REFUGEE SITUATION IN NEPAL: CANADA SHARES CONCERN

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000418 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF PREL PGOV PHUM BT NP CA SUBJECT: REFUGEE SITUATION IN NEPAL: CANADA SHARES CONCERN REF: STATE 36386 ¶1. (SBU) We presented reftel demarche February 10 to Elissa Golberg, Policy Advisor for Humanitarian Affairs in DFAIT's Human Rights, Humanitarian Affairs and International Women's Equality Division. She stated that Canada shares our concern over the lack of progress in solving the refugee situation in eastern Nepal. Ms. Golberg said Canada's ambassador at its U.N. mission in Geneva will be meeting soon with the Bhutanese ambassador, and in that meeting he will stress the same points set out in our demarche. ¶2. (SBU) Ms. Golberg indicated that some Bhutanese refugees have been resettled in Canada, under the private sponsorship of Canadian NGOs and local community groups. She said the GOC has not yet considered new offers of resettlement to others, nor has it discussed providing financial assistance for those refugees who return to Bhutan. CELLUCCI