Beginning in the early 1990s, members of an ethnic minority population living in southern Bhutan began to flee rising levels of violence and persecution at the hands of the Bhutanese government. Denied their citizenship rights due to religious and cultural differences, the group eventually sought protection in UNHCR-established refugee camps in Nepal. Ultimately, the number of refugees swelled to over 100,000, housed in seven camps in eastern Nepal.
Initially, the international community hoped that the Nepali government integrate the Bhutanese refugees and offer them access to Nepali citizenship. However, Nepal was consumed by political upheaval of its own, including a Maoist rebellion that began in 1995, continued for the next decade, and abolished the monarchy. Political instability and the challenges posed by other refugees already living in Nepal meant that integrating the Bhutanese refugees into Nepal wasn’t a viable option. The Nepali government has entered into repeated talks with the Bhutanese government to negotiate the safe return of the refugees to their homes, all of which failed. In 2006, all parties decided that third-country resettlement was the only option for the Bhutanese refugees to enjoy the protections of citizenship.
Since early 2008, over 80,000 refugees have been resettled to eight countries. The vast majority—more than 66,000–have been resettled to the United States. Currently, as many as 400 refugees leave Nepal each week, bound for a new life in a new country. While resettlement offers excitement and hope for a secure future, it also brings daily changes for all Bhutanese refugees. Those who are departing face the anxiety of leaving behind friends and the comforts of lives they have known for nearly twenty years, heading to a foreign land filled with unfamiliar traditions and unknown challenges. Those who remain, either awaiting the opportunity to resettle or holding onto hope that they will be able to return to Bhutan or stay in Nepal, face the loss of neighbors, companions, and family members. Parents lose children, siblings become separated by continents, and extended families separate.
Each change that is experienced on a personal level has a large impact at the camp level. Schools lose teachers, principals, and counselors. Camp committees lose leaders. Entire camps close, as dwindling numbers allow for consolidation. That ensures more reliable aid delivery, but it also dismantles communities. Of the original seven camps, only two remain: Beldangi and Sanischare.
Bhutanese refugees have been resettled all over the United States. They receive basic employment and educational support from federally funded programs. Many refugees look forward to resettlement so that they can be reunited with family members. Others focus on an education or the prospect of a new career, tempering their hopes with the knowledge that the education and skills they developed in the camps might not enable them to immediately achieve their goals. Other refugees resettle because they realize that they have no other choice, and they risk being completely alone and separated from their loved ones if they do not go. Still others want to discover new things and to experience life in a country with a developed economy and a stable political system.
Several international aid organizations help to manage and organize the camps in Nepal. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, and the World Food Programme are the largest. The World Food Programme distributes rations every two weeks to households in allotments that allow each person to have 2,100 calories per day, mostly from beans, rice, and vitamin supplements, not fruits or vegetables. Remittances and work in Nepal’s informal economy are therefore important revenue streams, providing the means with which families can supplement rations and purchase clothing, personal items, and materials for their homes.
Life in the camps can be very difficult. Hard work is mixed with extreme idleness. Refugees must build and repair their own huts and transport heavy loads on their backs. Skilled workers can spend hours sewing or practicing metalwork or carpentry. The camps offer little in the way of recreation, and there are no opportunities for legal paid employment in Nepal. For a community that strongly values an active lifestyle and hard work, there’s little chance to put those values to productive use.
Nepalis have had mixed reactions to Bhutanese refugees in their midst. The camps have also been blamed for deforestation in eastern Nepal. The cheap labor provided by the refugees has both increased competition for the extremely limited number of available jobs and stimulated the economy. Many Nepalis who reside in the towns closest to the camps have developed relationships with the refugees, with some marriages taking place. They value the connections they have made with the refugees, and regret their departure and the prospect of the economic and social changes brought by the closing of the camps.
Bhutanese refugees have suffered from the injustices they faced in Bhutan and their expulsion from the country. More suffering continued in the camps and continues through resettlement. However, their improvement has come in the camps and through resettlement. The refugee life stories we’ll present in our essays speak to some of the sadness, joy, hope and friendship we witnessed while in the camps.
