No Gross National Happiness for Bhutanese Refugees

One sixth of the population of Bhutan is displaced in Nepal and India. The prolonged exile of Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal and India is a major human rights deficit in the South Asian region, and attempts to resolve the issue on the part of many actors have resulted in little or nothing to alleviate the suffering of the Bhutanese refugees, most of whom are housed in UNHCR-organised camps. In December 2005, a SAHR human rights fact-finding mission held consultations with Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal. The mission report highlighted the stalemate in the talks between the Bhutan and Nepal governments, the hopelessness of the refugees who are living in exile for the past 16 years, and the inconclusive nature of the joint nationality-verification exercise conducted by Bhutan and Nepal in 2003 to the exclusion of other independent parties such as the UNHCR. [SAHR]