April 25, 2010: The Bhutanese Advocacy Forum (BAF-Europe) has pointed out the need to terminate the bilateral talks between Nepal and Bhutan should the ongoing SAARC summit fails to resolve the Bhutanese refugees crisis.
“The government of Nepal should formally terminate the bilateral talk with the Bhutanese government and internationalize the issue,” reads the statement issued by Durga Giri, the Chief co-ordinator for BAF-Europe.
The Forum also congratulated and extended its best wishes to the 16th SAARC Summit hosted by the Royal Government of Bhutan. “It is an important event in the history of political transition in Bhutan.”
The Forum extended its message to the Summit that the fight for right to return and establishment of inclusive democracy continues from exiled Bhutanese.
“The Bhutanese Diaspora that is expanding alarmingly is no more confined to the bamboo huts of Refugee camps in eastern Nepal. Third country resettlement is a blessing in disguise that every single refugee is exposed to opportunities to brief the international community on how Bhutan has treated its citizens. Testimonies of torture victims in Bhutan are relocated in different parts of the world,” reads the statement.
The Forum also called upon the attention of the Summit that more than fifty countries, United States of America taking the lead role along with all the donor countries of Europe have expressed their official position to support repartition, inclusive Democracy and Human Rights in Bhutan in the last Universal Periodic review meeting in Geneva. Of the 99 recommendations made by the member states of the United Nations, Bhutan has accepted almost all of them.
