छाप्रा निर्माणको माग गर्दै अग्नि पीडित शरणार्थीले हिजो शिविरमा धर्ना तथा कार्यालयमा तालाबन्दी गरेका छन् ।
बेलडागीको प्रवेशमार्ग अवरूद्ध गर्दै पीडित शरणार्थीहरू
आगलागी पीडित १ सय १ परिवारले आफूहरुले पहिले घर जलेको स्थानमा छाप्रा निर्माण हुनु पर्ने माग राखी दवाव सृजनाका लागि शरणार्थी दातृ निकायको गाडीलाई रोक लगाएको पीडितका अगुवा नरबहादुर गुरुङ्गले बताउनु भयो ।
आफू्हरुले पहिलेकै स्थानमा बस्ने व्यवस्था गरिदिन माग गर्दै अग्नि पीडितहरुले शिविर व्यवस्थापन समिति, शिविर सुपरिबेक्षक, विश्व लुथरन फेडरेशन, यूएनएचसीआर फिल्ड एशिस्टेन्ड लगायतका कार्यालयमा तालाबन्दी गरेका छन् ।
आफ्ना मागहरु सम्बोधन नभएसम्म दातृ निकायको कार्यालय तथा शिविर प्रवेश नाकामा लगाएको बेरा नखोल्ने प्रतिनिधि रेनुका प्रधानले बताउनु भयो ।
तालाबन्दी गरेपछि अग्नी पीडित शरणार्थीहरुले यूएनएचसीआर कार्यालय शिविर अगाडि बाँस तेर्साएर रिले अनसन शुरु गरेका छन् ।
पीडितहरुले आफूको घर जलेको स्थानमा बस्न पाउनु पर्ने, छाप्रा निर्माणका सामाग्री चाँडो उपलव्ध गराउँनु पर्ने लगायतका माग गरेका छन् ।
Beldangi fire victims on Monday blocked entrance to the refugee camps for two hours demanding presence of Chief District Officer and top UNHCR officials to listen at their grievances.
Beldangi fire victims in a sit in protest at the entrance of the camp on Monday (Picture : Dikesh Lama)
The victims have accused the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Nepal of not supplying construction materials to build their huts in their original place, from where they were displaced.
“We are expecting visit of the Chief District Officer to solve the problem at the earliest possible time,” Camp Secretary Dhan Bir Subba told Bhutan News Service. “They agreed to clear the entrance following verbal assurance about his visit to address their concerns.”
While, the agencies have been insisting the displaced refugees to shift to various empty huts created due to resettlement of fellow-Bhutanese.
The Victims said, no such huts were available for them as the UNHCR instructed the camp residents to dismantle those huts and start growing vegetables.
Currently, they have been putting pressures of the camp management committee and camp-based Refugee Coordination Unit (RCU) offices, they even locked various offices for a few hours yesterday.
Relief package distributed to the fire victims by the Caritas Nepal (Picture : TB Chhetri/BNS)
According to victims whom the BNS talked to they were given ration by the World Food Programme (WFP) only after a week. They said they have no place to keep their ration.
The Caritas Nepal and District Administration Office of Jhapa provided cash assistance of Rs 2000 and Rs 1500 each for every burnt and dismantled huts.
The victims have occupied one of the camp schools, and it is learnt that regular classes of school children have been adversely affected due to their shelter.
Editor’s Note : Due to some problems with the PayPal accounts of the Bhutan Media Society, donations are being accepted on Punya Foundation’s accounts for the purpose. Inconveniences are highly regretted.
Miriam Shipman, a former church day care van driver, was acquitted of charges of failure to exercise due care and driving a vehicle with inadequate brakes in connection with a fatal crash that killed a 9-year-old refugee last Following a brief non-jury trial City Judge E. Jeanette Ogden ruled there was insufficient evidence to hold Shipman, 29, of the Black Rock area, criminally responsible for the death of Darpan Niroula, a Bhutanese refugee whose family was brought to American in 2010 by Catholic Charities.
FIle photo : Late Darpan Niroula
The boy who was struck and killed while walking about 5:30 p.m. Dec. 1, 2011 in the intersection of Rhode Island Street and Prospect Avenue, in front of his family’s home. None of the children on the van were injured.
At the time of the fatal incident, Shipman was driving a 15-passenger van for Lil’ Workers Child Development Center, which is operated by Greater Works Christian Fellowship Church on Southampton Street. She later left the organization.
Following a lengthy investigation, police accident investigators ruled they could find no evidence of criminal negligence or recklessness on the part of Shipman.
The boy’s family still has a civil suit pending over the incident.
My body trembled. My ears alerted towards reverberating sounds in the vicinity; difficult enough to figure out the actual sources and directions. There seemed to be continuous cracking and bombing. The atmosphere appeared totally strange with lots of sounds of varying intensities.
It was the fifth period in Tri-Ratna Secondary School. The Mathematics teacher, Narayan Baniya, was tutoring us ‘Time and Works’, a chapter in Compulsory Mathematics. The unknown uproars unexpectedly interrupted the classroom environment. Still, the teacher asked us to focus our eyes on the blackboard, where he was solving some logical problems. Thus, we tried to ignore the surrounding sounds that were really aloud to tolerate.
Suddenly, students and teachers from other classrooms started screaming – fire, fire. They started running hither and thither . Looks like everyone was running like a herd of dispersed rabbits. The single entrance became a cotton thread for all of us. Finally, I came out of the classroom with my school bag, and started running towards the massive smokes, gushing the west.
The usual route on foot up to Sector C from our school took hardly a minute for most of us to reach the fire site, which was, otherwise, longer while in normal walk. Nearer we approached, louder became the cracking sounds. We could hear heavy explosions – probably caused by gas cylinders. The flame was bouncing from roof to roof adding panic to the hearts of women, children, elderly and differently- able people residing inside the thatch and plastic roofed huts. The assemblage of smoke was so dense that it was extremely difficult to estimate numbers of huts turning into ashes one after the other in no time.
People were running desperately – some of them trying to reach their relative’s huts for assisting them to take out if anything seemed possible. Some were seen helplessly crying, some capturing the cruelty of inferno in their cameras and smashing banana trees to contain the fire, or carrying water in whatever capacity they could. Inside the crowd, I found my Account Teacher, Padam Kalikote, horridly fighting the inferno heading towards his hut. Thank god. I could at least played my role as a pupil in safely taking out few sacks of kitchen items before his hut turned to ashes. His and his family’s fate may be blamed, this was the second time my teacher’s family victimized.
Then arrived a fire truck donated by the UNHCR from Damak Municipality bringing a lot of hopes for other refugees, who were fearing of being displaced. Another fire brigade vehicle reached the site in a couple of minutes and started battling the inferno.
I stood by a side and rang the Kathmandu-based office of Bhutan News Service for a breaking news after confirming that the mishap was taking place in Sector C4. The fire battle lasted almost for an hour, also joined by another fire extinguisher from Mechi Nagar Municipality. The settlement of Sector C4 turned into ashes in less than an hour, destroying valuable documents and other properties of fellow-Bhutanese refugees. They have lost almost everything that is a must to prove their Bhutanese identity. Students lost their dresses, books, textbooks and certificates. While, their parents have lost everything including jewelries, camp registration documents, refugee identity cards and IOM related papers in no time, forget about their personal belongings and clothes.
I felt pity for those who suffered the fate. I could do nothing expect praying to Almighty that our people never come across similar fate in future. After I reached my hut in Sector A, I tried concentrating in my studies but failed. I thought several friends have become homeless, and have no books to read. The home assignments given by my teachers were certain to remain unaccomplished, as the school was likely to remain shutdown the very next day.
In the evening a part of my mind abated me to jot down this piece to let our fellow relatives, friends and well-wishers living across the globe know, ‘if you have anything to serve mankind in dire need, its high time to raise helping hands in any form‘.
(The writer is a tenth grade student of Tri-Ratna Secondary School, Beldangi-II, and one of the correspondents of Bhutan News Service.)
The Camp Management Committee (CMC) of Beldangi camps has appealed fellow-Bhutanese to extend financial assistance at will to support recently displaced fire victims of Beldangi-II.
In a letter addressed to Kathmandu-based Bhutan Media Society, Camp Secretary Dhan Bir Subba has asked the Society to set up a donation box to garner donations by involving resettled Bhutanese and their well wishers from various resettlement countries.
The Camp Secretary letter said, “The camp management committee would like to request the Bhutan Media Society to conduct a donation drive by involving the resettled fellow-Bhutanese to support the fire victims, similar to what the Society did for Goldhap and Sanischare fire victims in the past.”
Following consultations with some of the perennial donors and well-wishers, the Society decided to conduct an online donation drive through the official news portal of Bhutan News Service, stated a statement issued by the Society, Friday.
“The donation box will remain open until December 25. We request everyone to be a part of the drive for sympathizing the fire victims,” added the Society’s statement.
A massive fire on December 4 displaced above 400 individuals belonging to various 101 huts in Sector C3 and C4 of Beldangi-II.
शरणार्थीहरूको स्वदेश फिर्तीलाई जोड दिन माग गर्दै बुधबार भूटानी जेष्ठ नागरिक स्वदेश फिर्ती समितिले नेपालका लागि अमेरिकी राजदूत पिटर बोडेलाई ज्ञापन–पत्र बुझाएको छ ।
शरणार्थी शिविरमा भएको आगलागीको अवस्था अवलोकन गर्न आउनुभएका राजदूत पिटरलाई ज्ञापनपत्र बुझाएको समितिका प्रवक्ता सन्तवीर घलेले जानकारी दिनुभयो ।
ज्ञापनपत्रमा स्वदेश फर्कन चाहने शरणार्थीको समस्या समाधान गरिनुपर्ने, शरणार्थीलाई दिनुपर्ने राहतलाई नकटाई निरन्तर दिनुपर्ने, शरणार्थीलाई दिइने परिचयपत्र समयमा उपलव्ध गराउनुपर्ने लगायतका ६ बुँदे माग राखिएका छन् ।
विचल्लीमा परेका १ सय १ घरपरिवार शरणार्थीहरूलाई क्यारिटस नेपाल, शिविर व्यवस्थापन समिति, जिल्ला प्रशासन कार्यालय लगायतले नगद तथा लत्ता कपडा उपलब्ध गराएको शिविर व्यवस्थापन समितिले जनाएको छ ।
जिल्ला प्रशासन कार्यालय झापाले जलेका प्रत्येक घरपरिवारलाई २ हजार र भत्काइएका घरपरिवारलाई १५ सयका दरले नगद वितरण गरेको थियो । यसैगरी क्यारिटस नेपालले ६६ घर–परिवारलाई २ हजारका दरले र २४ घर परिवारलाई १ हजारका दरले नगद वितरण गरेको सहायक शिविर सचिव विरेन बुढाथोकीले जानकारी दिनुभयो । त्यसै गरी शिविर व्यवस्थापन समितिको आग्रहमा सङ्कलन गरिएका ब्ल्याङ्केट समेत वितरण गरिएको थियो ।
पीडित शरणार्थीहरूलाई बुधबार पञ्चवती विद्यालयको शाखा विद्यालयमा खानपिन तथा सुत्ने व्यवस्था मिलाएको थियो । आगलागी क्षेत्र सरसफाइ गरी छिट्टै स्थानान्तरण गरिने सहयोगी संस्थाहरूले बताएका छन् ।
A few days ago prominent members of the Bhutanese Refugee Community in Nepal wrote a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in that country. The letter is a request to discuss maltreatment by the UNHCR regarding the refugees they are supposed to take care of.
What is happening?
Since early 1990s the UNHCR has managed and maintained a number of refugee camps in eastern Nepal (more exact, in the Jhapa and Morang districts). At its height, there were over 107,000 refugees listed in those camps. Since 2008 UNHCR has started the by far largest third country resettlement program ever aiming at completely solving the decades long refugee crisis of the Bhutanese who were forcefully exiled from their Shangri-La like country in the Himalayas.
The UNHCR has done a tremendous job in guarding peace in those camps while at the same time bringing essential humanitarian aid to the inhabitants. Nepal (just like India and Bhutan) never signed the UN refugee treaty, so the UNHCR has been working there on a UN mandate. It has been partnering with AMDA (Asian Medical Doctors Association) for health care, Caritas for education, Lutheran World Federation for camp management and monitoring and the World Food Program (WFP) for food distribution to the camp communities that have no other means of existence.
But, the things have changed. The aim of UNHCR in Nepal seems to have shifted in the past few years from caring for the refugees who are living in limbo in the camps to bringing a durable solution to their situation by third country resettlement. According to the international morale of refugees, people should repatriate but that has obviously proven to be an impossible dream. As Bhutan, the country of Gross National Happiness (GNH), has been frustrating talks and efforts for that ever since the crisis started in 1991. Assimilation in the Nepalese and Indian society is also a no go as Nepal and India do not accept that (the lack the resources to do that on a humanitarian responsible manner), hence the durable solution of the UNHCR stood to be – resettling those refugees in the third countries.
This resettlement project is well underway with almost two thirds of the refugees already resettled to mainly the US and countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands and the UK. But there are fears that not all refugees will resettle. After all it is an opt-in project and not all refugees desire a life in a completely alien western society ultimately losing their history, religion and way of life in due time. Some 10,000 refugees have not opted for resettlement. Let alone the other more than 4,000 (based on a headcount by camp management in 2011 and has decreased to a yet unknown figure) refugees that have not been registered as refugees for a variety of reasons. They do however live in those camps without food, healthcare and proper housing.
Therefore, something needs to happen. Recently the UNHCR has announced that they can no longer provide vegetables to the refugees, taking out an important element in their diet, which is by no means extensive. The effects of not supplying vegetables as of January 2013 will no doubt be deteriorating already underlined health situation of the refugees in the coming years. The reason the UNHCR has given is that they lack a proper budget for this essential food. Which is very strange as the European Union has provided for a over 3 million Euro budget for the UNHCR for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014, continuing the financing of the UNHCR’s operation in regard to those camps. So what is happening?
Letter to the UNHCR by refugees’ leaders and seniors
According to the Beldangi Camp Secretary, Dhan Bir Subba, (Beldangi is the largest of the two remaining camps), the UN has informed them that the budget is redistributed by the UNHCR to other refugee crisis areas in the world. Basically stating that they simply do no longer see a priority in maintaining proper support to the Bhutanese refugees still living in the camps in Nepal. Which, of course, is an extra push to get the refugees to the point that they will opt for resettlement. So is this argument used by the UNHCR just a trick to reach a ‘durable solution’ by increasing pressure on the refugee community to resettle completely? And if so, is that ethical?
According to Subba, the UNHCR has declared that they have no other option than to decrease the available budget for the Bhutanese exiles in the camps, a ‘Hopson’s choice’ so to speak. The UNHCR has also declared that they will distribute vegetable seeds as an alternative, but as the remaining camps are heavily populated, the availability of enough land to grow crops is a question that remains. The UNHCR seems to have suggested using the empty huts of resettles for that purpose.
The chairman of the Bhutanese Refugee Representative Repatriation Committee(BRRRC), Dr Bhampa Rai, who I met during my visit to the refugee camps in the past year, had the privilege to interview a number of times concerning the situation of the refugees, has repeatedly condemned the UNHCR decision in relation to most of the minimum basic needs of the refugees, especially women and children. And by all means, the timeline between announcing and stopping vegetable distribution is just over a month, making it impossible for the refugees to grow enough crops for a healthy nutrition, seems irresponsible.
“The decision has created doubts on UNHCR’s intention towards refugees. How can those who themselves survive on delicious vegetables on daily basis decide to stop the supply of the same items for us,” Dr Rai said according to the Bhutan News Service.
The question that resounds this time is, whether UNHCR is going to a stage in promoting resettlement to the refugees by disregarding basic human rights like proper nutrition. And that is not all. The Bhutanese refugees feel that they are pressurized by the UNHCR to resettle, which means that they doubt whether they really have a free choice NOT to resettle but continue hoping for repatriation to their motherland.
Apart from the other issues mentioned in the request written by major community leaders to the UNHCR, the nutrition issue is a very serious decline in the basic care for the refugees and frustrates the mandate of the UNHCR itself. The monthly supply of (only) 500 grams of seasonal vegetables is ending this month. The diet of refugees in the camps will lack one of its important components and is for health reasons undesirable.
It is worrying that the UNHCR is also forbidding the refugee leaders to bring their complaints to the VIPs who visit the camps. From personal experience working as a journalist in the camps I do know that some issues (like the large number of unregistered refugees, the deteriorating education in the camps and the mounting crime like identity fraud and even institutionalized fraud) are being kept under the radar. Freedom of press and freedom of speech are just as much at stake as the basic human rights of the camp population.
It seems that the UNHCR is building pressure to end the Bhutanese refugee crisis and is not stepping away from methods that should be doubted and discussed on an international level and especially at the European Union, being the main financier of the UNHCR in Nepal.
Meanwhile, the malnutrition is something that the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal should fear. The reality of life in the UNHCR managed refugee camps in Nepal is that things are not at all nice and dandy and in fact seem to become worse. But will the international community respond to that?
(The writer is a Dutch writer/filmmaker/journalist advocating human rights in general and highlighting the Bhutanese issue in particular, and blogs at aliceverheij.wordpress.com, from where the article has been reproduced with some revisions.)
The District Administration Office (DAO) under the Ministry of Home Affairs of Nepal and Caritas Nepal, the educational caretaker of Bhutanese refugees, provided cash assistances to Beldangi fire victims, Wednesday.
A government team lead by Chief District Officer of Jhapa, Narendra Sharma, distributed Rs 2,000 each for every burnt hut and Rs 1,500 for each dismantled hut.
The Caritas Nepal also donated the same amount for the affected exiled Bhutanese earlier today, according to Beldangi Camp Secretary, Dhan Bir Subba.
Secretary Subba said, both the units provided cash assistances to 66 burnt and 24 dismantled huts. However, the camp management committee hasn’t finalized the data of all affected huts, he claimed.
An unidentified fire on Tuesday displaced over 400 individuals belonging to various 85 huts of Sector C3 and C4 in Beldangi-II.
A book of poetry depicting nostalgic and patriotic feelings, penned by Shivalal Dahal, who has established himself as one of the vocal Bhutanese poets, was released jointly by noted Nepali folk singer Lakshmi Prasad Joshi and artist Prakash Angdambe in Beldangi last month.
Poet Dahal
Dahal, who has also been following history of Bhutanese-Nepali literaturesince a longtime, has included 44 poems in the poetry book.
Writing foreword in the Dahal’s book, Professor Dr Govinda Raj Bhattarai regarded the creation as one of the best books in the Bhutanese-Nepali diaspora, deeply appreciating the poet’s efforts to unravel patriotic images that he remembered from his childhood.
Bholanath Siwakoti (Puranaghare) from the United States of America has sponsored publication of the book.
Poet Dahal, who holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and Diploma in Nepali Literature, was born in 1979 in Samtse.
His previous publications included ‘Aakash-Gangama Tarangiyeko Panijahaj (poetry book – 2004) and dozens of analytical write-ups and poems. He also edited ‘Samjhanaka Khandit Aakritiharu’ (poetry book -2010) and co-edited ‘Mulyabodh’ (2010).
Based in Birtamod of Jhapa, poet Dahal is one of the editors of Bhutaneseliterature.com. One of his compositions ‘Tursa’ reads as :
The Camp Secretary letter said, “The camp management committee would like to request the Bhutan Media Society to conduct a donation drive by involving the resettled fellow-Bhutanese to support the fire victims, similar to what the Society did for Goldhap and Sanischare fire victims in the past.”
