Ever
since the movement for human rights against the abuses of
human rights, arbitrary de-nationalization of Nepali-speaking
southern Bhutanese citizens ( called Lhotshampa),
denial of their children’s admission to schools, denial
of cultural and linguistic rights and forced imposition of
ruling Ngalung community's culture and language on the rest
of population, was
launched in the kingdom of Bhutan in 1990demanding the replacement
of the current party-less and despotic rule by a democratic
set-up, with the constitutional guarantee of human rights
and rule of law, more than 125,000 Bhutanese people, Bhutanese
people, nearly a sixth of the kingdom's total population of
approximately 767,548
have been forced to leave or forcibly evicted from
the country by the Government. This has made Bhutan as one
of the highest per capita refugee generators in the world.
Bhutanese
who fled Bhutan in the wake of the abuses of their rights human early
1991 first arrived in West Bengal and Assam states of India. They lived there for some months with out any relief
assistance, hoping for the Royal Government of Bhutan’s initiatives
in resolving their problems. However, no
positive initiatives on sight, a group of Bhutanese
entered into Nepal. With the help of local leaders, they established
camps in the banks of Mai river in Jhapa in eastern Nepal.
Thus the first camp was established for a group of
235 refugees. Thereafter on the request of Nepalese government,
the UNHCR office in Kathmandu got involved in the management
of refugee camps.
The
camps are managed by the UNHCR. The Nepalese government has
established a Refugee Coordination Unit (RCU) under Home Ministry.
The RCU looks after the administrative and law and order provisions
related to refugee camps. As
on September 2001, approximately
98,886 Bhutanese refugees were living in seven refugee
camps in eastern Nepal managed by the UNHCR. Around
5,000 are living outside of camps in Nepal and another 20,000
are living in Indian
territories with out any help.
There
are a total of 98,886 Bhutanese refugees in the following refugee
camps in the districts of Jhapa and Morang in eastern Nepal
as on
September 2001:
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Beldangi
I, II & III Camps
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Number of Refugee Families
There
are about 15,032 refugee families in all camps.
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Beldangi
I, II & III Camps
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(statistics
as on November, 2000 - Kathmandu Post, 22 March, 2001)
The
percentage and name of origin districts of refugees in Bhutan
While
refugees from such countries as Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan
and former Yugoslavia were victims of armed conflicts or civil
war, refugees from Bhutan were forced to leave their country
not because of civil war or foreign intervention but because
of the racist and ethnocentric policies and feelings of the
Government against the Nepali-speaking citizens of southern
Bhutan, called Lhotshampas. They have become
victims of the government’s racist and
'ethnic cleansing policy".
Bhutanese security forces resorted to
such inhuman tactics
as torture, killing in custody torture, indiscriminate arrests,
loot, rape, plunder and burning of the houses of southern
Bhutanese finally compelling them to leave their home in Bhutan.
The government of Bhutan had confiscated citizenship and property
documents and also forced many of the Nepali-speaking Lhotshampas
to sign papers renouncing Bhutanese citizenship.
Continued
: Please click on
Nepal-Bhutan
talks
for
continuity of the events
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