At least 15 women, who have been fighting for refugee status and other aid facilities as enjoyed by their fellow-countrymen, have started fast-unto-death from Tuesday in Beldangi-II camp.
Led by a women advocacy group formed from among asylum seekers, these women vowed to “sacrifice” their lives if their status remains unrecognized. Durga Devi Bista, Coordinator of the group, has been leading the hunger strike group.
They presented such remarks amidst a program organize to mark the start of the hunger strike yesterday.
Speaking at the program, human right activist associated with the Nepal Human Rights Organization, Dev Prasad Subedi, asked the government authority to meet the demands of all asylum seekers and others whose facilities have been denied on various grounds.
“Those, who are demanding refugee status are citizens from Bhutan. And, Nepal should respect their right to get refugee status,” said Subedi.
According to Subedi, the local authority failed to materialize last year’s commitment to grant refugee status to Bhutanese asylum seekers.
The government had agreed to meet the demands of asylum seekers last year following a hunger strike of 95 hours.
Meanwhile, Chairperson of the Bhutanese Refugee Representative Repatriation Committee, Dr Bhampa Rai, accused the Government of Nepal of ignoring the rights of over 37,00 asylum seekers.
“The government representative are even accusing that some of the asylum seekers are non-Bhutanese. We can play our constructive role to recognize all of them if both the government and UNHCR welcome us in the verification process,” said Dr Rai.
