Observations on Bhutan’s refugees

In the forests of eastern Nepal live the victims of one of the world's most intractable refugee problems. For the past 17 years, some 106,000 people have languished in seven camps after being ejected from the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

Even an offer from the United States to resettle 60,000 of the Nepali-speaking Hindus is failing to resolve the issue.

During the 1980s, the Ngalongs who rule Bhutan began to fear the growing influence of Hindus in the south, so the government brought in new citizenship legislation, along with arrests, torture and threats, to force out thousands of ethnic Nepali-Bhutanese people. Two decades on and after 17 rounds, negotiations between Bhutan (which refuses to take the refugees back) and Nepal (which refuses to integrate them) have come to nothing. India, the largest power in the region, has close ties with Bhutan and won't support repatriation; other political actors have declined to interfere.

For the refugees - totally reliant on international aid - the despair continues. The US offer to resettle 60,000 Bhutanese has, ironically, exacerbated the issue, causing uproar among the refugees. While many long to be resettled and begin a new life, others insist that repatriation to Bhutan should be the only option. They fear anything less would endanger the status of 80,000 of their people still in Bhutan.

A recent report by Human Rights Watch documented the deteriorating conditions inside the camps, where domestic violence is on the rise and women are turning to prostitution to feed their children. Many of the young people, frustrated and angry at the world's ignorance of their plight, have turned to groups such as the Bhutan Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist), which urges people to fight for the right to return, and to overthrow the Bhutanese monarchy.

Violence erupted last May when thousands of refugees tried to cross into the Indian state of West Bengal and from there march back to Bhutan. One man was killed and more than 20 were injured when Indian police opened fire as the refugees tried to cross the border.

Inside the camps, there was chaos as supporters of resettlement plans were attacked, and two people died when armed Nepalese police were called in to restore order. As some refugees prepared to leave for the US, the crisis reached boiling point, with fears of a Maoist insurgency in the camps.

I spoke with dozens of refugees there and to some political leaders. For the thousands of young people who were born in the camps, their "homeland", Bhutan, is a pipe dream - a place they know only from stories passed down by their elders. At a secondary school, I asked a class of teenagers who wanted to resettle in the US. Not a single hand went up. All said they wished to return to Bhutan. I was later told that those who favour resettlement are afraid to say so.

One refugee leader who spoke in favour of a third-country option nearly paid for his views with his life. I met Manoyath Khanal at a safe house in the town of Damak where he'd fled with his family after being beaten by a mob in one of the camps. "They called me the 'Broker of America'," he said. He blamed his attack on "radical Maoists" taking orders from Tek Nath Rizal, the exiled Bhutanese leader who lives in Kathmandu.

Rizal was an adviser to the king of Bhutan until the regime began its systematic persecution of his people in 1989, when he was sentenced to life imprisonment for treason, eventually being released in 1999. I spoke to Rizal a few days later and he strenuously denied orchestrating violence.

"We have always followed peaceful means . . . If we opt for resettlement first, what will happen to the thousands of our people still in Bhutan?" he said.

Post your comment

Please note: you will need to login or register before you can comment on the website