Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04KATHMANDU1549
2004-08-06 09:38:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kathmandu
Cable title:  

NEPAL: BHUTANESE REFUGEE FRUSTRATION GROWING -

Tags:  PREF PGOV PREL BT IN NP 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001549 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SA/INS, PRM/ANE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2014
TAGS: PREF PGOV PREL BT IN NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: BHUTANESE REFUGEE FRUSTRATION GROWING -
THIRD COUNTRY RESETTLEMENT DESIRED

REF: A. KATHMANDU 230


B. KATHMANDU 1147

C. NEW DELHI 4698

D. KATHMANDU 1444

Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty; Reasons 1.4 (b/d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001549

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SA/INS, PRM/ANE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2014
TAGS: PREF PGOV PREL BT IN NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: BHUTANESE REFUGEE FRUSTRATION GROWING -
THIRD COUNTRY RESETTLEMENT DESIRED

REF: A. KATHMANDU 230


B. KATHMANDU 1147

C. NEW DELHI 4698

D. KATHMANDU 1444

Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty; Reasons 1.4 (b/d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Only surprising in that it took so long to
come about, some Bhutanese refugee leaders and many refugees
are starting to ask for immediate third-country resettlement.
During a discussion between StaffDel Blazey and two refugee
leaders, as well as with young professional refugees, refugee
frustration with the seemingly interminable negotiations over
their possible return and hopelessness about a forthcoming
solution were palpable. The refugees wanted to be able to
return as citizens to their property with a third party, such
as UNHCR, to ensure their safety in Bhutan. Unless the
bilateral process is restarted expeditiously, and
repatriation begins soon, third-country resettlement may
become the only option. END SUMMARY.

=========================================
TWO REFUGEE LEADERS BRIEF STAFFDEL BLAZEY
=========================================


2. (C) During a meeting with StaffDel Blazey upon the
StaffDel's return from Bhutan, Ratan Gazmere (Chief
Coordinator, Association of Human Rights Activists Bhutan)
and Tek Nath Rizal (senior refugee leader and former Royal
Advisory Council member to the King of Bhutan) told the
StaffDel that after so many years in refugees camps, it was
time to start looking at other options, such as third-country
resettlement. This was despite the real desire of the
refugees to return home. The StaffDel told the refugees that
their conversations with Royal Government of Bhutan (RGOB)
officials in Thimpu, including the Foreign Minister, had led
them to believe that Bhutan did intend to bring home some of
the refugees. However, the 22 December incident in which
some refugees reacted violently to the Bhutanese Joint
Verification Team leaders' pronouncement of the conditions of
return had offended the Bhutanese sense of national pride.
The situation needed to be addressed to the satisfaction of
the Bhutanese before more progress could be made. (NOTE: A

local press article on August 5 quoted Prime Minister Deuba
as indicating that outstanding issues between Nepal and
Bhutan had been resolved on the margins of the BIMSTEC Summit
in Thailand, and that the "process" would restart. END NOTE.)


3. (C) Dismissing the RGOB's perspective as propoganda,
Gazmere asked why the RGOB would sound so flexible to the
StaffDel, while almost at the same time the Bhutanese
National Assembly was dismissing the notion of allowing
refugees to return. Rizal argued that under the Bhutanese
system of government, these two disparate statements were
coming from the same mouth. The Bhutanese head of the Joint
Verification Team had been a District Head in southern Bhutan
during the start of the forced exodus, Gazmere noted, and the
Bhutanese Ambassador to India had been the Home Minister at
the same time. The refugees were hard-pressed to believe any
purported good intentions from these RGOB players.


4. (C) Turning to the presently halted bilateral verification
process, Gazmere doubted whether repatriation would ever
happen. Moreover, the refugees had no input in the
verification process or determining into which category
refugees would fall. Gazmere pointed out the logical
discrepancy of having family units divided into different
categories. In some cases, for example, parents were
Category Two (allowed to return under stringent conditions)
and children were Category Four (criminals subject to arrest
upon return). In the unlikely event that verification
restarted, Gazmere stated, the refugees should be included in
the categorization process in the other camps to prevent such
anomalies. Moreover, what right did the GON have to agree to
categorize refugees as Bhutanese criminals, he asked?
However, the refugees would not challenge the verification
process carried out thus far if the conditions for return
were acceptable to the refugees.


5. (C) After more than 13 years in the refugee camps, people
were losing hope of returning, Gazmere noted. Meanwhile, if
the RGOB had already agreed through the bilateral
verification process that 293 of their own citizens (74
families) were in the camps but had still not repatriated
them, what hope did the other refugees have that they would
be fairly treated by Bhutan, Gazmere asked? Recently,
several families had approached UNHCR to request immediate
third-country resettlement, and Gazmere believed more would
do so soon. Without refugee involvement in the verification
process and acceptable conditions for repatriation, Gazmere
believed it was more and more unlikely that many refugees
would return voluntarily.


6. (C) The power of senior refugee leaders to advise the
refugees and to continue to push for non-violence was waning,
Gazmere cautioned. Gazmere and Rizal both stated that, while
they would not push refugees to either return or not to
Bhutan in any event, their ability to affect the refugees'
decision in this regard was becoming questionable. Referring
to recent stories of Maoist penetration of the refugee camps
as possible but not certain, Gazmere indicated that it was
clear that increasing frustration, especially among the many
young people in the camps, was leading some refugees to
become more radicalized. It was time to start looking at
other options, such as third-country resettlement.

--------------
BHUTANESE REFUGEE YOUTH FORUM
--------------


7. (C) Three leaders from the Bhutanese Refugee Youth Forum
met with PolOff on August 4 and asked that the USG
immediately begin to accept Bhutanese refugees for
resettlement. (NOTE: They also delivered a letter to the
Ambassador containing the same request. The letter has been
faxed to PRM. END NOTE.) Bahadur Singh Subba, Kisor Pradhan
and Prakash Subedi (all in their 30's; a college advisor, a
college lecturer and a medical doctor, respectively)
explained the difficulties facing young refugees. (NOTE:
The three said their organization represented 6,000 young
Bhutanese refugees, not including their spouses and children.
END NOTE.) Many refugees were working illegally outside the
camps, they admitted, but faced wage discrimination based on
their illegal status. Meanwhile, refugees were regularly
granted permission to live outside the camps for academic
pursuits. However, this created problems, because in many
cases the refugees and their immediate families did not want
to return to the camps after completing their degrees. In
the case of Subedi, for example, although he had completed
his medical degree, he was pursuing a second degree to
maintain the right to continue to live outside the camp. "My
children don't want to live in the camps." In fact, he
stated that he had applied with UNHCR for permission to serve
as a medical doctor in Iraq, but the request was denied by
the GON. "We want to start our careers, and we have children
and elderly parents to care for." Many young refugees were
facing depression, Subedi argued. "I think I have prescribed
more anti-depressants than any other doctor in Nepal," he
stated. "I don't want to do that anymore."


8. (C) Arguing, as Rizal had, that the RGOB was being
duplicitous, Pradhan alleged that 50 of the 150-member
National Assembly in Bhutan were appointed by the King, and
the other 100 were appointed by District Heads, certainly
with the King's approval. Many young refugees such as
themselves had marched for democracy before the forced
exodus, and even if they returned, there was little hope of
the freedom they desired, Pradhan stated. In any case, "Our
camps have not been verified by the JVT yet," Pradhan noted,
"but we all know that we will be put in Category 4
(criminals) for participating in peaceful demonstrations."
Subba added that he had already been jailed in Bhutan for
participating in a rally for human rights, and had been made
to sign two blank papers upon his release, which he thought
had come about because of the intervention of Amnesty
International UK. "I will agree to go back to jail," he
said, "but only if UNHCR is there to protect me." The three
worried that many young refugees such as themselves were
running out of time to start their careers and be productive.
They also dismissed any hope of the bilateral process
achieving any results. "Besides," they asked, "even if we
return, what is the hope of real human rights and democracy?"
Dismissing both Nepal's efforts in the bilateral process as
well as the notion of integration in Nepal out-of-hand, the
only durable solution they saw for the refugees was to
immediately begin third-country resettlement. "Can we apply
today for refugee status to the U.S.?" they asked.


9. (C) COMMENT: The mood change among the refugees is
palpable. While many of the older refugees would probably
still prefer to return to Bhutan, the senior leaders feel
like they are losing their influence over the larger refugee
population, and as such, violence or radicalization might be
the result. This is also the first time that younger
refugees have stepped out from behind the traditional leaders
to demand a different course of action -- resettlement.
Indeed, unless real progress on the repatriation front comes
very quickly, third-country resettlement could become the
preferred option for many refugees. END COMMENT.
MORIARTY