• Text size Normal size text | Increase text size by 10% | Increase text size by 20% | Increase text size by 30%

More than 5,000 refugees resettled from Nepal

News Stories, 23 September 2008

© UNHCR/D.Adhikari
Living in America: Shopping is a community affair for these resettled refugees in Pittsburgh.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, September 23 (UNHCR) – More than 5,000 refugees from Bhutan have left their camps in Nepal for resettlement countries so far this year. The United States has accepted the largest numbers, followed by Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Canada and Denmark.

The resettlement programme in Nepal began only this year but quickly became one of UNHCR's largest and most promising.

In total, 4,833 refugees have left for the US, 129 for New Zealand, 131 for Australia, 22 for the Netherlands, 19 for Norway, 16 for Canada and 13 for Denmark.

More than 50,000 refugees have expressed interest in resettlement – just under half of the total 107,000 refugees originating from Bhutan who live in seven camps in eastern Nepal. Some of them have been in exile for as long as 17 years.

"Five thousand departures mean that 5,000 refugees are now starting their lives afresh," said Daisy Dell, the UN refugee agency's representative in Kathmandu. "The resettlement process has been going very smoothly, thanks to close cooperation between UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration [IOM] and the resettlement countries."

She added, "We are especially grateful to the Nepalese government for facilitating the whole process, including hosting the refugees for so many years and now issuing them exit permits promptly."

Those who left have not forgotten about their friends back in Nepal. Many have written letters about their new country and new life.

"As a matter of fact, resettlement could be the best chance to rebuild our lives," said one of the refugee women resettled to the US. "Although starting over is not easy, there is a programme for everyone with the resettling agencies, no matter what age, qualification or gender. We have seen other former refugees doing well, so we can do it as well."

According to another refugee in the US, the elderly are a little worried about their culture and day-to-day religious life. "We hope to build a Hindu temple nearby," said a recent arrival from Nepal. "We have to preserve our culture. The nearest Hindu temple is a one-hour drive away."

In Nepal's camps, UNHCR staff hold regular meetings with the refugees to answer questions about resettlement and other durable solutions. Special information sessions are organized for women at risk or people with disabilities. Refugees are being offered English-language classes as well as additional vocational and skill-based training to prepare for a life in a new country.

Another 2,000 to 3,000 refugees are expected to leave Nepal for third countries by the end of this year. At the same time, UNHCR continues to advocate for the option of voluntary return to Bhutan for those refugees who wish to do so, and hopes that talks on repatriation can restart soon.

• DONATE NOW • • GET INVOLVED • • STAY INFORMED •

 

Related stories by:

UNHCR country pages

Integration Handbook: Refugee Resettlement

A relevant handbook on the reception and integration of resettled refugees.

UNHCR-NGO Toolkit for Practical Cooperation on Resettlement

A repository for exchanging ideas on resettlement partnerships, June 2011.

Resettlement

An alternative for those who cannot go home, made possible by UNHCR and governments.

UNHCR Resettlement Handbook and Country Chapters

July 2011 edition of the UNHCR Resettlement Handbook.

A Place to Call Home(Part 2): 1996 - 2003

This gallery highlights the history of UNHCR's efforts to help some of the world's most disenfranchised people to find a place called home, whether through repatriation, resettlement or local integration.

After decades of hospitality after World War II, as the global political climate changed and the number of people cared for by UNHCR swelled from around one million in 1951, to more than 27 million people in the mid-1990s, the welcome mat for refugees was largely withdrawn.

Voluntary repatriation has become both the preferred and only practical solution for today's refugees. In fact, the great majority of them choose to return to their former homes, though for those who cannot do so for various reasons, resettlement in countries like the United States and Australia, and local integration within regions where they first sought asylum, remain important options.

This gallery sees Rwandans returning home after the 1994 genocide; returnees to Kosovo receiving reintegration assistance; Guatemalans obtaining land titles in Mexico; and Afghans flocking home in 2003 after decades in exile.

A Place to Call Home(Part 2): 1996 - 2003

Out of Harm's Way in Romania

Peaceful days and a safe environment is probably more than these Palestinian and Sudanese refugees expected when they were stuck in a desert camp in Iraq. Now they are recovering at a special transit centre in the Romanian city of Timisoara while their applications for resettlement in a third country are processed.

Most people forced to flee their homes are escaping from violence or persecution, but some find themselves still in danger after arriving at their destination. UNHCR uses the centre in Romania to bring such people out of harm's way until they can be resettled.

The Emergency Transit Centre (ETC) in Timisoara was opened in 2008. Another one will be formally opened in Humenné, Slovakia, within the coming weeks. The ETC provides shelter and respite for up to six months, during which time the evacuees can prepare for a new life overseas. They can attend language courses and cultural orientation classes.

Out of Harm's Way in Romania

A Place to Call Home (Part 1): 1953 - 1995

Based on the 2004 World Refugee Day theme, "A place to call home: Rebuilding lives in safety and dignity", this two-part gallery highlights the history of UNHCR's efforts to help some of the world's most disenfranchised people to find a place called home, whether through repatriation, resettlement or local integration.

In more than a half century of humanitarian work, the UN refugee agency has helped more than 50 million uprooted people across the globe to successfully restart their lives.

Following the end of World War II and in the prevailing climate of the Cold War, many refugees, including those fleeing Soviet-dominated countries or the aftermath of the conflict in Indo China, were welcomed by the countries to which they initially fled or resettled in states even further afield.

In Part 1 of the gallery, a family restarts its life in New Zealand in the 1950s after years in a German camp; Vietnamese children make their first snowman in Sweden; while two sisters rebuild their home after returning to post-war Mozambique in the early 1990s.

A Place to Call Home (Part 1): 1953 - 1995

Stateless in the United StatesPlay video

Stateless in the United States

Searching for citizenship
A new life for refugees from BhutanPlay video

A new life for refugees from Bhutan

They fled to Nepal from Bhutan amid ethnic tensions in the early 1990s. Now, many of the slightly more than 100,000 refugees have been offered the possibility of resettlement to another country.