TIBETAN REFUGEE UPDATE, JUNE 28

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 001702 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/28/2016 TAGS: PREF PGOV NP SUBJECT: TIBETAN REFUGEE UPDATE, JUNE 28 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Nick Dean. Reasons 1.4 (b/d). ¶1. (C) Douglas DiSalvo, Associate Protection Officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),told Emboff that there were currently 99 Tibetan refugees at the Tibetan Refugee Center (TRC). Of those, 41 were scheduled to depart Kathmandu for India on June 29 with exit permits issued by the Government of Nepal (GON). ¶2. (C) According to DiSalvo, there are three Tibetans at Dilli Bazaar jail in Kathmandu. The GON detained them, along with six other Tibetans who were subsequently released, at the Thankot checkpoint (the western entrance to the Kathmandu Valley) while they were returning from India to Tibet for being present in Nepal without proper travel documents. The other six Tibetans carried Indian residency cards and were fined and deported to India immediately. The three detained Tibetans held only Special Entry Permits used to enter India earlier in the year with the help of UNHCR. DiSalvo told us that the three had intended to return to Tibet until they were arrested and faced "official" handover to China. The TRC arranged donations to pay their fines, and will coordinate with the GON for deportation to India rather than China. DiSalvo reported that if there is any hesitation on the part of the GON to deport to India, UNHCR will intervene as necessary. MORIARTY