Resettlement of Tibetan refugees in Nepal still at large (REPRODUCTION)

The visiting US officials Mr. Lawrence Bartlett, Deputy Director for Asia and Near East and Ms Janice Belz, Deputy Director for Admissions, in a press statement here, confirmed that the Government of Nepal has agreed to allow third-country resettlement of Bhutanese refugees but, they did not answer whether the same applied to the resettlement of Tibetan refugees too.

During the press conference this afternoon, the US delegation said that their current mission is primarily focused on Bhutanese resettlement programme only. The delegation also added that it did not mean to rule out consideration for Tibetan refugees in future either.

When asked if they have had any talk with Nepalese leaders about Tibetan resettlement; Mr. Bartlett said, “In terms of resettlement, this time our mission is to look at Bhutanese refugee resettlement programme and we have not entered into discussion on those (Tibetan resettlement) issues”.

Mr Bartlett, however, mentioned that he and Ms Belz were pleased to have visited the Tibetan Reception Centre to look at its functioning.

Responding to the question on the long pending fate of Tibetan refugees for a possible resettlement in US, Ms Belz said, “At this juncture, we have the support from the Government of Nepal and from UNHCR, and others to begin with the case of Bhutanese refugees”. She further adds, “…that does not preclude our consideration for the future of Tibetan refugees”. “For now the Bhutanese programme is our central focus” she said.

As of now, the planned decision to resettle about 5000 Tibetan refugees in Nepal to US still remains uncertain. These Tibetans are said to be living in Nepal without any proper legal paper.

Tibetans here find it difficult to understand why the Nepalese Government is willing to allow resettlement of Bhutanese refugees and not Tibetans.

According to a reliable source here, some important Tibetan officials in Kathmandu have earlier met with the visiting officials and briefed them about the problems of Tibetans in Nepal. Our source also mentioned that, in the long run, there is every hope that the Nepalese Government will possibly clear the door of resettlement for Tibetan refugees too.

There are approximately over 20,000 Tibetans living in Nepal, and many of them, especially the newly arrived ones, have no proper residential permits to stay in Nepal as refugees. By Tenzin Choephel