Up to 60,000 Bhutanese refugees to be resettled in United States

[jetsetter]

The Nepal government has issued exit permits to Bhutanese refugees who have opted for third country resettlement.

This allows refugees to leave the camps in eastern Nepal for third countries once their cases are accepted.

In a statement on Monday, the UNHCR welcomed the Nepal government’s decision to issue exit permits to the Bhutanese refugees and stated that third country settlement is an important step towards finding solution to the refugee stalemate.

More than 107,000 Bhutanese refugees have been languishing in seven camps in Jhapa and Morang districts for 17 years.

However, the refugees are sharply divided over the resettlement issue. There have been frequent clashes between refugees opposing the third country resettlement and those in favour of it.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency has said the group resettlement process has been gaining momentum in the camps since it started late last year. “Thousands of refugees have expressed interest, and UNHCR has submitted the details of nearly 10,000 interested refugees for consideration by the resettlement countries. The refugees are currently in various stages of the process, ranging from interviews to extensive medical screening and cultural orientation before departure.”

The United States has offered to resettle at least 60,000 Bhutanese refugees and Canada has indicated it will accept up to 5,000. Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway have also shown their willingness to take in refugees.

The first batch of refugees is set to fly to the United States in March while larger numbers will be leaving Nepal starting in July. nepalnews.com mk Feb 04 08

http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/200...b04/news06.php

KATHMANDU, 5 February 2008 (IRIN) - The international community is working actively with the Nepalese government to help resettle thousands of Bhutanese refugees in Europe and North America, with the USA alone accepting at least 60,000 refugees, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

In addition, thousands of refugees will also get the chance to resettle in Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway, which have indicated their willingness to accept the Bhutanese refugees, said senior UNHCR officials.

“Now finally, here is our new chance of living with dignity,” refugee Ashok Gurung told IRIN in Kathmandu on 4 February. He said most of the 107,000 Bhutanese refugees are enthusiastic about resettling in third countries and many have already started applying for resettlement.

Since 1990 Bhutanese citizens of Nepalese origin - also known as `Lhotsampas’ in Bhutan - have been living in refugee camps in Jhapa District, nearly 500km southeast of Kathmandu, after they were evicted from their homes by the Bhutanese government which introduced a law stripping them of citizenship and civil rights due to their ancestry.

New confidence among refugees

“The refugees are no longer in a dilemma over the options offered to them by the UNHCR,” said another Bhutanese refugee, Thakur Prasad Mishra, who is also editor of the Bhutan News Service, an independent news agency run by Bhutanese refugee journalists.

Mishra said there was new confidence among refugees that they would be allowed to leave their camps easily, after the recent announcement by the Nepalese government that it would issue exit visas to Bhutanese refugees who voluntarily opted for resettlement.

“There is also less fear of applying for resettlement because the number of applicants is growing a lot,” said Mishra explaining how the refugees are constantly living in fear of being attacked by those who oppose resettlement and who are campaigning for repatriation to Bhutan.

These groups include Communist Party of Bhutan, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, Bhutan Tigers Force and Cobra whose leaders are all underground and operate from outside the camps, according to refugees who requested anonymity.

Refugees told IRIN that while they may not be totally happy about resettling in foreign countries this seemed to be the only immediate solution to easing their difficult and hard lives. “This is just one step for us but not always a durable solution,” said Mishra.

“I’m ready to go”

The UNHRC said it had already submitted details of nearly 10,000 refugees for consideration by resettlement countries; all were in various stages of the process, from interviews to extensive medical screening and cultural orientation before departure.

“I’m ready to go and so are thousands of other Bhutanese refugees as this could be our only solution to the humanitarian problems that we are currently facing,” said Gurung.

Refugees suffer from health problems, depression, financial hardship, lack of jobs and are dependent on humanitarian aid for everything, they told IRIN.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76563

Interesting development.

[jayhawk]

Wonderful! Why you ask?

Since 1990 Bhutanese citizens of Nepalese origin - also known as `Lhotsampas’ in Bhutan - have been living in refugee camps in Jhapa District, nearly 500km southeast of Kathmandu, after they were evicted from their homes by the Bhutanese government which introduced a law stripping them of citizenship and civil rights due to their ancestry.

We do not tolerate that shit in America, or any other civilized place.

[jetsetter]

I'm all for making it much easier to people to become citizens and immigrate. In addition I believe we should take in many more refugees.

[teletubby-warrior]

Originally Posted by jayhawk

We do not tolerate that shit in America, or any other civilized place.

Rwanda, Darfur, etc... ring any bells?

[tigger]

These groups include ... Cobra whose leaders are all underground and operate from outside the camps, according to refugees who requested anonymity.

That Cobra? The GI Joe's are going to be pissed.

I'm glad to hear that we offered so much help. Ideally Bhutan would clean their act up and restore these people's rights, but in lieu of that I suppose this will do.

[thedguy]

Originally Posted by teletubby-warrior

Rwanda, Darfur, etc... ring any bells?

*thinks to self* Should I say it... yes I think I shall.

He said "civilized"

[Vette Boss]

Let them in, I say. I thoroughly approve of people getting a chance at a better life in America... it's what the nation was founded on in the first place.

[KaJuN]

^ I agree. As long as you go through the legal processes we have in place I would love to have you in this country.

[Shawn]

Oh come on, I'm sure there is a motive behind this for the US. TW already pointed this out, but there's much worse cases of human rights violations where the US (and much of the Western world) totally turned their backs.

During the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 close to 10,000 innocent people per day were being slaughtered by machetes and left on the streets, and this was covered extensively in the media as it was unfolding. Yet the United States' response was complete inaction, because the whole Black Hawk Down incident in Somalia had resulted in a presidential order from Clinton which stipulated that the US would from now on respond only to humanitarian situations where the US has a vested interest.

Oh, and it hasn't ended, there's still a huge diaspora problem. 14 years on there's still many people living in refugee camps inside and outside Rwanda's borders.

Patriotism is all good and well if it has credibility.

Originally Posted by jayhawk

We do not tolerate that shit in America, or any other civilized place.

[KaJuN]

As cruel as it sounds I have to say I agree with Clinton and limiting our support. If we help some people then we have to help someone else, then someone else. It can get out of hand really quickly. We can't help everyone and we have to draw the line somewhere. But even then we saw how well we helped our own citizens when they got hit with a natural disaster.