Bhutanese Refugees Protest Human Rights Violations in Bhutan

At the beginning of this month, a group of Bhutanese refugees who have been resettled in Europe gathered in Geneva, Switzerland in front of the UN offices to protest both past and present human rights violations committed by the Bhutanese government. On December 4th, various political groups and organizations, including the group protesting, were due to present about the human rights situation in Bhutan. Some of the more pressing topics discussed in the presentations were the refugee crisis and the conflict that brought on the crisis. However, the Human Rights Report generated by the Bhutanese government and presented to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights did not mention the refugee situation. As is noted in the article, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is required to review the human rights record for all member states every four years. 2009 is the first year that Bhutan will be presenting a human rights report. Additionally, a book has been published about the human rights violations committed by the Bhutanese government, and includes information about the refugees living in Nepal, restriction of voting rights to groups of Nepali-speaking Bhutanese citizens, and failure to provide education to groups of Bhutanese children. The book was written by I.P. Adhikari who is the President of the Association of Press Freedom Activists in Bhutan, and Raju Thapa who is the Director of Human Rights Without Frontiers in Nepal.

Please click on the link below to read the article in full.

http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/2-political/2736-bhutanese-refugees-demonstrate-in-geneva.html

“Nepal Finally Waves Away Refugees”

According to a posting on the Bhutan News blog, approximately 25,000 refugees left the Nepalese refugee camps this past month to resettle in several different western countries. Furthermore, the vast majority of the 86,000 refugees remaining in the Nepalese camps have signed up for resettlement in the west, and will hopefully be resettled in 2010. Thus far, the United States has accepted the largest number of Bhutanese refugees (22,060), followed by Australia, Canada, Norway, Denmark, New Zealand, and the Netherlands.

I was thrilled to read the headline of this blog post, as some Bhutanese citizens have been refugees for as long as 18 years. Ideally, I wish that all of the Bhutanese refugees could return to their native country and live peacefully without discrimination and oppression. However, since resettlement to Bhutan does not seem like a viable option at the present moment, I hope that the remaining 86,000 refugees will be resettled in a timely fashion to safe and accepting environments in new countries.

Please click on the link below to read the blog posting in its entirety.

http://bhutannews.blogspot.com/

The photograph was taken from “The Bhutan Reporter” web site.

Gross National Happiness

The idea and/or policy of Gross National Happiness in Bhutan has been quite controversial ever since the policy was discussed and implemented by the King as a result of the refugee situation. I thought I would use a blog posting to share a bit of information about the history of the policy. In 2000, King Jugme Singye Wangchuk of Bhutan announced his idea and/or policy of Gross National Happiness as one that would serve to unify the Bhutanese people and would remain part of the long-term development plan for the country. Included below is an excerpt form the Bhutan Human Development Report that helps to explain this concept of Gross National Happiness:

"If happiness is among the cherished goals of development, then it does matter how this happiness is generated, what causes it, what goes with it, and how it is distributed - whether it is enjoyed by a few or shared by all…

Bhutan seeks to establish a happy society, where people are safe, where everyone is guaranteed a decent livelihood, and where people enjoy universal access to good education and health care. It is a society where there is no pollution and violation of the environment, where there is no aggression and war, where inequalities do not exist, and where cultural values get strengthened every day. (…) A happy society is one where people enjoy freedoms, where there is no oppression, where art, music, dance, drama and culture flourish.

Ultimately a happy society is a caring society, caring for the past and future, caring for the environment and caring for those who need protection…"

As I mentioned above, this policy has and continues to be highly controversial because hundreds of thousands of Bhutanese were being forced out of a country that was supposedly promoting national happiness for all citizens at the time that the policy was implemented. Gross National Happiness for some but not for all--- does that sound more fitting with the past and present state of affairs in Bhutan?

“The Bhutanese Refugees: The Story of a Forgotten People”

While conducting research for my blog, I stumbled upon a beautiful and informative website entitled, “Bhutanese Refugees: The Story of a Forgotten People.” The website was created by a charity based in Europe called PhotoVoice. The organization’s mission is to empower disadvantaged populations throughout the world through photography skills. The hope is that photography skills could potentially “transform” lives. PhotoVoice worked closely with Bhutanese refugees living in the refugee camps in Nepal to create the website.

There are several different sections within the website that make it such a valuable resource for all individuals, including both educators and students. Firstly, there is extensive information about different aspects of the camp, such as education, employment, sanitation, food rations, and many more. One of the more interesting features of the site is a virtual tour of the camp that includes a map of Nepal with the locations of the camps, and a series of photographs of the Bhutanese refugees in their respective camps. Furthermore, there are personal stories from Bhutanese children and teenagers living in the refugee camps. Please click on the link below to access the virtual camp tour.

http://www.bhutaneserefugees.com/camptour.php

Secondly, the site provides readers with information about all aspects of the country of Bhutan, including the geography, political history, generalized history of the country, as well as the history of the conflict that has caused so many Bhutanese people into exile. There is a particularly useful timeline that provides brief snippets of information about the history of the country beginning in the 1890s and ending in 2009.

This is website is full of amazing resources for anyone who wants to learn more about the origins of the conflict in Bhutan and the refugee situation. The site is filled with beautiful photographs of the Bhutanese refugees, and many, if not all of the photographs have been taken by the refugees themselves.

U.N. World Food Programme Resumes Full Aid to Bhutanese Refugees in Camps

Approximately one month earlier, the U.N. World Food Programme announced that it would be forced to cut half of the food aid to Bhutanese refugees living in southeastern Nepal due to lack of funding. However, the WFP announced recently that Australia has provided the agency with $460,000, which will enable the agency to once again resume food aid to refugees in camps. This is wonderful and reassuring news for the thousands of refugees who rely on the WFP as a food source.

...Speaking of the U.N., click on the link below to watch a video produced by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) about the initial resettlement of the Bhutanese refugees in the United States.

http://www.unhcr.org/47cc007c4.html

The Khudunabari Refugee Camp and the Khudunabari Bakery

Khudunabari is one of the seven Bhutanese refugee camps and is located in southeastern Nepalese district of Jhapa. The population of the camp is approximately 12,000 people. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any other general details about the history of the camp and camp life. However, I did learn about an amazing feature of the Khudunabari camp. One of the many projects that the BRWF has contributed to is the Khudunabari Bakery, which opened its doors in 2000, after the BRWF and the World Food Programme teamed together to finance the operation. The initial purpose of the bakery was to diversify the refugees’ diet, which primarily consisted of rice, lentils, sugar, salt, vegetable oil, and wheat soya blend. A team of bakers from Bengal was brought into the camp to train the refugees who would become the bakery’s bakers. Unfortunately, the bakery closed only a few years after it had opened for a variety of reasons, one of which was that the quality of the baked goods was quite poor. In 2006, the bakery reopened its doors after a thorough reevaluation of the reasons for its closure, and the both the BRWF and the WFP have worked to improve different aspects of the bakery. For example, the refugee bakers were required to complete a four-month apprenticeship with the Indian bakers to improve the quality of the goods, and the bakery has extended its hours to accommodate the needs and schedules of the refugee population in the camp. Doughnuts, cookies, and pau roti (Nepali bread) are some of the treats offered at the bakery.

Both the BRWF and the Khudunabari bakery have improved the quality of life for Bhutanese refugees living in camps. It is particularly inspiring to read about the 12,000 refugee women who are volunteering their time for the BRWF to strengthen the Bhutanese refugee community through education.

The photograph collage featured in this post is from the Bhutanese Refugee Women's Forum.

Bhutanese Refugee Women's Forum (BRWF)

While conducting research for my blog, I recently stumbled upon information about an organization called the Bhutanese Refugee Women's Forum (BRWF) that is a “volunteer-run, non-profit refugee organization dedicated to providing community-based education to fight illiteracy, poverty, ignorance, and unemployment.” The organization is based out of the seven refugee camps located in the southeastern Nepalese districts of Jhapa and Morang. There are over 12,000 refugee women who run the organization. The mission statement of the BRWF is “to promote self-reliance and strengthen the capacity of the Bhutanese refugee community.” Many of the BRWF initiatives focus on the empowerment of women, children’s rights, gender violence, and many other important issues. The BRWF has established several programs within the refugee camps, one of which is the vocational training program that provides refugees with the opportunity to acquire vocational skills in one of the following areas: bicycle repair, bamboo craft and furniture production, hair cutting, candle making, sewing and knitting clothing, basic computer skills, hotel management, care for the elderly and disabled, and secretarial skills.

Another program established by the BRWF in the camps is the “Self-Reliance” program. The purpose of this program is to provide refugees with a supplemental income in the refugee camps, and in turn, to provide the camp with a variety of useful products and services that are essential to the well-being of the camp population. The self-reliance program consists of the following activities: honey production, sanitary napkin production, clothing production, and laundry soap production.

The venn diagram at the top of the post illustrates the programs that comprise the Bhutanese Refugee Women's Forum and are made available to the public.

Click on the link below to read an inspirational story about a deaf and mute Bhutanese refugee who successfully completed the hair cutting training program; he is now a barber in the Sanischare refugee camp.

http://www.brwf.org/Home/success-stories/deaf-mute-barber-trained-by-brwf-inspires-hope-among-disabled-population-in-bhutanese-refugee-community

The Timai Refugee Camp

Timai is one of the seven Bhutanese refugee camps located in eastern Nepal along the Tamai River. The camp opened in the early nineties to provide the Bhutanese refugees with living quarters. In 2006, the camp population was approximately 9,846 with 1,713 families living in bamboo shelters that were approximately 5.5 meters by 3.5 meters in size. While researching the Timai refugee camp, I stumbled upon a website created by a resident, Kiran, of the camp. According to Kiran, the population of the camp in 2007 had increased to 11, 400 with approximately 2,200 huts or shelters. Kiran has been a resident of the camp since 1991, and he provides camp children and teenagers with free guitar lessons. Kiran’s website contains beautiful photographs of his music lessons, along with a daily blog of camp life, and a handful of videos that provide visuals of the layout of the camp.

~Please click on the following link to check out Kiran's informative website:
www.mrrefugee.multiply.com

~The link below will direct you to a video made by Kiran of his wife and child in their section of the camp:
http://mrrefugee.multiply.com/video/item/7/my_hut_and_my_wifechild.AVI

The Tihar Festival

The Tihar Festival is a five-day festival celebrated in Nepal and Bhutan (by those individuals of Nepalese origin) that begins on the thirteenth day of the waning moon in the month of October. The purpose of the festival is to worship different animals, including cows, dogs, and crows, and the Hindu Goddess of Good Fortune or Wealth, Goddess Laxmi. Throughout the five days, people celebrate the holiday by preparing meals for each other, and for the honored animals and Goddess, and decorating their homes and neighborhoods.

Visit the link below for more information about the Tihar Festival of Nepal:

http://www.nepalvista.com/travel/tihar.html

Why Are There Refugees From Bhutan?

So why are there refugees from Bhutan anyway? The majority of the Bhutanese refugees are ethnic Nepalis from the southern region of the country, who are known as the Lhotsampas. Over the years the Lhotsamapas have maintained their Nepali culture, language, and religion, which is separate from the northern group of Bhutanese, the Druk, who are native Tibetans. The Bhutanese government allowed all Lhotsampas to apply for Bhutanese citizenship under the 1958 Nationality Law. However, in the 1980s the government became concerned about the growing Lhotsampa population and its potential threat to the dominant culture, language, and religion of the country. As a result of this growing fear, a series of policies, known as “Bhutanization,” were implemented, which imposed dress codes, restricted the practice of Nepali customs, and prohibited the Nepali language from being spoken in schools. Eventually, in 1990, as a result of the “Bhutanization” policies, the government announced that all Lhotsampas who could not prove that they had become residents of Bhutan in 1958 under the Nationality Law, were forced to leave the country.

Many of the Lhotsampas fled to eastern Nepal. There are approximately 107,000 Bhutanese refugees living in seven refugee camps in eastern Nepal, many of whom have lived in the camps for 16 years, as they are unable to return to Bhutan or permanently settle in Nepal.

The political situation in Bhutan that has forced thousands of Lhotsampas into exile is quite controversial, and I have simply grazed the surface of the issues causing the controversy in this posting. For more information about the history of the conflict, please visit the following links:

1.) http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/type,COUNTRYREP,,BTN,465c36842,0.html

2.) http://www.cal.org/co/pdffiles/backgrounder_bhutanese.pdf


Additionally, visit the United Nations Refugee Agency website to view a video about the resettlement of the Bhutanese refugees:

http://www.unhcr.org/47cc007c4.html

UN to Cut Food Aid to Bhutanese Refugees

In a statement issued on October 16th, 2009, the United Nations announced that it will be forced to cut food aid to approximately 100,000 Bhutanese refugees living in camps in Nepal as a result of a funding shortage. The WFP (World Food Programme), the food aid branch of the United Nations, does not have sufficient funds to continue providing support for the refugees, and the organization will need an additional $4 million to maintain the assistance. Please click on the link below to read the full press release on the BBC News web site.

The photograph attached to this posting was taken by The Bhutanese News Service, which is an agency that was formed in 2006 by a group of exiled Bhutanese journalists,captures Bhutanese refugees in a church within one of the seven refugee camps in Nepal.

Getting Down to Basics: How is the climate of Bhutan different from the climate of Vermont?

During my tutoring sessions with my Bhutanese tutee, I have constantly found myself wondering how different life must be in Vermont for Bhutanese refugees who have been accustomed to living in camps halfway across the globe. Many of the differences that spring to mind are things such as the food that is available in Vermont, the surroundings, and of course, the climate. How often do we really think about the ways that our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being are influenced by the climate in which we reside? Perhaps we rarely think about it until we are faced with adapting to a new climate...?

Bhutan's climate varies according to altitute. There are three distinct climate zones within the country, 1.) substropical in the southern region, 2.) temperate in the central region, which is the most populated area, 3.) and alpine in the northern region. The majority of the refugees from Bhutan are natives of the southern region and are accustomed to a sub-tropical climate. One can imagine that the transition from a sub-tropical climate to the continental moist climate of Vermont, that is known for it's long and cold winters, would be a difficult one to endure. As home-school liason, Madhu Neupone, mentioned in his presentation about the Bhutanese refugee experience, many of the Bhutanese refugees have never seen snow until they spend their first winter in Vermont.

Welcome!

I have just begun providing ESL tutorial services for a refugee from Bhutan. When I was notified by the refugee resettlement organization that my ESL tutee was from Bhutan, it dawned on me that I knew very little about my student’s native country. Additionally, I am embarrassed to write that I was entirely uninformed about the refugee situation in Bhutan and Nepal prior to my orientation with the refugee resettlement organization. I love learning, particularly about new countries and their histories, so I have decided to research the history and culture of Bhutan, the Bhutanese refugee experience, and the conflict that has caused the forced exile of over one hundred thousand Bhutanese residents and maintain a blog through this process to record all of the interesting information that I learn. My hope is that I will gain a better understanding of my student’s and her family members’ life experiences, cultural traditions, and values through this research process.