Thread: 50,000 Bhutan refugees quit Nepal for USA

50,000 Bhutan refugees quit Nepal for overseas
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
KATHMANDU, Aug 17: The 50,000th Bhutanese refugee to move from Nepal under a UN resettlement scheme will begin a new life in the United States, a statement said on Wednesday.

Jai Prasad Sunuwar, who was living in a camp in the Himalayan nation, has left to set up home in South Dakota, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nepal said in the statement.


"The departure of the 50,000th Bhutanese refugee from Nepal for resettlement abroad is a noteworthy milestone," the US Ambassador to Nepal Scott DeLisi was quoted as saying.

The programme began in 2007 following the failure of years of high-level negotiations to secure their return to Bhutan.

Some 42,000 refugees have gone to the United States, while Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain have also taken some in.

The refugees are all ethnic Nepalese who left Bhutan in the early 1990s, claiming ethnic and political persecution after Thimphu made national dress compulsory and banned the Nepalese language.

Bhutan claims the refugees were illegal immigrants. The Hindu refugees, who have no legal right to work or own land in Nepal, insist they are citizens of mainly Buddhist Bhutan.

Human rights groups have said the refugees are victims of an ethnic cleansing campaign.

This resettlement "is made possible by the incredible generosity of the resettlement countries," said Stephane Jaquemet, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Nepal.

Another 63,000 refugees remain in the camps, the UNHCR said. Facing little prospect of being allowed to return to Bhutan or settle permanently in Nepal, more than 47,000 refugees have have asked to be resettled.

Nepalese farmers began settling in what is now Bhutan hundreds of years ago, and numbers increased over the centuries due to the attraction of underused fertile land in the Himalayan foothills.

Refugee leaders have expressed fears that with so many people leaving the Nepal camps, pressure on Bhutan to allow the rest home will evaporate.

However, the UNHCR said it would keep seeking a solution to the refugees´ plight, "including voluntary repatriation" when conditions permit.

Published on 2011-08-17 18:23:02

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I'm wondering if anyone read this? So I amended the title a bit and bumped it ttt.