Refugees from Bhutan, who have been resettled in different countries have initiated a campaign for their return to their native land.

Around 58,000 refugees from Bhutan have been already resettled in eight countries: the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and the United Kingdom, so far since the third country resettlement programme began in November 2007. Those resettled refugees, however, have revived a campaign for their repatriation. “Initially, they were tempted to get resettled,” said Tek Nath Rijal, leader of Bhutan’s People Party, who has been pressing for the repatriation of the refugess for long. “Gradually, they started facing trouble and now they want to revive the campaign for repatriation.”

According to sources, resettled refugees in the US, the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia have already formed their respective committees for the cause. “We see no certainty here. This is just a temporary solution. We want to be repatriated to our own country,” a Bhutanese resettled in the US wrote to this daily in an email. He said that he was a member of a US committee for repatriation campaign but chose to be anonymous until a formal announcement to this effect was made.

Published on: 14 August 2011 | The Himalayan Times