday 9 November 1999

Title: NOTES

Text: AP reports the UN Security Council, expressing dismay at recent clashes in Sierra Leone, yesterday expressed concern at the fate of refugees and internally displaced people – estimated as about half of Sierra Leone's 4.7 million people. Xinhua reports Nepalese Foreign Minister Dr.Ram Sharan Mahat, returning from Bhutan, yesterday said he had serious discussions on repatriating Bhutanese refugees living in eastern Nepal.

Source: Refugees Daily

Date: Friday 17 September 1999

Title: NEPAL: 'PROGRESS,' NO AGREEMENT, ON BHUTANESE

Text: Nepal and Bhutan have failed to reach an agreement to resolve the nine-year old problem of Nepal-based refugees who say they are Bhutanese, reports BBC News. The first formal talks between the two foreign ministers in three and a half years focused on the issue of verification of the refugees. At the end of the talks yesterday both the Nepalese foreign minister, Ram Sharan Mahat, and his Bhutanese counterpart Jigme Thinley, spoke of what they described as progress in narrowing down differences. Mahat said progress had been made on a mechanism for refugee verification, but added the two sides are still far from a concrete solution. Further talks are scheduled for November in Bhutan. Kyodo reports Thinley said new ideas that were unthinkable in the past were shared during the talks, but did not elaborate. Controversy has centred on some 60,000 refugees who Bhutan says left the kingdom voluntarily for Nepal. Xinhua reports Mahat said Bhutan made concessions on the categorisation of the refugees. He said Bhutan agreed to treat refugees of category 2 (Bhutanese who emigrated on compelling circumstance) in the same terms as category one (bonafide Bhutanese who were forcibly evicted). Reuters and AP also report.

[No agreement on Nepal refugees – http://news.bbc.co.uk; Nepal, Bhutan talks on refugees end without progress – ww.kyodo.co.jp; Nepal-Bhutan Talks Made Some Progress – www.xinhua.org; Nepal, Bhutan talks on refugees fail – www.reuters.com; Bhutan and Nepal discuss contentious refugee issue – www.ap.org]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Thursday 16 September 1999
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE IN DEADLOCK
Text:	Talks on the repatriation of nearly 100,000 refugees from Bhutan stranded in Nepal for nine years remained deadlocked last night after the two sides failed to agree on a verification mechanism, reports the Financial Times. More than 96,000 refugees have been living in seven camps in Nepal since 1991. Nepal maintains the refugees are Bhutanese and that they should return home, but Bhutan disputes their nationality. Talks on repatriation have been under way since October 1993. [Refugee talks deadlocked – www.ft.com]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Wednesday 15 September 1999
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE TALKS INCONCLUSIVE
Text:	The first day of talks between Nepal and Bhutan to resolve the problem of Nepal-based refugees who say they are Bhutanese citizens has ended without conclusion, reports BBC News. The visiting Bhutanese foreign minister, Jigme Thinley, is leading the Bhutanese delegation in the talks while his Nepalese counterpart, Ram Sharan Mahat, is representing the host country. It is the first time in three and a half years that the foreign ministers have held formal talks. The authorities say that the latest talks, the eighth in six years, will focus on developing a verification mechanism to determine the status of the refugees. Previous rounds have failed following disagreement on this very question. Nepal says all 100,000 refugees living in Nepal are Bhutanese citizens, and has insisted that Bhutan should take them back. Bhutan disagrees. Both Nepal and Bhutan have said they hope that progress can be made in the current round of talks. [No progress in Nepal refugee talks – http://news.bbc.co.uk]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Tuesday 14 September 1999
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE TO BE DISCUSSED
Text:	The Bhutanese Foreign Minister, Jigme Thinley, has started a four-day visit to Nepal for talks on resolving the problem of the Nepal-based refugees who say they are Bhutanese citizens, reports BBC News. This is the first time in three and a half years that both sides have held formal talks. Thinley and his Nepalese counterpart, Ram Sharan Mahat, have expressed optimism about the outcome of the meeting, which begins tomorrow. The two sides are expected to concentrate on developing a process of verification to determine the status of the refugees. Nepal says all 100,000 are Bhutanese citizens; Bhutan says only a few thousand. [Nepal and Bhutan discuss refugees – http://news.bbc.co.uk]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Monday 13 September 1999
Title:	NEPAL: INDIA WON'T INTERVENE ON BHUTANESE
Text:	India on Saturday refused Nepal's request to help resolve a simmering dispute with Bhutan over the repatriation of nearly 100,000 Bhutanese exiles living in refugee camps in the southeastern Nepal, reports AP. Nepal had wanted India's intervention after seven rounds of talks with Bhutan over the refugee issue failed to yield results. Bhutanese Foreign Minister Jigmi Thinley is scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu today for another round of talks. "We think the problem can be resolved if India uses its good office," Nepalese Foreign Secretary Murari Raj Sharma said. But Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, who is visiting Nepal to discuss a series of bilateral issues, said the involvement of a third party would only complicate matters. "The problem should be resolved bilaterally and at the earliest," he said in Kathmandu. The refugee question has been a severe strain on relations between the two kingdoms since Bhutan tightened its citizenship rules and sent away thousands of Nepalese-speaking Bhutanese, although many of them possess evidence of citizenship. [India refuses to intervene to resolve Nepal's Bhutanese refugee problem – www.ap.org]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Thursday 9 September 1999
Title:	NOTES
Text:	Xinhua reports the 8th Nepal-Bhutan Joint Ministerial Level Committee meeting over the Bhutanese refugee crisis will begin in Kathmandu on September 13, the Foreign Ministry said today.

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Tuesday 7 September 1999
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE REPATRIATION DISCUSSED
Text:	Foreign ministers from Bhutan and Nepal met yesterday to discuss the repatriation of 100,000 refugees, but Bhutanese exiles remained sceptical about the meeting's usefulness, reports the South China Morning Post. "Seven rounds of talks held in as many years have failed to yield results," said S.B. Subba, who leads a group seeking an early repatriation of refugees. "It now has to be a trilateral initiative with India at the centre." India has avoided getting involved, describing the dispute as an issue between Nepal and Bhutan. Subba and his fellow refugees – in the camps in eastern Nepal – said India's involvement in the matter had become unavoidable as its territory separated Nepal from Bhutan. They said that by getting involved, India could "disprove" the Bhutanese Government's claim that the people in the camps included Indians from the states of West Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya. "It is impossible to resolve the problem without India," said former prime minister Girija Prasad, president of the governing Nepali Congress party. [Delhi aid sought in refugee deadlock – www.scmp.com]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Tuesday 13 July 1999
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE WOMEN DEMONSTRATE
Text:	Around 150 Bhutanese refugee women campaigning for the repatriation of 100,000 fellow refugees yesterday staged a demonstration in Kathmandu, reports AFP. The Bhutanese women carried placards reading: "Let all Bhutanese refugees be repatriated honourably in Bhutan." The protestors marched to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) secretariat in Kathmandu and handed over a memorandum to its Secretary General, Nihal Rodrigo. The refugees reportedly wrote: "We are the victims of ethnic cleansing and gross human right abuses by the government of Bhutan. Let all the heads of government of the SAARC consider our earliest repatriation with dignity to our motherland Bhutan." SAARC groups together Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Around 100,000 Bhutanese refugees live in UN refugee camps in Nepal, with a further 20,000 around the country. [Bhutanese refugee women demonstrate for repatriation – www.afp.com]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Thursday 8 July 1999
Title:	GLOBAL: DEPRESSING DECADE?
Text:	Unlike the Albanian Kosovars, the 100,000 ethnic Nepalese who fled to Nepal from Bhutan did not return to their homes after three months as refugees, reports the Chicago Tribune. They have spent the decade stuck in the limbo of refugee camps. Their fate is typical of the 13.6 million refugees in the world. Up to 22 million people are also thought to be internally displaced. The 1990s have seen the greatest number of uprooted people since the United Nations started tracking statistics after World War II. "In many ways, it has been a depressing decade," said Rachael Reilly, refugee policy director for Human Rights Watch. Although the speedy return of the Kosovar refugees is unusual, Kosovo has many of the distinguishing features of 1990s refugee crises: It was an ethnic conflict. It involved the deliberate expulsion of an entire group of people. And the nations of the world found it difficult to respond at first because it occurred within the boundaries of a sovereign country. Refugee advocates worry that the Kosovo crisis may exhaust the world's attention span for refugees. On the other hand, it has shown what developed countries can do when they want to. "For the first time since the Indo-Chinese refugee crisis, the international community is once again willing to share the burden . . . Our real concern is not that we begrudge the attention to the Kosovars. (But) it would be very sad if that attention were only restricted to European refugees," said Reilly. [Stateless orphans: The Kosovar refugees are going home, but millions of others remain in limbo – www.chicago-tribune.com]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Friday 2 July 1999
Title:	NOTES
Text:	Xinhua reports King Birendra of Nepal told parliament yesterday the government will continue diplomatic efforts to solve peacefully the Bhutanese refugee problem.

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Friday 11 June 1999
Title:	BHUTAN: RETURNEES ARRESTED
Text:	A Nepal-based Bhutanese refugee organisation says 80 of its members have been arrested by police on Bhutan's border with India, reports BBC News. The Bhutan Gorkha National Liberation Front (BGNLF) says the activists were travelling from refugee camps in eastern Nepal to Thimpu. They planned to ask the King to take back more than 100,000 refugees. Xinhua adds reports Bhutanese police arrested 80 Bhutanese refugees who launched a peaceful demonstration Wednesday in Phuntsholing, a border town in Bhutan, the organiser said in a press release. BGNLF was to organise a mass return to Bhutan of the Bhutanese refugees in eastern Nepal, but due to a heavy rainfall, only 84 heads of the families went through India to Phuntsholing for the demonstration. "The Royal Bhutan police arrested 79 heads of the families along with our secretary general at 10:30 am with banners, placards and posters," the group said. [Bhutan police arrest refugees from Nepal – http://news.bbc.co.uk; Bhutanese Refugees Hold Demonstration in Bhutan – www.xinhua.org]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Thursday 10 June 1999
Title:	ASIA-PACIFIC: REGIONAL MEETING OPENS
Text:	Fifty delegates from some 20 countries in the Asia and Pacific region assembled in Kathmandu today to hold consultations on refugees, displaced persons and migrants, reports Xinhua. Addressing the fourth Inter-Governmental Asia-Pacific Consultations on Refugees, Displaced Persons and Migrants, UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner Soren Jessen-Petersen hailed as a success the resolution of the long-standing problem of Indochinese refugees in Southeast Asia. "We should not overlook, however, the unique challenge posed by the refugees currently residing in another Asian sub-region, namely South Asia," he said. He noted that in South Asia, 35 to 40 million people have crossed international borders since 1947. "We need only to look at the unresolved problem of the more than three million Afghan refugees who are still residing outside their country, to realise the extent of the problem," he said. On the agenda of the two – day meeting are the role of countries of origin and a progress report on the Asia-Pacific consultations. UNHCR and IOM discussion papers are scheduled to be tabled on the role of countries of origin. The Nepalese government will also contribute a paper on the role of countries of asylum. [Regional Meeting on Refugees Opens in Nepal – www.xinhua.org]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Wednesday 9 June 1999
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE PLAN MASS RETURN
Text:	A Bhutanese political group is scheduled to organise tomorrow a mass return to Bhutan of refugees residing in Nepal, the group said in a press release yesterday, reports Xinhua. The Bhutan Gorkha National Liberation Front (BGNLF) said it is organising a movement inside Bhutan. "In our own version, this would be the final movement for the BGNLF and hopefully for the Bhutanese exile movement as a whole," it said. It said the programme would include a mass return of refugees to Bhutan beginning tomorrow and 150 to 200 households from different camps in Nepal are expected to join the program in the first lot. The main programme will take place in Phuntsholing, a border town in Bhutan and would soon spread over to other parts of Bhutan, the group said. A BGNLF member said the refugees will travel through India as Bhutanese citizens. About 100,000 Bhutanese refugees are staying in eight UN-run camps in eastern Nepal after being forced to flee Bhutan in 1989 and early 1990s. [Bhutanese Group to Organize Mass Return of Refugees to Bhutan – www.xinhua.org]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Thursday 3 June 1999
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE HUNGER STRIKE
Text:	Thousands of Bhutanese refugees in camps in Eastern Nepal went on a symbolic hunger strike to greet the Bhutanese monarch who is celebrating the silver jubilee of his accession, the Nepali language daily Kantipur said today, reports Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The report from Birtamod in Jhapa district, about 400 km east of Kathmandu, said 9,558 Bhutanese refugees from seven different camps in eastern Nepal staged a 12-hour hunger strike from 6 am yesterday. "We want to show our anger at the king who evicted us, celebrating the anniversary of his accession," said one refugee. There are over 90,000 Bhutanese refugees, most of them Nepali-speaking from southern Bhutan, in camps in eastern Nepal run by UNHCR. Rakesh Chhetri, a refugee leader in the Nepalese capital, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur: "We just cannot understand how the King could celebrate the silver jubilee with almost one fifth of his population presently out of the country." [Refugees greet King Jigme with hunger strike – www.dpa.com]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Wednesday 2 June 1999
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE PROTEST ROYAL CELEBRATION
Text:	Some 40,000 Bhutanese refugees in Nepal have protested against celebrations today to mark the 25th anniversary of the enthronement of Bhutan's King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, reports Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The refugees started to protest yesterday against the absolute monarch at their camps in Birtamod, Jhapa district, about 400km east of Kathmandu, the Kantipur daily reported. They shouted, "a king that indulges in ethnic cleansing has no right to celebrate." Other slogans said "silver jubilee sans one sixth of Bhutanese" and "celebrate silver jubilee only after repatriation." More than 90,000 Bhutanese refugees, mostly Nepali-speaking people from southern Bhutan, live in camps in eastern Nepal, and an estimated 30,000 more live in India. The protest rally yesterday, one of the biggest ever held by the refugees, later turned into a mass meeting where speakers urged the Bhutanese king to "command" the return of the exiled Bhutanese. Reuters reports Jigme Thinley, chairman of Bhutan's cabinet and foreign minister, said he was hopeful the election of a majority government in Nepal would help solve the Nepali refugee problem. [Refugees in Nepal protest Bhutan king's silver jubilee celebration – www.dpa.com; Bhutan seeks to keep neighbours problems at bay – www.reuters.com]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Friday 12 March 1999
Title:	INDIA: TAFT TO VISIT TIBETANS
Text:	The US special coordinator for Tibetan affairs, assistant secretary of state Julia Taft, said yesterday she hoped to visit the Dalai Lama's base in northern India later this year, reports AFP. Taft said planned a visit to India, Nepal, and Bhutan in June in her capacity as US assistant secretary of state for population, refugees, and migration. "I hope to visit Dharamsala at that time to review our refugee assistance programme and assess for myself the circumstances on the ground ... and efforts within Nepal to receive and assist Tibetans escaping to India," she said. Direct US aid to Tibet is limited, with US$1.6m earmarked this year for Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal channelled through the NGO Tibet Fund. [US Tibet coordinator aims to visit Dalai Lama's base – www.afp.com]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Thursday 4 March 1999
Title:	NEPAL: BHUTANESE PROTEST
Text:	A group of Nepal-based Bhutanese refugee organisations have held a demonstration in Kathmandu to protest against alleged human rights violations in Bhutan, reports BBC News. They accuse the Bhutanese security forces of torturing members of the pro-democracy National Movement of Bhutan. The group is fighting for a multi-party democracy to replace the monarchy. It is also calling for the repatriation of 100,000 Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal. [Bhutanese refugees in Nepal hold demonstration – http://news.bbc.co.uk]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Friday 29 January 1999
Title:	BHUTANESE PROTEST 'SMASHED'
Text:	Bhutanese refugee leaders have protested about police breaking up a pro-democracy rally on Wednesday in the southern town of Phuntsholing, reports BBC News. They say that more than 70 demonstrators were seriously injured and another 50 deported to Nepal via India, despite requests to Delhi not to allow the expulsions. Bhutan confirmed that police action took place, but denied any of the protesters sustained serious injuries. The Bhutanese government has said it was well within its rights to push back the refugees, who it described as troublemakers from across the border. [Refugee rally 'smashed' – www.news.bbc.co.uk]

Source:	Refugees Daily
Date:	Thursday 28 January 1999
Title:	BHUTAN: PROTESTERS WANT RETURNS
Text:	Bhutan's police say they have broken up a pro-democracy demonstration in the kingdom's southern town of Phuentsoling, reports BBC News. The demonstrators were protesting over the lack of political reform, and calling for the repatriation of tens of thousands of Bhutanese from Nepal. The leaders of the country's National Movement for Democracy said the protest had continued at a gate separating Phuentsoling from a town on the Indian side of the border. Last week, police in the Indian state of West Bengal arrested 261 refugees who were trying to march back into Phuentsoling from their camps in eastern Nepal. A spokesman for the Bhutanese pro-democracy group said another 50-60 Bhutanese refugees, who had evaded Indian police last week, tried to sneak back into the town from the Indian side. The Bhutanese police superintendent at Phuentsoling said his men had pushed back the refugees. Rongthong Kinley Torji, who was given the leadership of the unified movement for democracy, says it has been decided to organise demonstrations inside Bhutan and to lead the tens of thousands of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal back to Bhutan. [Bhutanese protesters call for democracy – www.news.bbc.co.uk]