UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES MEETS WITH CORE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001027

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/23/2017
TAGS: PREF PREL PGOV CH BT NP
SUBJECT: UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES MEETS WITH CORE
GROUP AMBASSADORS


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

Summary
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1. (C) On May 23, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Antonio Guterres thanked the Core Group in Kathmandu for
paving the way for third-country resettlement of Bhutanese
refugees in Nepal. He had observed in his May 22 meetings
that the Government of Nepal (GON) had accepted and endorsed
a resettlement program. Remaining issues included pressing
Bhutan on repatriation and streamlining Nepal's exit permit
procedures. Guterres said that further evictions from Bhutan
would impact a resettlement program; the GON seemed very
worried about this possibility, he added. UNHCR Director for
Asia Janet Lim urged the Core Group to keep the spotlight on
Bhutan to prevent future expulsions. Guterres and the Core
Group agreed that discussion with the GON on local
integration of the residual population should wait until
Bhutan had made a genuine attempt at repatriation. The GON
had stepped up security in the refugee camps, but the
fragility of the peace process and actions by the Communist
Party of Bhutan remained problematic. The participants
briefly discussed the need to find an acceptable mechanism to
process the urban refugee caseload in Nepal.

Core Group Meets With HC Guterres
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2. (SBU) Local Core Group Chairman and Australian Ambassador
Graeme Lade hosted a Core Group meeting May 23 in honor of UN
High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, who arrived
in Nepal May 22 for a two-day visit. Ambassador Moriarty
(with RefCoord),Norwegian Ambassador Tore Toreng, Danish
Charge Stefan Schoenmann, and Canadian Immigration Counselor
from New Delhi Trudy Kennington represented the Core Group.
UNHCR Resident Representative Abraham Abraham, UNHCR Director
for Asia Janet Lim, WFP Resident Representative Richard
Ragan, and UNHCR Durable Solutions Officer Kim Roberson
accompanied HC Guterres.

Core Group and HC Guterres Note Progress on Resettlement
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3. (SBU) Ambassador Lade acknowledged that Ambassador
Moriarty's role using a "big stick" with Prime Minister
Koirala had proven effective in obtaining the Government of
Nepal's (GON's) agreement to allow third-country resettlement
of Bhutanese refugees. Lade restated the Core Group's
commitment to continue to push Bhutan hard on repatriation,
although he did not believe this was likely in the short
term. Following up on the PRM technical visit to Nepal, Lade
said he had also pressed the Prime Minister to streamline
exit permit procedures. He expressed disappointment that
Canberra would not announce a resettlement program until
June. The High Commissioner for Refugees expressed
appreciation for the Core Group's generosity in offering
resettlement to the Bhutanese refugees and the Kathmandu Core
Group's activism, which has made resettlement a reality. The
U.S. and Canadian resettlement offers, he said, had provided
a breakthrough to resolve this problem. Guterres explained
that his reason for coming to Nepal was "to make resettlement
a fait accompli." From his meetings May 22, he said, it was
clear that the GON had fully adopted, and intended to
implement, a resettlement policy.

Remaining Issues To Work On
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4. (SBU) HC Guterres noted that the GON had wanted his
reassurance that the international community would not allow
Bhutan off the hook and would continue to press for

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repatriation of eligible refugees. The GON, he said, wanted
Bhutan to accept Category 2 (Bhutanese citizens who had
voluntarily departed Bhutan) Khudunabari Camp residents for
repatriation. Guterres said he had agreed to continue to
press Bhutan on this issue. The only other remaining issues
involved practical implementation of the resettlement
program, such as streamlined exit permit procedures.

UNHCR Concerned About Possible Evictions From Bhutan
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5. (C) HC Guterres expressed concern that UNHCR had received
disturbing signs that the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGOB)
might evict more Nepali ethnic Lhotsampa. "This would be
disastrous," he said. Every GON interlocutor he had met also
raised this concern. Guterres indicated that evictions from
Bhutan would disrupt the resettlement process. Norwegian
Ambassador Toreng recommended that UNHCR and the Core Group
increase pressure on the Government of India (GOI) for
assurances that Bhutan would not evict residents. UNHCR's
Lim agreed that maintaining international attention on Bhutan
would be important to prevent future evictions.

Elections in Bhutan - A Precursor To Evictions?
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6. (C) While the international community appeared to have
accepted that elections would not include all residents of
Bhutan, Guterres hoped that the RGOB would not use this as a
reason for eviction. The Ambassador noted that the
resettlement program might have a magnet effect, particularly
if Lhotsampa in Bhutan continued to face discrimination from
the RGOB. UNHCR's Roberson agreed that, if people began
trickling out of Bhutan, the GON and UNHCR would need to be
very careful in making determinations between those forcibly
evicted and those who voluntarily departed.

Bhutan Will Continue to Need Foreign Workers
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7. (C) Canadian Immigration Counselor from New Delhi Trudy
Kennington said that, in a recent training program conducted
by the Canadian government for RGOB customs and immigration
officials, the RGOB had clearly been more concerned about
keeping illegal Indians and Nepalese out of the country than
facilitating legal cross-border travel and trade. Noting the
need for unskilled labor in Bhutan, Guterres believed the
RGOB's focus would be like that of the Gulf states; Bhutan
would try to bring in foreign workers from as far away as
possible, rather than from nearby areas of South Asia. The
RGOB believed it would be easier to "control" workers from
far away, he added.

Discussion of Local Integration Can Wait
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8. (C) HC Guterres did not intend to discuss local
integration with the GON during his visit. "This is a sure
way to scuttle a productive discussion with the Nepalese," he
said. Guterres anticipated that the GON would become more
receptive to local integration once the RGOB had demonstrated
its commitment to repatriate eligible refugees. UNHCR was
able to discuss local integration in terms of certain
refugees' family ties, but no more than that at this time.
Ambassador Lade pointed out that visiting EU Parliamentarian
Nina Gill had said earlier that, as the refugee population
was reduced, donor assistance could be targeted to local
Nepalese communities as an incentive for local integration.
Lim suggested that, after a residual population was
identified, India might come forward to serve as a place to
reunite refugees with their families who remained inside
Bhutan.

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Communist Activities and Fragility of the Peace Process
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9. (C) In his meetings with the GON, HC Guterres said that
the GON had "minimized" his concerns about Communist Party of
Bhutan (CPB) activities in the camps. Abraham reported that
UNHCR had constructed police posts in all seven refugee camps
while the Home Ministry had assigned police officers to each
post. The Ambassador indicated that, with U.S. immigration
officials conducting interviews in and near the refugee
camps, the Embassy may sign a Memorandum of Understanding
with the GON on additional deployment of security forces.
Guterres said he was troubled by the fragility of the current
situation in Nepal and encouraged Core Group members to do
everything possible to convince the CPB that a truly
democratic, nonviolent movement in Bhutan was the only
option. India could also play a more relevant role on this
issue, Guterres opined.

Urban Refugees in Nepal
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10. (SBU) Guterres said he had raised the problem of urban
refugees in Nepal with Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan on May

22. They had agreed that UNHCR would sit down with Foreign
and Home Ministry officials to hammer out an acceptable
mechanism for making Refugee Status Determinations (RSDs) in
the case of urban asylum seekers. UNHCR would prefer the GON
to make its own RSDs, but if it refused to do so, UNHCR would
carry out its mandate in this regard. The Ambassador noted
that he had raised this issue with the Home Minister recently
and had requested the Cabinet to waive the visa overstay
fines of those accepted for U.S. resettlement. He added that
the ability to obtain visas upon arrival at the airport in
Kathmandu likely contributed to the problem of urban refugees
in Nepal.

Comment
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11. (C) HC Guterres raised two valid concerns that could have
a serious impact on the resettlement program: the possibility
of future evictions from Bhutan and the fragile peace process
in Nepal. To accurately assess whether the RGOB is evicting
residents, the GON would need to re-open its refugee
screening post. Currently, the GON is simply turning away
potential Bhutanese asylum seekers at the Nepal-Indian
border. The activities of the Communist Party of Bhutan, if
they continue unchecked, could raise problems of material
support with this refugee population. We will continue to
press the GON to improve law and order in and around the
refugee camps.


MORIARTY