Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07KATHMANDU1001
2007-05-18 11:58:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kathmandu
Cable title:  

BHUTANESE REFUGEES WORRY ABOUT ONGOING

Tags:  PREF PHUM PREL PGOV BT IN NP 
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VZCZCXRO9476
PP RUEHCI
DE RUEHKT #1001/01 1381158
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 181158Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5987
INFO RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 5348
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 1271
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO PRIORITY 6043
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 5734
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 4065
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1462
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 0386
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 0206
RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 0280
RUEHCP/AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN PRIORITY 0349
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA PRIORITY 3479
RHMFISS/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1645
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 2680
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001001 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/16/2017
TAGS: PREF PHUM PREL PGOV BT IN NP
SUBJECT: BHUTANESE REFUGEES WORRY ABOUT ONGOING
DISCRIMINATION IN BHUTAN

REF: A. NEW DELHI 1640

B. NEW DELHI 2229

Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty for reasons 1.4(b/d).

Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001001

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/16/2017
TAGS: PREF PHUM PREL PGOV BT IN NP
SUBJECT: BHUTANESE REFUGEES WORRY ABOUT ONGOING
DISCRIMINATION IN BHUTAN

REF: A. NEW DELHI 1640

B. NEW DELHI 2229

Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty for reasons 1.4(b/d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) Recent press reports in Nepal and India have concluded
that 70,000 - 80,000 Nepali-ethnic Bhutanese, called
Lhotsampa, were not permitted to participate in the mock
elections held in Bhutan in April. The reports also
suggested that these people might be subject to eviction from
Bhutan. Government statistics from Bhutan suggest that
roughly 80,000 people are living in Bhutan as non-citizens.
Refugee community leaders Ratan Gazmere, Pingala Dhital and
S.B. Subba told RefCoord May 15 and 16 that these
non-citizens were, in many cases, Lhotsampa who were
disenfranchised as a result of ongoing government
discrimination. They also believed that most Lhotsampas had
not been able to participate in Bhutan's mock elections.
However, the refugee leaders did not anticipate the Royal
Government of Bhutan (RGOB) would forcibly expel mass numbers
of Lhotsampas. Gazmere suggested that the RGOB understood
the risk of attempting another mass expulsion similar to
1990-1993, but thought the RGOB would continue to make life
for Lhotsampas difficult to encourage them to voluntarily
depart.

Media Summary and Human Rights Watch Report
--------------


2. (SBU) Journalists in Nepal and India have claimed in
recent press reports that the Royal Government of Bhutan
(RGOB) was preparing to evict 80,000 Nepali-ethnic Bhutanese,
or Lhotsampas, who had been denied the right to vote in
Bhutan's first mock election held in April. The press
reports drew a direct link between third-country resettlement
offered to the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal and the RGOB's
intention to evict more Lhotsampa. A Human Rights Watch
(HRW) report released May 17 in Kathmandu concluded that
Lhotsampa who were not evicted in the 1990s continued to face
"persistent discrimination and ongoing threats to their
citizenship status." HRW Refugee Policy Director Bill

Frelick told RefCoord May 18 that he had interviewed several
Nepali-ethnic Lhotsampa living in Bhutan in November 2006 for
the report. Frelick said that these Lhotsampa had felt
constantly in danger of losing their citizenship or legal
status in Bhutan. According to the HRW report, one Lhotsampa
said "Everybody knows they are being discriminated against,
but they don't dare to raise their voice, because they think
the consequences will be the same as for the people who have
already left."

RGOB Census -- 80,000 Non-Citizens in Bhutan?
--------------


3. (C) According to Bhutan's Population and Census
Commission, the total population of Bhutanese citizens as of
May 31, 2005 was 552,996 people. The same commission
announced in May 2006 that the total population of Bhutan,
including foreigners, as of April 27, 2006, was 634,972
persons. The difference between the number of citizens and
the total number of people living in Bhutan, therefore, is
roughly 80,000. Refugee community leader Ratan Gazmere told
RefCoord May 15 that these 80,000 people included perhaps
1,000 - 2,000 expatriates working for international
organizations in Bhutan. The vast majority, however, were
ethnic minorities, such as the Nepali-ethnic Lhotsampa, whom
the RGOB considered non-citizens. Gazmere opined that, in
many cases, those classified as non-citizens had actually
held citizenship at one time, but were disenfranchised as a
result of government discrimination. (Note: According to

KATHMANDU 00001001 002 OF 003


the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, any non-national person
who is forced out of his or her "habitual residence" can be
considered a refugee; he or she does not have to have had
citizenship. End Note.)

Government Census Discriminates Against Lhotsampa
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Gazmere also informed RefCoord that the RGOB continued
to conduct census exercises every year. The Lhotsampa
referred to these censuses as "kalo," or "black" censuses
because they were conducted only in Lhotsampa communities, he
said. Human Rights Organization of Bhutan (HUROB) Chairman
S.B. Subba, whose wife remains inside Bhutan, reported that
the RGOB-administered census continued to place Lhotsampa in
seven categories of citizenship: F1 -- genuine Bhutanese; F2
-- returned migrants; F3 -- absentees (those not available at
the time of the census); F4 -- non-national women married to
Bhutanese men; F5 -- non-national men married to Bhutanese
women; F6 -- foreign-born children legally adopted by
Bhutanese; and F7 -- non-nationals (migrants/illegal
settlers). Gazmere said that his wife's family, who had all
remained in Bhutan as F1 citizens, were placed in several
categories in the 2006 census. Gazmere's brother-in-law, who
the RGOB had terminated from his position at the Central Bank
without cause, was placed in category F7 and was now
considered a non-national. Gazmere worried that the RGOB
might force his wife's family out of Bhutan as a result. He
questioned whether the RGOB disenfranchised his
brother-in-law because of Gazmere's status as a refugee in
Nepal. He stated he knew of 200 people from his
administrative block in Samchi District of Bhutan who were
categorized in F4, F5, or F7 in the most recent census.

Difficulties Faced By Non-F1 Bhutanese
--------------


5. (C) According to Subba, any person in Bhutan now
categorized as a non-F1 Bhutanese is refused issuance of a
new identity, or citizenship, card. These people also have
great difficulty obtaining a No Objection Certificate (NOC),
which is required to register their children in public
secondary or post-secondary schools, move freely in the
country, buy or sell lend, or obtain government employment.
Subba also noted that his wife had reported many instances of
Lhotsampa who were refused NOCs because they had relatives
inside the refugee camps. Another refugee community leader,
Pingala Dhital, whose family remained in Bhutan, reported to
RefCoord that her family had been unable to obtain NOCs, but
had been able to register their children in primary school.
All of the refugee leaders suggested that most Lhotsampa
inside Bhutan now lived as non-F1 Bhutanese and, therefore,
were not issued voter ID cards and were not able to
participate in the mock elections held in April. (Note: The
second round of mock elections are scheduled for May 28. End
Note.)

But Will Discrimination Result In Evictions?
--------------


6. (C) Gazmere believed that evictions were already happening
inside Bhutan. He did not, however, expect expulsions would
happen on a mass scale as in 1990-1993 because the RGOB
understood that the international community was paying more
attention. He expected that the RGOB would continue to make
life difficult for Nepali-ethnic Lhotsampa to encourage them
to voluntarily depart the country for more favorable living
conditions abroad. Gazmere claimed that, in his visit to the
refugee camps in early May, he had met a woman with two
children who had recently left Bhutan because her children
could not access education facilities. UNHCR Durable
Solutions Officer Kim Roberson said May 17 that refugees in
the camps were hearing from relatives inside Bhutan that RGOB

KATHMANDU 00001001 003 OF 003


officials were telling them to depart the country. However,
according to both Roberson and Nepal Home Ministry official
Shankar Koirala on May 17, no new Bhutanese have arrived from
Bhutan. Koirala noted that the GON had closed down the
refugee screening post at the border and was not currently
accepting new refugee registrations.

Comment
--------------


7. (C) Enough accounts have trickled out of Bhutan to
indicate that Nepali-ethnic Lhotsampa inside Bhutan, no
matter what their status, continue to face government
discrimination and possible loss of citizenship. However, it
is unlikely that the RGOB intends at this point to force
people to leave the country as it did in the 1990s. RGOB
Prime Minister Wangchuk told A/S Boucher that "we did not
want another 1990-1993." (Ref A) He also said, however, that
"our citizenship rules are very clear. According to our
census, there are 125,000 foreign workers in Bhutan, many of
whom are illegal. We have not taken any action against
them." These words bring little confidence, considering
ongoing discrimination inside Bhutan, that the RGOB would not
take action against them in the future. As refugee leaders
and Human Rights Watch have suggested, what is more likely is
that the RGOB will continue systematic ethnic discrimination
in the hopes that these people will depart Bhutan voluntarily
and in a trickle rather than a wave. Bhutanese Ambassador
Dago Tsering recently suggested that democracy in Bhutan
might bring even less tolerance for Nepali-ethnic groups,
including for repatriation of the refugees (Ref B). In
addition to focusing on concerns about a possible second wave
of expulsions, we also should begin to focus on ongoing
discrimination against ethnic minorities inside Bhutan.


8. (U) This cable has been coordinated with Embassy New
Delhi.
MORIARTY