BHUTAN: Tek Nath Rijal takes the plunge: Update
34.
by Dr. S. Chandrasekharan
Tek Nath Rijal made up his mind finally to take up the cause of
Bhutanese refugees by forming the Human Rights Council of Bhutan (HRCB) on
25th August.
Rijal was released from jail after ten years on 17th
December 1999. On release he wrote a long personal letter to the
King to give him an audience so that he could personally explain the
refugee problem and find a solution to ensure "stability, peace and
prosperity of Bhutan. There was no response from the King on the one hand
and there had been pressure from the refugee organisations to take over
the leadership. (Update 27 in Note #. 172 of
SAAG)
Rijal was reluctant to visit Nepal after the experience he had many
years ago, when he was forcibly apprehended and handed over to the
Bhutanese authorities, without any legal formalities what so ever.
Rijal suffered incarceration for more than ten years and was declared a
"prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International.
In a release to the Press, Rijal made the following points:
* The worsening human rights situation inside Bhutan and the
complications created by Bhutan’s government in the refugee crisis had
compelled him to form the HRCB. (Human Rights Group of Bhutan).
* The task has now befallen him to consolidate the various Bhutanese
organisations to fight for the rights of the Bhutanese people. ( It is
understood that various organisations now working independently but on
behalf of the refugees have agreed to work under the umbrella
organisation HRCB under the leadership of Rijal).
* He appealed for support from national, regional and international
communities to resolve the crisis peacefully.
In another public meeting he made a special appeal to India not to
treat the refugee issue as a bilateral one between Nepal and Bhutan, but
intervene to resolve the issue immediately. He said "the world
cannot ignore Bhutan’s discrimination and racial subjugation of its
minority people."
Does Rijal’s entry give some hope to the refugees? The answer is
yes, though there may be many sceptics who may not agree with this view.
One regular reader from Nepal who has been following this site on the
refugee question had said that South Asia Analysis Group is misleading the
refugees by giving them hope where there is none. It is known and we
have mentioned it before that given a chance the King of Bhutan would not
take a single refugee back. But can a "state sponsored ethnic
cleansing" be allowed to succeed? Should not the international
organisations, countries who have an interest in the stability of Bhutan
and other well meaning NGOs support the cause of the refugees and try to
get them back to Bhutan with honour and dignity? What about Nepal itself,
which has not shown any interest in getting due justice to the refugees?
The immediate impact of Rijal’s entry will be
* The voice of the refugees will be heard now. In our earlier
update 32 (Note #189), we quoted one of the refugees who said
"where is the place where the voice of the refugees can be heard.
Here is now a place headed by Rijal who is well known
internationally. The demands of the refugees to make the
verification process transparent and to include a representative of
theirs in the joint verification teams cannot be ignored. There will be
a collective and an authentic demand to expedite the whole repatriation
process.
* International human rights groups, aid agencies and donor countries
will take greater interest to ensure that the refugees are heard and
their rights restored.
* There will be no further infighting or at least it will be reduced
to the minimum when all organisations come under one umbrella of the
movement now being led by Rijal.
* It will also place Nepal on notice. Nepal has not
distinguished itself well in the refugee crisis. In all the
meetings Bhutan has had the better of Nepal and has invariably turned
the crisis to their benefit. Be it in the verification, classification
or subsequent harmonisation, Nepal has been behaving more like an
onlooker to the detriment of the refugees. The latest point in support
of this view is in Nepal meekly agreeing to the postponement of the 15th
ministerial level talks slated for August 11-14. It would have
been apparent to anyone that Bhutan is doing its very best to postpone
the return of even those refugees under category I ( bonafide citizens
as admitted by the JVT) by September!
Two international teams visit the refugee camps. A seven-member UN
team visited the refugee camps in the last week of August to `review and
assess’ the situation in the refugee camps. The team included
representatives of WFP (World Food Programme) and UNHCR. Their visit was
more in the nature of an annual joint routine visit to review the UN
operations in the camps.
Another four member team comprising of representatives of Human rights
watch, Lutheran Refugee and Immigration Service of the US, Caritas and UN
Habitat International visited the camps of the refugees including that of
Kudenabari and they have given a scathing report on the action taken both
by Bhutan and Nepal on the refugee crisis. The highlights of the
report include
* The screening process of the refugees violates every international
norm in the book.
* There are serious anomalies and failings in the verification
process. The verification process itself does not stand up to scrutiny
in international law. In category II, all the refugees mentioned
that they were forced to sign voluntary migration forms under duress.
Under international law, everyone has the right to leave and return to
their own country. Bhutan’s policies clearly violate this right.
* The refugees recounted the hardships and the manner in which they
were driven out. Many complained of arbitrary detention, sexual
violence and threats to their physical safety before they were forced to
flee.
* Categorisation has been done arbitrarily with members of the same
family including children being placed in different categories.
* Future screening should be according to two categories only-
Bhutanese and non Bhutanese.
* Screening and repatriation should not proceed without the presence
of an independent third party. Refugee representatives should be
included at all stages of the repatriation process.
It is understood that the appeal petitions made by the refugees of the
Kudenabariu have been examined and there are some differences between
Nepal and Bhutan. It is a good sign that Nepal is finally waking up and
not giving in to the machinations of Bhutan.
