E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, MAR 20 -

The international community has urged Bhutan to initiate efforts to repatriate Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal, at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Bhutan’s rights records have come under scrutiny vis-à-vis its refugee issue at a UN forum.

Representatives from USA, Algeria, and other international civil society groups urged the 13th session of the Human Rights Council on Thursday to address the issue. Bhutan was handed a 99-point recommendation and asked to allow refugees to return immediately to Bhutan, and to form apt laws and policies to guarantee “the Nepalese minority the same enjoyment of human rights as for other Bhutanese citizens”.

During the main UPR session in December last year, Bhutan was grilled, for its discriminatory “policies of assimilation, exclusion, and eviction, which led to the expulsion of one-sixth of Bhutan’s population”. Many of them (about 80,000) are still in UN-supported camps in eastern Nepal.

During Thursday’s session, the Council “considered” the Working Group report on Bhutan’s review. Bhutan has said it will not implement all the recommendations in the review report. Thursday’s event was the final stage of Bhutan’s UPR.

Member states, however, have urged Bhutan to take the recommendations seriously. “We strongly support the recommendations that Bhutan should promote and protect the rights of persons belonging to the ethnic Nepalese minority,” said John Mariz, US representative at the meeting. “We share the opinion that Bhutan should enhance efforts to implement adorable solutions for the refugees of Bhutan currently residing in the camps in south eastern Nepal. The government should also resume dialogue with Nepal and enhance cooperation with UNHCR and the Core Group to allow some refugees to return immediately to Bhutan.” Countries like Pakistan, India, however, remained silent on the Bhutanese refugee issue and appreciated Bhutan’s commitment to human rights. Peter Prove from Lutheral World Federation said despite repeated commitment to resolve the issue, Bhutan has not repatriated a single refugee.

Meanwhile, delegates from the Bhutanese Advocacy Forum - Europe, present at the Council meeting, distributed appeals and testimonies of torture victims from the Bhutanese refugee community to the representatives of Member States urging them to support the cause of repatriation of the refugees.

Posted on: 2010-03-20 12:00

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