A group of women, who are without refugee status or official registration in refuge camps, submitted a memorandum to various local human rights groups, camp management committee and BRRRC (Bhutanese Refugee Representative Repatriation Committee) asking them to put pressure on the government authority to start official registration at the earliest possible time, Sunday.
According to Durga Devi Bista, Coordinator of the women group, the letter was submitted to those who had signed the “government commitment paper” in last November.
The local authority of Jhapa had committed to begin the registration process of all pending cases within April 2012. However, no progress at any level has been made to address the demands of asylum seekers and non-Bhutanese married to exiled Bhutanese, claimed Bista.
“We have been constantly trying to seek an appointment with the Chief District Officer to inquire about the progress,” She told Bhutan News Service adding, “The authority has been denying to listen at our problems.”
Bista also expressed sadness over the lack of progress regarding the resumption of registration process in the camps.
“Three months have already passed. We are really worried to get our status registered within the next two months.”
In last November, the group led a hunger strike of 12 days demanding refugee status and other facilities as enjoyed by their friends and relatives.
It is estimated that over 3,000 individuals have been deprived of official recognition. Of this some 1200 women are Nepalese or Indian nationals married to exiled Bhutanese.
Currently a special human rights report is being drafted (first draft available to insiders within a couple of days) highlighting amongst other topics this specific group of unregistered refugees. That report is written by volunteers from the Empowerment Foundation who visited this group of women early January this year in the Beldangi camp on request for a member of the European Parliament and will be widely distributed to the European Parliament, international human rights groups and to the embassy of Nepal and the UNHCR representative in Brussels.
In the coming week we hope to be able finish this report in close cooperation with our contacts in Nepal and start a call for action on behalf of this group.
If any news or information is available to support the drafting of this report it is most welcomed by us. Information can be send to: [email protected]
Alice Verheij
writer, film maker, journalist
Empowerment Foundation
The Hague, The Netherlands
The last sentence of the news explains and sums up why the concerned authorities are reluctant to go ahead with the official registration of the BHUTANESE refugees. Had there not been these foreign elements, who all of a sudden found the bhutanese refugees worthy of engaging in nuptial knots, every legal Bhutanese would have, by now, been cleared of such issues. I lived in the refugee camp for 18 years but never heard of this “D.D.Bista” thing. Ignore such opportunists and artificial Bhutanese and help the real people in distress.
Why do these people want refugee status if they are themselves Bhutanese refugees? If you are a Bhutanese, definitely you have your proof of being Bhutanese. My question is why the so called D.D.Bista to the front leading others asking refugees status? She is already a Nepali citizen. She cant be a Bhutanese refugee. It is by law not by emotion. It sounds more than a Nepali citizen deserves in reality. UNHCR should be very careful making a decision. I have seen more intelligent and smart people in the front while the third country resettlement program started. At the beginning it was said that UNHCR would provide an opportunity to resettle the most vulnerable people form the camps but it seemed retrospection.