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The State of the World's Refugees 2006 - Chapter 5 Protracted refugee situations: Box 5.2 Bhutanese refugees in Nepal
State of the World's Refugees, 19 April 2006
Approximately 103,000 Bhutanese Lhotshampas have been confined to several refugee camps in south-eastern Nepal since 1990. This protracted refugee situation is a source of regional tension between Nepal, Bhutan and India. If left unresolved, it may set a dangerous precedent in a region rife with ethnic and communal tension.
The Lhotshampas are descendents of Nepalese who moved to the southern lowlands of Bhutan in the nineteenth century. The Hindu Lhotshampas remained largely unintegrated with Bhutan's Buddhist Druk majority. However, under Bhutan's Nationality Law of 1958 they were allowed to hold government jobs and enjoy Bhutanese citizenship. By the 1980s, however, Bhutan's king and the ruling Druk majority expressed concern over the rapidly growing Lhotshampa population. The 1988 census revealed that Bhutan's population was 48 per cent Buddhist, 45 per cent Nepali and 7 per cent 'other'. Concerned about the influx of Nepali migrants into Bhutan and the higher birth rate of the Lhotshampas, the Druks feared that this demographic shift threatened their privileged position and traditional Buddhist culture. During the 1980s, the Bhutanese authorities adopted a series of ethno-nationalist policies. In 1985, the government established new eligibility requirements for Bhutanese citizenship that effectively disenfranchized many ethnic Nepalis, depriving them of their citizenship and civil rights. In addition, the government introduced measures to enforce rigidly the Druk dress code and forbid the use of Nepali in the educational curriculum. Special permission was required for admission to schools and to sell cash crops.
When the Lhotshampa minority in southern Bhutan began to organize politically in the late 1980s to lobby against restrictive legislation, the authorities declared these activities subversive and unlawful. Some Lhotshampas became activists in the Bhutanese People's Party, which called for Bhutan's democratization. Large-scale protests broke out in 1990, resulting in violent clashes with the police and army and mass arrests.
The authorities increased their intimidation of the Lhotshampas in southern Bhutan by destroying their property and arbitrarily detaining and torturing activists. Individuals were forced to sign 'voluntary migration certificates' before being expelled from the country. In December 1990 the authorities announced that Lhotshampas who could not prove they were residents of the country before 1958 must leave. Consequently, tens of thousands of Lhotshampas were made stateless and fled to Nepal and the Indian state of West Bengal.
Since the early 1990s more than 100,000 Lhotshampas have been confined to seven refugee camps in south-eastern Nepal. Donor governments have spent approximately US$20m per year on assistance and protection programmes. Children are provided with education to the secondary-school level and the Lhotshampa leadership takes an active part in administering the camps. However, despite the relatively high standard of the camps, there is considerable frustration among the refugees over their prolonged exile. These frustrations are particularly pronounced among young people, who constitute the highest proportion of the refugee population and for whom there are few opportunities for further education and employment. As protracted exile has continued, suicide rates have increased in tandem with domestic violence, alcoholism and the trafficking of women and children.
There is only limited integration of the refugees with the local population. The Lhotshampa provide cheap labour, particularly in the construction industry, and have increased the quantity of goods in local markets. The local populace also benefit from access to health care in the Lhotshampa camps. Still, local villagers complain that the refugees compete for employment and drive down wages, depress prices in the markets by selling their food rations, and contribute to crime and prostitution.
A solution to the protracted refugee situation in Nepal remains as elusive as ever. Since 1993 there have been more than a dozen high-level meetings between the governments of Bhutan and Nepal to try and resolve the crisis. In December 2001, the two sides finally agreed on a joint nationality-verification process and began work in one refugee camp. However, the process has been plagued by problems and was severely criticized by observers for failing to meet international standards. The verification process excluded UNHCR and involved only representatives of the governments of Bhutan and Nepal.
More than 70 per cent of residents in the only camp verified so far were classified as voluntary migrants on the grounds that they signed voluntary migration forms when leaving Bhutan. Yet most refugees claim that they were forced to sign such forms before being permitted to leave. In some cases, members of the same family were placed in different categories, risking separation in the event of eventual repatriation. Some refugees who were minors in Bhutan and did not possess identity documents before they fled were classified as non-Bhutanese even though their parents possessed identity papers. UNHCR was denied access by the government of Bhutan to areas of potential return.
UNHCR announced in 2003 that it would encourage and promote local integration in Nepal as the preferred solution for the Lhotshampas and support resettlement initiatives for vulnerable cases. It would also phase out care and maintenance assistance in the camps and encourage targeted assistance for self-reliance pending durable solutions.
As of mid-2005, however, it was unclear how effective this policy would be. The government of Nepal opposed local integration, preferring to work towards the refugees' eventual repatriation to Bhutan. The plan is also opposed by the majority of refugee leaders in Nepal; they too view repatriation as the only durable solution. International observers, particularly human rights organizations, say Bhutan's behaviour towards the Lhotshampas is ethnic cleansing. They believe that accepting such state actions would set a dangerous precedent for the region and might result in the expulsion of minorities from other South Asian countries.
UNHCR has recently started to promote resettlement for the most vulnerable categories in the camps. A comprehensive solutions package in which various options would be implemented simultaneously would be preferable. But lack of progress on repatriation and local integration should not block the possibility of resettlement, even though this will benefit a relatively small number.
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