Bhutanese refugees in Nepal: 'We want to return home'

Dhanmaya Muktangtamang is among the thousands of Nepali-speaking Bhutanese citizens forced to flee the Himalayan nation of Bhutan in the 1990s under its "one nation, one people" policy.

The policy was Introduced after a 1988 census revealed a Nepalese majority in Bhutan's southern districts. It expelled those unable to prove citizenship, banned the Nepali language, and jailed protesters.

Refugees sought shelter in Nepal, where the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) established seven temporary camps.

Muktangtamang, 70, fled southern Bhutan's Sarpang district with a "thuncha" basket of clothes and documents. She recalled her journey through dense forests and across a wide river. 

"If I had died while crossing that river, it would have been better. There would not have been so much suffering," she said, tearing up.

Between 1991 and 1992, more than 100,000 people like Muktantamang undertook the perilous journey across India to Nepal, where they thought they would be accepted because of their common language.

While most of them have now been resettled in third countries, over 6,000 people still live in camps in Nepal.

Struggling for stability

A short walk from Muktangtamang's hut, Padam Lal Pokharel and his wife care for their two daughters, aged 17 and 29, who have special needs.

Pokharel, 69, said his family lost their citizenship because of their ethnicity. They arrived at the Beldangi II camp in 2012 after failing to find refuge in northeastern India.

"It's hard in the camps. My daughters are disabled, and it is hard to get proper medical care for them," he said, showing his documents from Bhutan.

While the government in Nepal has provided some allowances to treat their daughters, they are not Nepalese citizens, and their expired refugee cards have not been renewed, making it difficult to access proper health care. 

"My only demand to the Nepalese government is to help us return to our country, Bhutan, and live there. That way, I can work and earn more money and also help my daughters," he said. 

The couple also have a son who works at a construction site in Nepal and another daughter who has been resettled in the United States with the help of the United Nations.

Stuck in limbo

Nepal's laws complicate citizenship for children of non-Nepali fathers. Young people in the camp who want to migrate for education or work cannot do so easily due to their lack of identification documents.

"All I have is a birth certificate which says I was born in a refugee camp in Nepal," said 17-year-old Anisha Rai, who wants to move abroad to continue her education and become a teacher.

"My father is a Bhutanese refugee, and my mother is Nepali. This has made it hard for me to acquire citizenship in Nepal, and I can't go back to Bhutan," she told DW.

While people earn a little money farming in nearby fields or selling food within the camps, a lot of financial support to the camps comes from Bhutanese people who have been resettled abroad. They ensure that the camp, which is under the control of the Nepalese government, has the basic amenities needed for the people.

"Right now, we don't want to go back to Bhutan. I'm angry with the country. Our fight now is to get our legal identification documents in Nepal," Rai said.

Nepal's government is currently responsible for issuing birth certificates and refugee identification cards and running refugee camps in the country's east.

"Renewing the Bhutanese refugee ID card has been slow since we are taking time to verify all documents after [a] recent refugee scam in the country," Dil Kumar Tamang, undersecretary at Nepal's Home Ministry, told DW.

Stalemate on repatriation

Neither Nepal nor Bhutan are signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol and lack formal refugee policies. The last high-level ministerial talks between Nepal and Bhutan regarding refugee repatriation happened in 2003, but they failed to provide a solution, reported Human Rights Watch.

Tamang added that the Nepal government also held "no formal talks" with Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who visited the country on December 6, since his visit was "unofficial."

Krishna Bir Tamag, coordinator of the National Reconciliation Committee (NRC) Bhutan, told DW that the king knows they are Bhutanese citizens.

"He knows we have always been loyal and dedicated to our country and protected Bhutan's borders. Yet our community is being victimized by the kingdom's discriminatory policies for no fault of our own," he said, dressed in traditional attire at a tea shop in the camp.

"All we want is for the king to grant us amnesty so that we can return to our country and the Nepalese government can play a role in facilitating these talks."

Bhutan's government did not respond to DW's request for comment.

In 2023, Nepal announced plans to resume talks with Bhutan on refugee repatriation, marking the first such initiative in nearly two decades. But no significant progress has been reported since then.

Ongoing struggles

Between 2007 and 2016, the UNHCR facilitated the resettlement of over 113,500 Bhutanese refugees from camps in eastern Nepal to eight countries, including the United States and Australia.

"With the successful departure of refugees who expressed interest in resettlement, the resettlement program concluded in 2016. Other Bhutanese refugees choose to remain, with the hope of returning to Bhutan or living in Nepal," the agency told DW in an email statement.

The UNHCR added that it continues to work with the government of Nepal for "the inclusion of the remaining Bhutanese refugees into public services such as healthcare and education while promoting their self-reliance through livelihood initiatives." 

Ram Karki, the coordinator of the global campaign for the release of political prisoners in Bhutan, stressed that international pressure on Bhutanese authorities is essential for addressing the plight of those displaced.

"Bhutan's king is afraid that many people are migrating abroad for work, and he has said he wants to establish a program to attract manpower back to Bhutan," Karki noted.

"But at the same time, he has evicted around one-sixth of this population because of their ethnicity. These people want to go back and contribute to the country."

"Those of us who have been resettled are also working in good jobs and can send remittances back to our country, improving Bhutan's economic prospects. But Bhutan has stripped us of our rights and won't even let us visit as tourists," he said. 

Edited by: Keith Walker