Our endeavor and responsibility (Special Editorial, WRD)
It was our wish not to celebrate this day – World Refugee Day – since the day we arrived Nepal hoping that we might at the earliest get back to our country. Despite our hopes and expectations, this is the 18th year, we are observing this day in our capacity of refugee. Our hopes to end this status continue unfortunately, no indications are in sight so far.
Repatriation had been the foremost demand, and will continue to be that. Yet, taking into consideration the long disgraceful and pathetic lives that we passed in closed camps, third country resettlement has been welcomed.
Bhutan News Service and Association of Press Freedom Activists (APFA) Bhutan, while stressing repatriation to be the permanent solution of the crisis, have supported the resettlement process from the beginning. In doing so, we had faced several challenges, our reporters and editors have been threatened for life, local authorities interrogated and few of us still remain displaced. Even under such circumstances, we continued to inform the exiled Bhutanese in camps and outside of the update on resettlement process.
This year, to mark the World Refugee Day, we had planned to disseminate information to the camp community and the exiled Bhutanese living outside camps through special radio programs. The details included reports from our co-workers from New York, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other countries on how they have been living after being resettled. We intended to clarify the confusions and rumors engulfed in the camps regarding the resettled exiled Bhutanese. We hoped, this would have encouraged more people to opt resettlement to third countries.
Unfortunately, we are sorry to inform our radio listeners and readers about our inability in reaching them this vital information. We had made our tireless efforts, with no motives of profits but passing number of sleepless nights. At a time, resettling countries and UNHCR are being criticized over their failure to provide enough information on resettlement process; we had boldly taken this responsibility in view to protecting the right to information of the exiled Bhutanese (Article 19 the UDHR to which UNHCR and the resettling countries are responsible for).
Circumstances emerged four days before the radio programs are aired forced us to withdraw all our plans. We regret our incontinences.
Our four and half months of efforts through Pathivara FM had earlier shared good volume of information on resettlement and brought about a large number of exiled Bhutanese look at the process more positively.
Despite our inconveniences, we continue our efforts to inform our fellow people on situation of resettled relatives and unfolding political environment inside our motherland Bhutan. Though, we failed to reach them in voice, we vow to reach them in text. The upcoming edition of The Bhutan Reporter will contain reports from abroad and we expect this will help reduce the rumors created in the camps. The stories shall also go online as well. We don't look after who failed to shoulder their responsibility on this very day, but think of what we did to our community.
Lastly, we thank all our supporters abroad who contributed us the reports, UNHCR, IOM and US embassy in Kathmandu who provided us necessary information and supported in reaching these stories to camp community and our well wishers who continually encouraged us for good works.