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February 11, 2003
An Appeal to all
the following development partners of Bhutan
was sent on February 11, 2003
1 H.E.
Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary General, the United Nations
Organization.
2.
H.E. the
Presidents of Austria, Finland and India.
3.
H.E. the
Prime Ministers of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland,
India, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United
Kingdom.
4.
H.E. the
Chancellors of Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
5.
H.E.
Ministers of
Foreign Affairs of Australia,
Austria, Canada,
Denmark,
, Finland,
, Germany,
India, Japan,
the
Netherlands,
Norway,
Switzerland and the
Secretary
of State, USA.
6.
H.E.
Minister for Economic and Labour, Austria, HE
Minister of
Economic and business affairs, Denmark,
Minister of DIDC,
Finland, Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development,
Germany.
7.
H.E.
the
President of
European Union,
the Secretary
General , Council of EU, European Parliament,
EU Commissioner
for External Relations, EU Development Aid Division,
EU Humanitarian
Aid Office, EC
Directorate-General for
External Relations, EU
Head of
Human Rights, EU
Head of relations with the UN committee on human
rights and
European
Community.
8.
The
diplomatic missions of Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark,
European Union, Finland, Germany, Japan,
the Netherlands,
Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States
of America based in New Delhi, India.
9.
The diplomatic
missions Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, European Union,
Finland, Germany, India, Japan,
the Netherlands,
Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of
America based in Kathmandu, Nepal.
10.
The
Presidents of World Bank, Washington DC, USA and the Asian
Development Bank, Manila, Philippines.
11.
The
Resident
Representatives, World
Bank, New Delhi, India and Kathmandu, Nepal
12.The
Resident
Representatives, Asian
Development Bank, New Delhi, India and Kathmandu, Nepal
13.The
Resident Representatives , UNDP, Thimphu, Bhutan and
Kathmandu, Nepal
14.The
United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees, Geneva
15.The
Unite Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Geneva
16.The
Resident
Representative UNHCR, Kathmandu, Nepal
17.The
India Embassy, India House, Thimphu, Bhutan
18.The
Head Offices Aid agencies to Bhutan - Austrian Coordination
Bureau, Vienna, Aust Aid, Australia, Canadian Cooperation
Office, Canada, DANIDA, Denmark, GTZ, Germany, Helvetas,
Switzerland, JICA, Japan, Save the Children USA,
Washington, SNV, Netherlands and SADC, Switzerland
19.International
human rights organizations-
Amnesty
International, London, UK, Human Rights Watch, USA and the
Minority Rights Group, London
Subject:
Appeal to Bhutan’s Donor Countries and Agencies at the Round
Table Meeting, (RTM) Geneva February 18-19, 2003 on the
plight of Bhutanese Refugees and Nepali-speaking Lhotshampa
citizens inside Bhutan .
Excellencies,
The
representatives of donor countries, donor agencies,
multilateral agencies and the specialize agencies of the
United Nations are scheduled to meet in Geneva for the
Eighth Round Table Meeting
of the Royal Government of Bhutan and international
development partners on February 18-19, 2003. The
meeting is taking at a time when the Bhutanese refugees have
staged a month-old relay hunger strike demanding their
return to their homeland, Bhutan with dignity and honour
from their 12 years exile in the camps in Nepal and at a time
when the human rights situation is very grim inside
Bhutan. In this context, we take this opportunity to draw
Your Excellency’s kind attention to the plight of Bhutanese
refugees, Nepali-speaking Lhotshampa citizens inside Bhutan
and human rights situation in Bhutan and seek international
support for repatriation of Bhutanese refugees and
establishment of human rights in Bhutan.
The tranquil image
of Shangri-La as Bhutan was called has been shattered in the
last one decade as Bhutan has been responsible for generating
one of the highest per capita refugees in the world.
Approximately one sixth of the total population of Bhutan are
now forced to live as refugees. There are over 110,000
Bhutanese refugees living in the UNHCR administered camps in
Nepal
and another 25,000 Bhutanese refugees are living outside of
camps in Nepal and India. The
Nepali-speaking Lhotshampas from
Bhutan were
forced to leave their country not because of a civil war,
foreign intervention or natural calamity, which entitled them
to a voluntary return upon restoration of previous status.
They were forcefully evicted form their homeland under a well
planned strategy of Royal Government of Bhutan to reduce
their numbers at all costs. They are victims of human rights
abuses, persecution, torture and the reprehensible practice
of ‘ethnic cleansing’ undertaken by the Royal Government of
Bhutan ( RGOB). Thus, their return is possible only if Bhutan
accepts them back In the past, refugees themselves initiated
voluntary repatriation several times - only to be dumped back
at Nepal border check post by Bhutanese and Indian police.
The
evicted Lhotshampas not only lost their homes and
neighbourhood in which they had invested considerable
proportion of their income, but they were dispossessed of
their personal possessions. The human costs of forced
evictions of Lhotshampas are substantial and involves a wide
range of additional negative impacts on their livelihood,
safety and security of their children. Lhotshampas are facing
a situation of statelessness, physical, psychological and
emotional trauma, insecurity of the future of their children,
loss of livelihood, problem of educating their children, loss
of faith in the legal and political system of the country,
tensions, increased social criminalization and so on. This is
a grave humanitarian situation that seeks immediate attention
of international community. Bhutanese refugees have collective
and inalienable rights under the international law to return
to their homes and property, from which they had been
forcefully evicted and uprooted by the RGOB. The right to
return to one’s homeland is a universal right protected by
various international laws including Article 13 of Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and Article 12 of International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
As of date,
twelfth rounds of Nepal Bhutan Joint Ministerial Level
Committee Talk (JMLCT) have been held since 1993, the last
being held on February 06, 2003. These talks are held as per
the need and pleasure of Bhutan. All these talks have failed
to arrive even at a common agreement let alone the resolution
of Bhutanese refugee issue. Bhutan hurriedly called the one
day 12th round of JMLCT on February 06, 2003, just
ahead of Bhutan’s donors’ meeting in Geneva. As expected the
JMLCT ended inconclusively, as Bhutan has never shown
sincerity to take back its citizens. By holding the 12th
Talk, Bhutan wanted to create impression on the donors and
international community that it is engaged in finding
solution to the issue of Bhutanese refugees. However, it
became clearly evident from the recently concluded twelfth
round of JMLCT that refugees issue cannot be resolved
through bilateral efforts of
Nepal and Bhutan.
Practically, the
refugee issue today stands where it began in 1993, the first
JMLC Talk. Bhutan has been
making and breaking promises to take back its citizens from
the camps for last one decade. A decade of lies of Bhutan
has compelled the refugees to distrust Bhutan. It has
lost complete credibility. How can a country coolly dump its
citizens in another country for such a long time with
impunity?. Is there no international law which can be applied
against Bhutan?
Under sustained
international pressure,
the Nepal-Bhutan
Joint Verification Team ( JVT) was formed. The JVT completed
verification of refugees living in Khudunabari camp.
98% of verified Bhutanese refugees could produce documents to
prove their origin to Bhutan. Since, a year has passed,
neither the result of verification of refugees has been made
public nor the verification of the remaining camps have been
started. The process of past verification was extremely slow.
At this pace, it will take at least six to ten years to
complete the interviews of refugees and verification of their
documents. There must be a time-bound completion of
verification process and the repatriation of refugees. The
number of JVT group must be increased to at least 12, two
groups each per six camps. The JVT must complete the
verification of at least 400 refugees per day. The
verification must start in all the camps simultaneously and
complete within a year.
Categorization:
The refugees do not accept their categorization into four
categories. There should be only two categories – Bhutanese
and non-Bhutanese. Categorization has become a stumbling block
in the resolution of refugee issue. The failure of
harmonization of two countries’ position on categorization
has seriously impeded the progress of bilateral Ministerial
initiatives.
Resettlement:
Bhutan is still continuing to transfer population from north
and east of the country and settle them on the lands left
behind by refugees in Southern Bhutan. This will make it
very difficult for refugees to return to the land they
previously owned. The King of Bhutan in his national day
address on December 17, 2002 indicated the continuation of
resettlement programme and
allotment of
land to 600 families
in southern
Bhutan. This clearly demonstrates RGOB’s desire to sabotage
any attempt of refugee repatriation to their original
homesteads. The resettlement must be stopped.
Constitution:
In the past few months Bhutan undertook a major international
media propaganda regarding its drafting of a democratic
Constitution. However, no member from Nepali-speaking
Lhotshampa community was included in the drafting committee,
thus, muting the minority voice in its formulation. The
Constitution is being officially publicised as a ‘Royal Gift"
without the desire or the demands of people. Since, the
Constitution is imposed by the RGOB without peoples’
aspirations or demands, it will only serve the interests of
the rulers and not of the ruled.
In Bhutan, people
even today do not enjoy the basic personal freedoms like
wearing the dresses of their own choice. And here the
government is talking about the ‘Bill of Rights and democracy’
in a grandiose manner. The RGOB does not tolerate any
criticism of its action and policies. People have no right to
freedom of expression and press, which are the basic pillars
of a democratic society. There are hundreds of political
prisoners in Bhutanese prisons incarcerated for their
criticism of the government policies and voicing concern for
political and human rights. Bhutanese people inside the
country live under constant fear of intimidation and
persecution. It is impossible for the people who are still
being denied and deprived of their basic rights to believe
that current feudal system will change just because, it has
adopted a 50 pages of the document and that this document will
bring qualitative and real change to their lives. The
Constitution is RGOB ‘s gimmick to deceive the international
community about
Bhutan’s so-called
democratic credential to secure more economic aid for
suppressing and oppressing people. It is also designed to
deflect international opinion from the real issue of the
repatriation of Bhutanese refugees, resettlement and human
rights abuses inside Bhutan.
While the
Constitution was at the final stage of drafting, a
country-wide election was held on October 29, 2002 for the
post of 201 village headman which was not conducted by any
independent Election Commission, but by the Dzongdas (district
administrators) as usual. The election was farce as the
people were not given the right to choose the candidate of
their choice. In the southern Bhutan, the Dzongdas selected
the candidates of their choice. In fact, the administration
published the name of only one candidate in Chargharay
constituency in Samchi district. The people were asked to
caste their votes for the lone candidate in the ballot boxes,
on top of which was written ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. The people
overwhelmingly voted ‘No’ to this particular candidate. The
authorities then instantly proposed the name of a voter, who
was in queue to caste his vote as candidate. The people
voted the new candidate, who was declared winner. This
reveals the anti-democratic credential of the RGOB and how the
RGOB makes mockery of democratic norms and principles.
Persecution of Lhotshampas:
Lhotshampas inside Bhutan are still being hounded and
persecuted by the RGOB. Since 1991, schools in southern Bhutan
do not admit the children of Nepali-speaking Lhotshampa
citizens. They only admit the children of government officials
and security personnel. Several thousand Lhotshampa children
are deprived of education. Lhotshampas do not get government
contracts and business permits directly. The government, in
the southern districts awards contracts and issues business
permits to persons of Ngalung or Sharchop community only.
Lhotshampas have to secure sub-contract from Ngalungs or
Sharchop contractors after paying them hefty commission. The
relatives of Dzongdas (district magistrate) in southern Bhutan
hold contract licences, secure contract and sub-contract to
the Lhotshampas. The corruption in southern Bhutan is rampant,
but the government turns a blind eye, or else it will loose
officials’ loyalty. The more government officials harass
Lhotshampas, the faster they get promotion and plum posting.
Since 1991, Lhotshampas must obtain a Security Clearance
Certificate (SCC) from the local administration to admit their
children in local schools, obtain passport, scholarship, renew
trade, business licence, secure government business and
contracts. The administration does not issue SCC to
Lhotshampas since the majority of Lhotshampas have their
relatives among refugees.
Bhutanese
JVT leader is now the Director of Special Task Force (STF) in
the Home Ministry. The STF maintains the record of refugees in
Nepal and of those still residing inside the Bhutan.
Lhotshampas are required to obtain SCC from the STF. The STF
checks the refugee records and immediately deregisters the
relatives of refugees in Nepal from the census register and
denies SCC. The STF has deregistered hundreds of Lhotshampas
and denationalized them after the refugee verification.
The Lhotshampas
are still forced to contribute free labour. They are required
to clear the land for new settlers. There is a wide spread
discrimination against the Lhotshampas in the villages. The
RGOB discriminates in providing services to the Lhotshampa
villagers. The piped drinking water and electricity are
supplied to the houses of newly arrived settlers, but the
same are denied to the Lhotshampas who have been living in
the area for generations. Some educated Lhotshampas have
moved to capital Thimphu to evade harassment in the districts
with their children and families. But now the government has
ordered that the children from other districts should not be
admitted to schools in
Thimphu. The RGOB
has terminated thousands of Lhotshampa civil servants from
various government offices often with out compensation. Since
a decade, all the developments in the southern are stopped
citing flimsy security reasons. Development activities are
taking place only in northern Bhutan, especially in and around
Thimphu and Paro. The presence of huge contingents of army in
the civilian areas in the south has also created enormous
social problems for the people.
Bhutan cannot
achieve good governance by alienation, economic and social
exclusion of a section of population inside Bhutan and
banishment of one sixth of total population as refugees.
Persecution of
Christians:
Since 2001, the
RGOB has been persecuting Christians in Bhutan. Many of them
have been denationalized. They are denied jobs, school
admission, passport, government business etc.
In the last
Seventh RTM held in Thimphu
in 2001, the donors had expressed concerns on increased
unemployment, alienation and social exclusion of
Lhotshampas, denial of citizenship ID card, education,
government employment and trade licenses to them and solution
of refugee issue. However, even after two years, Bhutan has
not made any progress at all in these areas of donors’
concern Now the time has come for the international donors
to demand Bhutan’s compliance to international human rights
standards, elimination of discrimination against Lhotshampas
and repatriation of refugees. The donor communities should
judge Bhutan by its over all human rights situation record
and not merely project completion records.
We, Bhutanese
people feel that Bhutan could not have acted with such
impunity, had there not been an uninterrupted flow of money
and support from the donors. The assistance enabled Bhutan to
divert its internally generated resources to bankroll its
repressive agenda. So long as Bhutan secures support and fund
from international community, it will continue its repressive
policies. Only international admonishment and blocking of
economic aid can make Bhutan to comply to the international
human rights standards.
In view the above
we on behalf of the Bhutanese people both living in exile and
people living inside the country appeal to the donor
countries, donor agencies, international community and the
United Nations to:
1. Pressurize
Bhutan to submit a concrete road map to the international
community for the speedy repatriation and rehabilitation of
Bhutanese refugee back to their original homesteads in
Bhutan within a year.
2. Ask Bhutan to
immediately stop the resettlement in the land left behind by
the refugees in the interest of just and durable repatriation
of Bhutanese refugees and in full consonance with
international human rights and humanitarian law under its
obligations as State of Origin and withdraw the already
settled people.
3. Ask Bhutan to
immediately resume verification process of the refugees in
remaining six camps simultaneously and increase the number of
JVT groups for the speedy verification of refugees.
4. Appoint a
Special Rapporteur for Bhutanese refugees and form an
international monitoring committee of donor countries,
human rights groups, and experts to over see the process of
verification, repatriation, and rehabilitation of the
refugees.
5. Ask Bhutan to
include the representatives from the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights and UN High Commissioner for
Refugees in the JMLCT and JVT.
6.
Pressurize Bhutan
to abrogate all racial and discriminatory laws and policies
against minority Lhotshampas, stop their persecution and treat
them with equality and dignity.
7. Ask Bhutan to
repeal all laws which discriminate, repress, and punish
citizens
who do not support government policies.
8.
Pressurize Bhutan to remove the requirement of the Security
Clearance Certificate for all purposes and provide equal
opportunity to Lhotshampas in employment, business,
trade, education etc..
9. Ask Bhutan to
open all the schools in the southern Bhutan, make education
available to the children of all ethnic groups
10. Make human
rights a precondition for any international assistance
committed to
Bhutan. In this context, ask Bhutan to immediately accede
to, without limiting reservations, and implement the following
international human rights treaties - the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its (First)
Optional Protocol; the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights; the UN Convention Against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Racial Discrimination; the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
11.
Urge Bhutan to initiate development activities in the
southern Bhutan
12.
Pressurize Bhutan to respect the rights of minorities under
various international human rights instruments.
13.
Ask Bhutan to open dialogue with the refugees and
dissidents to resolve the long standing human rights and
political issues in Bhutan.
14.
Tie up the disbursement of economic aid to Bhutan with
Bhutan’s compliance to the above.
15.
Pressurize Bhutan to submit a report on its
compliance to above within a year.
Thanking you
Excellency’s
sincerely,
Rakesh
Chhetri
Executive
Director
Centre
for Protection of Minorities and Against Racism and
Discrimination in Bhutan (CEMARD-Bhutan)
Website:
http://www.oocities.org/bhutaneserefugees
Website: http://www.oocities.org/cemardbhutan
Website: http://www.bhutannewsonline.com
President
Bhutan Women and
Children Organisation (BWCO)
Website: http://www.oocities.org/bhutanwomen
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