Issue of Granting Refugee Status
Nepal has been hosting thousands of Bhutanese nationals, who were forcefully evicted from the country in early 1990s, since two decades. However, it was only in 2006 that the Government of Nepal agreed to verify them and issue refugee identity cards. The joint verification team comprising representatives from the government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) conducted official registration between 2006-2008 for issuing photo identity cards for over 100,000 Bhutanese citizens, languishing in UN-managed refugee camps in Jhapa and Morang. One of the achievements of the official registration is the ongoing third country resettlement. Nearly 60,000 of refugees registered during that time have already left for various eight countries in the west to begin new life. And, the International Organization and UNHCR are processing around 50,000 refugees for their relocation.
Initially, both the government and UNHCR were convinced that the registration process would grant refugee status to all asylum seekers from Bhutan, including Indian and Nepalese women married to refugees in camps. But, it was not the case. Some individuals, who intentionally or with some reasons missed the official counting, are now struggling to get their status recognized from the government. Besides, some of them are new arrivals from Bhutan, who were expelled recently from the country or released from jails. Now, they have come to the refugee camps to join their family members and friends. The local authority even claims that the ongoing resettlement process has lured some of them and this why they left the country or married their loved ones from Nepal and India. It might be true that people can be attracted towards resettling in developed countries through marriage chains, but no one dare to leave the country to become a refugee. It is the right of all asylum seekers to get their status defined so that they don’t remain stateless, and even qualify for any solution of the refugee issue, including the third country resettlement and dignified repatriation to homeland.
Acting Chief District Officer of Jhapa, Yogendra Dulal, signs agreement paper committing to fulfill demands of asylum seekers, Nov 26, in Beldangi-II
Representing some 3,000 asylum seekers, 12 women including two Indians and a Nepali married to Bhutanese refugees, fasted-to-death from November 15 for 12 days. They wanted the government to recognize their status and issue refugee identity card, which is a must for availing all kinds of facilities, including the ration, primary health care and education for their children, from the UNHCR and its implementing partners. The local government authority of Jhapa at the end acknowledged their demands as genuine and committed to resume official registration process in the next five months. Initially, it said it was helpless in fulfilling them, stating that verification of these people needs a cabinet decision. The excuse was that the local administration has already forwarded the case for proper action to the Ministry of Home Affairs, and was beyond its capacity to decide on registration of the pending asylum seekers.
On the other hand, the UNHCR has been more sympathetic towards the demands of asylum seekers. Based on the humanitarian grounds, the UNHCR has been reinstating that no individuals should remain stateless, and status of the asylum seekers be recognized by the government at the earliest possible. However, it is not ready to provide ration and other facilities to all asylum seekers unless the government provides official list of the new refugees, yet to be verified. Interestingly, the UNHCR, which was providing all kinds of facilities to every asylum seeker from Bhutan prior to the official registration, now wants to resume distribution of ration and other aids only when all refugees produce their photo identity cards. How can individuals, who were granted ration and other facilities for some 15 years, be denied of the same things now in the name of refugee identity cards? What surprises here is the majority of asylum seekers have been residing in the camps managed by the UNHCR and its partners, have their huts and even possess the ration cards or census slips issued to them in the past, but are not accepted as refugees.
Some members of the same family possess refugee identity cards, while others don’t. There are even cases where husbands or wives get ration from the World Food Programme, for they have their identity cards, while their spouses and children are not entertained. The reality is such that individuals, who were expelled from the same village from Bhutan and travelled to refugee camps in Nepal together, now enjoy different status. Those refugees, who were lucky to avail identity cards during the official registration, have already spent four years in America. Whiles, some of their friends and neighbours, or even family members, are currently struggling to get their status defined. They want the government to either grant them the refugee status or remove from the camps, if they are non-Bhutanese. It must be understood here that the refugee community can play significant role in identifying their neighbours and friends, if the government and UNHCR accept their presence during the verification.
It is an undeniable fact that neither the Government of Nepal nor the UNHCR can prevent arrival of new asylum seekers from Bhutan, where people of Nepali-origin continue to lead suppressed life. There is significant number of political prisoners in various jails of Bhutan. Even, some refugees, who tried visiting their relatives and family members in the past, are spending varying jail terms inside Bhutan. When they are released, Nepal will have to bear the burden of housing them. Therefore, if the government is not serious to identify the status of remaining asylum seekers, the situation might invite unhealthy scenario in refugee camps. On the other hand, if Nepal doesn’t want to accept new arrivals from Bhutan, the government should exercise measures to fix a cut-off date for granting refugee status and inform that all doors for new registration are closed. But, will that be a humanitarian deal?