Tilak Niroula/New Hampshire
August 5, 2017
Bhutanese refugee delegation led by Tika Ram Rasaily, camp secretary of Beldangi refugee camp appealed the government of Nepal to facilitate on local assimilation and dignified repatriation of those remaining refugees in Beldangi and Sanischare camps in eastern Nepal.
In a week long visit that began on July 24th in Kathmandu, the delegation held discussions with Home Minister Janardhan Sharma, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Former Prime Minister Dr. Babu Ram Bhattrai, Human Rights Activists and some prominent political leaders and appealed them to quicken a dialogue with the government of Bhutan to uphold and protect the fundamental human rights of the remaining refugees who wish to return their homeland, allow the remaining refugees to integrate locally and receive necessary administrative assistance to complete the formalities for acquiring citizenship and accelerate the resettlement process to ensure the family right to unification.
According to Yuba Raj Sampang, a member of delegation, the committee has submitted a petition to the government officials, and human rights activist, and the officials at National Coordination Unit for Refugee Affairs (NUCRA) which they believe will reinstate the long-lost dialogue between Bhutan and Nepal. “Home Minister Sharma guaranteed to resolve the Bhutanese refugee problem sooner than later”, Sampang added.
“Majority of the Refugees have been resettled despite their willingness to settle in the western world. Now, only a small chunk of the refugees languishing for the dignified return to their homeland, Bhutan. As the Host country, Nepal Government is here by trustfully appealed to bring dialogues involving all stakeholders including the representative from the Bhutanese Refugees” petition reads.
According to United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Nepal, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have jointly resettled about 110,000 refugees and now 9,500 Bhutanese refugees are residing in Camps.
