Ethnic cleansing in Bhutan

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Southern Bhutan Problem
Lotshampa refugees in Beldangi Camp.jpg
An image of Bhutanese refugees, one of whom is holding his Bhutanese passport.
Location Bhutan
Date1980s-present[ citation needed ]
Attack type
 Ethnic cleansing
Victim Lhotshampa
MotiveAnti-Nepali sentiment, Anti-immigration

Ethnic cleansing in Bhutan refers to the 1990s uprising and resettling of the Lhotshampas. Inter-ethnic tensions in Bhutan have resulted in the flight of many Lhotshampa to Nepal, many of whom have been expelled by the Bhutanese military. By 1996, over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees (40% of Bhutan's population at the time) were living in refugee camps in Nepal. [1] However, the exact figure has been disputed with recent investigations revealing Bhutanese Refugee Scam where 800 individuals have fraudulently obtained refugee status with assistance from certain Nepali politicians and bureaucrats. Several high-profile individuals have been investigated and arrested in connection with the scheme, which involved facilitating fake refugee claims in exchange for millions of Rupees. Additionally, the Bhutanese authorities, also, claim that the number of refugees has been rising since 1991, when there were only 300, to nearly 100,000 . [2] UNHRC camps in eastern Nepal received about 6000 refugees from Bhutan at the height of the conflict but the number shot up in the following years reaching over 1,00,000 by the end of 1993. The Bhutan government claimed that with a generous daily allowance in refugee camps and poor process of verification, that many stateless and landless people in the area joined the refugee bandwagon. Many have since resettled in Western countries. [3]

Contents

Background: Lhotshampa people

The Lhotshampa or Lhotsampa (Nepali : ल्होत्साम्पा; Tibetan : ལྷོ་མཚམས་པ་, Wylie : lho-mtshams-pa) population is a heterogeneous Bhutanese people of Nepalese descent. Mostly Hindu people of Nepalese origin began to settle in uninhabited areas in southern Bhutan in the 19th century. [4] The Lhotshampa people are native to southern Bhutan and are therefore commonly referred to as 'Southerners'. As of 2007, much of the Lhotshampa population has been relocated to Western countries, such as the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and other European countries after facing expulsion policies from the Bhutanese government. Today, the number of Lhotshampa in Nepal is significantly less than in the United States and other countries where they have relocated. [5] No refugees have been allowed to return to Bhutan despite negotiations taking place. [6]

Expulsion and migration

During the 1980s, the Lhotshampa population constituted 25% of Bhutan’s total population, with the migration of these citizens from Nepal to Bhutan first beginning in the mid-nineteenth century. [7] Between 1988 and 1993, thousands of others left the country due to ethnic and political oppression. [8] In 1990, violent ethnic unrest and anti-government protests erupted in southern Bhutan, demanding greater democracy and respect for minority rights. [8] Bhutanese government asserted that there are already representative political institutions in existence including a National Assembly and a National Advisory Council. [9] Dzongkhag Yargay Tshogdue(DYT), was established in 1981 to formulate, approve and implement gewog and dzongkhag plan activities allowing the people living in the their respective districts to decide on the development priorities and empowering the decision-making at the grass roots level. [10] That year, the Bhutan Peoples' Party, whose members are mostly Lhotshampa, launched a campaign of violence against the Bhutanese government. [11] [8] The Lhotshampa faced a brutal response from the government, which included the raping of women and citizens being captured, jailed, and tortured. [12] This included human rights activists, teachers, and political leaders. [12] In the wake of this unrest and violence, thousands of people fled Bhutan, settling in Nepal's seven refugee camps or leaving to find work in India.

The Bhutan Citizenship Act of 1985 also played a large role in the displacement of the Lhotshampa. The act introduced new requirements on who could be designated as a Bhutanese citizen, and mainly affected ethnic Nepali who were largely Lhotshampa. The act declared that in order to be considered a citizen, one’s parents must both be Bhutanese, which heavily affected the Lhotshampa population. [13] As of January 2010, 85,544 refugees remained in camps. [14] In 2008, the US State Department estimated that as much as 35% of the population of Bhutan had been displaced as a result of these conflicts. [14]

Prior to expulsion, the Lhotshampa had held major roles within the Bhutanese government, which included serving as bureaucrats, police officers, and in the army. [13]

Although many Lhotshampa fled to India, they were met with very little support from the local Indian government, which allowed the Bhutanese army to commit larger acts of violence against the Lhotshampa. [15] Nepal proved to be more receptive to the population and eventually engaged in discussions with Bhutan to try and repatriate the Lhotshampa starting in April 1993. [15] However, these talks only resulted in the new categorization of Lhotshampa refugees. They were broken into four categories, consisting of Bhutanese who had been evicted, Bhutanese who had emigrated, Bhutanese with criminal records, and non-Bhutanese people. [15] This was done as a tactic by Bhutan to prevent the Lhotshampa from re-entering the country by removing their citizenship rights, which included pressuring Lhotshampa to sign forms that stated that they had voluntarily left Bhutan. [15]

Results of ethnic cleansing in Bhutan

Resettlement outside Bhutan

Countries that have stated they are willing to grant asylum to Bhutanese refugees include the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Canada, Norway, and the United States. The United States specifically stated that it would be willing to allow up to 60,000 refugees to enter its borders, although it was also considering sending the migrants back to their home country. [7] The UNHCR estimates that around 113,000 refugees resettled in these countries, although in 2018 the agency closed the resettlement program that it had in Nepal. This resulted in far fewer Bhutanese refugees being admitted into countries including the United States specifically. The United States alone resettled 84,819 refugees as of 2015. [6] Although 2228 refugees were granted admission to the United States in 2018, only 19 were granted the same status in the first seven months of 2019. [16]

Bhutanese refugees in the United States typically have difficulty resettling, with 65 percent living within 200 percent of the US federal poverty level. [6] Half of the Bhutanese refugees within the United States are unemployed and half do not possess a high school degree. [6]

The refugees have been very successful in the United States. In 2019, a Bhutanese refugee was elected to the city council in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. Bhuwan Pyakurel became the first Nepali-Bhutanese elected official in the United States.[ citation needed ]

Refugee camps

The refugee camps in Nepal possess substandard living conditions. A 1994 study found that the crude mortality rate in these camps was 1.15 deaths per year for every 10 people. [17] Cholera, malaria, dysentery, and other diseases are also present within these camps. [18]

Mental health

Death by suicide is nearly twice as common among Bhutanese refugees that resettle within the United States as it is for the general US population. In a sample of fifteen refugees, 46.7% of the sample population had known someone personally that had died as a result of suicide. [19] This sample further reported that the largest factor contributing to suicides among Bhutanese refugees were "postmigration stressors", with other factors playing a part such as "social/familial discord" and "isolation, thwarted belongingness". [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lhotshampa</span> Bhutanese people of Nepalese descent

The Lhotshampa or Lhotsampa people are a heterogeneous Bhutanese people of Nepali descent. The Lhotshampa were estimated to comprise around 35% of the Bhutan's population by the U.S. Department of State as of 2008. The Lhotshampa are predominantly Hindu and Buddhist too, who speak the Nepali language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhutan</span> Country in South Asia

Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, situated in the Eastern Himalayas between China in the north and India in the south, with the Indian state of Sikkim separating it from neighbouring Nepal. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of 38,394 square kilometres (14,824 sq mi), Bhutan ranks 133rd in land area and 160th in population. Bhutan is a democratic constitutional monarchy with a King as the head of state and a prime minister as the head of government. The Je Khenpo is the head of the state religion, Vajrayana Buddhism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhutanese refugees</span> Lhotshampas, a group of Nepali language speaking Bhutanese people

Bhutanese refugees are Lhotshampas ("southerners"), a group of Nepali language-speaking Bhutanese people. These refugees registered in refugee camps in eastern Nepal during the 1990s as Bhutanese citizens who fled or were deported from Bhutan during the protest against the Bhutanese government by some of the Lhotshampas demanding human rights and democracy in Bhutan. As Nepal and Bhutan have yet to implement an agreement on repatriation, most Bhutanese refugees have since resettled in North America, Oceania and Europe under the auspices of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Many Lhotshampa have also migrated to areas of West Bengal and Assam in India independently of the UNHCR.

Immigration to Bhutan has an extensive history and has become one of the country's most contentious social, political, and legal issues. Since the twentieth century, Bhutanese immigration and citizenship laws have been promulgated as acts of the royal government, often by decree of the Druk Gyalpo on advice of the rest of government. Immigration policy and procedure are implemented by the Lhengye Zhungtshog Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs, Department of Immigration. Bhutan's first modern laws regarding immigration and citizenship were the Bhutanese Citizenship Act 1958 and subsequent amendments in 1977. The 1958 Act was superseded by the Bhutanese Citizenship Act 1985, which was then supplemented by a further Immigration Act in 2007. The Constitution of 2008 included some changes in Bhutan's immigration laws, policy, and procedure, however prior law not inconsistent with the 2008 Constitution remained intact. Bhutan's modern citizenship laws and policies reinforce the institution of the Bhutanese monarchy, require familiarity and adherence to Ngalop social norms, and reflect the social impact of the most recent immigrant groups.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hinduism in Bhutan</span>

Hinduism is the second largest religious affiliation in Bhutan, covering about 22.6% of the population, according to the Pew Research Center 2010. It is followed mainly by the ethnic Lhotshampa. The Shaivite, Vaishnavite, Shakta, Ganapathi, Puranic, and Vedic schools are represented among Hindus. Hindu temples exist in southern Bhutan, and Hindus practice their religion in small- to medium-sized groups. About 75% of the population of Bhutan are Buddhist.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhutanese nationality law</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhutan–Nepal relations</span> Bilateral relations

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in Bhutan</span>

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References

  1. ↑ Hutt, M. (1 December 1996). "Ethnic Nationalism, Refugees and Bhutan". Journal of Refugee Studies. 9 (4): 397–420. doi:10.1093/jrs/9.4.397.
  2. ↑ https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/166809?v=pdf
  3. ↑ "Chronology for Lhotshampas in Bhutan". Minorities at Risk Project. 2004.
  4. ↑ "Background and History: Settlement of the Southern Bhutanese". Bhutanese Refugees: The Story of a Forgotten People. Archived from the original on 27 November 2013.
  5. ↑ Aris, Michael (1979). Bhutan: The Early History of a Himalayan Kingdom. Aris & Phillips. p. 344. ISBN   978-0-85668-199-8.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Griffiths, Diane; Loy, Christopher (July 2019). "Primary integration outcomes in a newly resettled Bhutanese refugee community". International Social Work. 62 (4): 1213–1229. doi:10.1177/0020872818775483. S2CID   150086965.
  7. 1 2 Ther, Philipp (2012). "Ethnic Cleansing". In Stone, Dan (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Postwar European History. pp. 141–162. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199560981.013.0007. ISBN   978-0-19-956098-1.
  8. 1 2 3 "Timeline: Bhutan". BBC News online. 5 May 2010. Archived from the original on 28 October 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  9. ↑ "Chronology for Lhotshampas in Bhutan". archive.archive.unhcr. UNHCR. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
  10. ↑ "Dzongkhag Tshogdue". ROYAL GOVERNMENT OF BHUTAN DZONGKHAG ADMINISTRATION, SAMTSE. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
  11. ↑ "UNHCR Archieve" . Retrieved 5 February 2025.
  12. 1 2 Karki, Ram (January 2021). "Democracy and Political Prisoners in Bhutan". The Bhutan Journal. 2 (1). doi:10.55564/tbj21rbk21az. S2CID   247369248.
  13. 1 2 Carrick, Bernice (2008). "The Rights of the Nepali Minority in Bhutan". Asia-Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law. 9 (1): 13–28. doi:10.1163/157181508785822778.
  14. 1 2 "Bhutan (10/08)". U.S. Department of State. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Subba, Tanka B.; Sinha, A. C., eds. (2015). Nepali Diaspora in a Globalised Era (PDF). doi:10.4324/9781315685069. ISBN   978-1-315-68506-9.[ page needed ]
  16. ↑ McGuire, Tanner; Yozwiak, Daniel; Aultman, Julie M. (December 2021). "The Mental Health of Refugees during a Pandemic: The Impact of COVID-19 on Resettled Bhutanese Refugees". Asian Bioethics Review. 13 (4): 375–399. doi:10.1007/s41649-021-00183-1. PMC   8436029 . PMID   34539868.
  17. ↑ Cellini, Amanda (2022). "Annex. Current Refugee Resettlement Program Profiles". Refugee Resettlement. Vol. 38. Berghahn Books. pp. 253–305. doi:10.1515/9781785339455-014. ISBN   978-1-78533-945-5. JSTOR   j.ctvw04brz.16.
  18. ↑ Prior, Michael (2001). "The Right to Expel: The Bible and Ethnic Cleansing". In Aruri, Naseer (ed.). Palestinian Refugees: The Right of Return. Pluto Press. pp. 9–35. doi:10.2307/j.ctt18fs9x9.6. ISBN   978-0-7453-1776-2. JSTOR   j.ctt18fs9x9.6.
  19. ↑ Meyerhoff, Jonah; Iyiewuare, Praise; Mulder, Luna Acharya; Rohan, Kelly J. (September 2021). "A qualitative study of perceptions of risk and protective factors for suicide among Bhutanese refugees". Asian American Journal of Psychology. 12 (3): 204–214. doi:10.1037/aap0000235. PMC   8516114 . PMID   34659648. ProQuest   2578872382.
  20. ↑ Proctor, Munro H. (20 December 1995). "Human Rights Violations Among Bhutanese Refugees". JAMA. 274 (23): 1891–1892. doi:10.1001/jama.1995.03530230075042. PMID   7500541.
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