What The World’s “Happiest” Country Did To Its Ethnic Minority Is Horrific

By Akshay Tarfe:

The media narrative about Bhutan still remains as a peaceful Himalayan utopia with a green economy. Most of that, might be true. But perhaps what we don’t know is that Bhutan is home to some of the most draconian and dictatorial laws coupled with a glaring history of xenophobia and ethnic hatred.

In 1996, the population in the refugee camps of Nepal exploded. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) declared that the camps had more than 100,000 people from Bhutan. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the UNHCR had to start a large-scale rehabilitation program for those people who had suffered due to the ethnic cleansing in Bhutan. The main reason was that they were not ‘Bhutanese enough’ to stay in a country where they had lived for generations. The Bhutanese army forced them to sign the forms which said they are leaving the country voluntarily. Overnight, these hardworking people became refugees and were forced to settle in 10 camps across Nepal.

It was part of a massive project sanctioned by the government to protect the culture and the identity of Bhutan. The Citizenship Act of 1985 was mostly targeted against the ‘Lhotshampas’ community in Bhutan. This ethnic group consisted of people of Nepalese origin who migrated to Bhutan after economic reforms were announced in 1960s. They came here as construction workers and labourers and settled in the southern parts of the country. Their distinct language, culture and religion were considered to be against the ‘Driglam Namzha’, the Bhutanese national dress and etiquette code.

Bhutanese refugees wait for food at a camp. Source: Prakash Mathema/Getty

After Sikkim became part of India, the political masters in Thimphu saw it as a victory for the Nepali migrant majority over the monarchy of Sikkim. This, combined with other factors, forced them to pass draconian and dictatorial laws to make Bhutan a homogeneous country with one language. Immigration is strictly prohibited in Bhutan today. The so called ‘One Nation, One People‘ policy enacted by the government pushed the Himalayan Kingdom into long lasting ethnic violence.

The importance of Buddhism cannot be denied in the national identity of Bhutan but the country has rejected idea of secularism by making Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism as the state religion. The constitution of 2008 provides religious freedom but it has remained largely on paper. The International Religious Freedom report published by the U.S. State Department says that societal and governmental pressure for conformity with religious norms was prevalent.

‘I am encouraged by the openness of Nepal government to discuss the fate of remaining refugees’

We have been stepping up our advocacy and diplomacy with the government of Bhutan on this issue. At this point, we do not have green light but the conversation is still going on. The dialogue is there, the Anchordiplomacy is there, and we are in talks with Bhutan about this.

Jun 20, 2016- The third-country group resettlement of the Bhutanese refugees is almost coming to a close. While the referral process has been stopped, the process could take until early 2017 to complete. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) believes that about 10,000 refugees will be left behind in camps for various reasons; about two thousand have declined to take part in the resettlement and instead have opted for voluntary repatriation to Bhutan; there are cases of mixed marriages; and, several hundreds have been rejected by recipient countries. With the resettlement window closing, UNHCR has two other durable options that it is pursuing: voluntary repatriation and local integration. Against this backdrop, John Narayan Parajuli spoke with the outgoing UNHCR Nepal Representative Craig Sanders—in the first week of June before he left to take up his new assignment in Geneva—about the end of the resettlement process, the fate of the remaining population and prospects of local integration and repatriation to Bhutan.

So when is the resettlement process for Bhutanese refugees coming to an end?

A: The large-scale resettlement is coming to an end. But I hope there will always be an opportunity for resettlement for some people-- through family reunification or through other means. But that’s going to be in a very individualized basis and not group resettlement. We finished most of our referrals at the end of last year. We’re now processing other cases. As you know the departure time is around 18 months. So while we finished our referrals in the December of last year, those people may not depart until the end of this year or sometime in 2017. So, in short, the process is coming to an end. But hopefully, there will always be a small window of resettlements. But it will be in small numbers.

What will happen to the UNHCR presence both in the camps and in Kathmandu once the group resettlement process is over?

A: Well, our interest is to find solutions for everyone, including those who for various reasons are likely to remain behind in Nepal. We have a lot of mixed marriages and we have approximately 2000 people who did not want to pursue resettlement. We have had people who said they want to pursue resettlement but later changed their minds. So there will be a population that will remain behind. And our interest is to see that everyone has a solution. So, in terms of our presence, I think we will try, as much as possible,