Role of UNHCR after verification

By D N S Dhakal

What next? That is the obvious question in the minds of Bhutanese refugees and seasoned Bhutan observers. About 12,500 Bhutanese refugees, who were verified in 153 days, await anxiously the pronouncement of the Joint Verification Team, which is unlikely to come unless the Joint Ministerial Committee sorts out the differences on the issue of categorisation. Nepal rightly insists that whether Bhutanese refugees left Bhutan under security threat, signed the so-called voluntary migration form (VMF), or have criminal records— they are Bhutanese, and the concern of the Bhutan government. A concession HMG Nepal wants to make is to allow non-Bhutanese people to assimilate in the Kingdom irrespective of where they came from.

This is not what Bhutan wants to achieve out of this bitterly contested issue of over one decade. Genuine Bhutanese refugees who have experience of working with their counterparts in Thimphu are yet understand why in the first place the Royal Government created the refugee problem, and after having created one, why a fuss over their identity when everybody, including the King, knows in detail who is and who is not a Bhutanese in the camps. We all agreed then, and we are for it now, that we should discourage outside marriages and stop illegal immigration, if any. Then, unless the Royal Government has a design to denationalise a large chunk of its citizens, notably those who were compelled to sign the VMF, why insist upon the categorisation. For those of us in the movement fairness and justice are important considerations. However, we may not be able to do anything if the two countries decide against our wishes. After all about 10 million people were made to cross the newly created international boundary at the time of India’s independence; the German nation was divided into two sovereign countries until the demise of the Soviet Union, and the Korean people still are waging a struggle to achieve family reunions. When nations talk, they talk about national interests; individual’s rights, even those of a community, take backseat in the decision-making progress. This is not new; examples are everywhere. We appeal to HMG Nepal and the International community, that justice be dispensed to those deserving it.

Be that as it may. Nepal should not act unilaterally in dealing with Bhutan. The UNHCR should play a proactive role in finding a lasting solution to the refugee problem. Paragraph 1 of the Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (General Assembly Resolution 428 (V) of 14 December 1950) formally mandates the High Commissioner to provide international protection to refugees falling within his/her mandate, and to seek durable solutions to their problems. In addition, in the Preamble of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the High Contracting Parties make explicit that UNHCR is one UN organ that could participate in the promotion and monitoring of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In fact, refugees are always victims of human rights violation; protection of human rights is the cornerstone of the UN’s political philosophy.

The Bhutanese refugees are victims of human rights violation. They participated in the protest rallies of 1990 when they were denied the right to practice their own language, culture and tradition, besides the citizenship right of spouses and children, particularly spouses of foreign origin. The participation provoked the anger of the security forces who perpetrated rape, plunder and forcible expulsion. Of those who fled, the overwhelming majority sought shelter in Nepal. In the process Nepal involved UNHCR in providing protection and humanitarian assistance. As of now 100 million plus US dollars are spent for the up-keep of the seven UNHCR camps, including through WFP food assistance. This is not a small investment. A return that the international donors must expect from this investment is that the charity they dole out creates a long-term positive impact in the lives of victims whether they are repatriated or rehabilitated elsewhere. UNHCR is the competent authority to take the lead role, and it is one of the important torchbearers of the UN General Assembly’s philosophy.

The donor countries had expressed this sentiment during the 7th Round Table Meeting (RTM) held in November 2000 in Thimphu. Madame Watanabe, Assistance UN Secretary General and the RTM Co-Chairperson, had pointed out that ‘a humanitarian approach is central to the work of the UN system in Bhutan, and this is embodied in the basic document which comprise the UN Charter and the Covenant of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’. Further she emphasised that ‘UNDP stands to assist the Royal Government, if and when requested, to prepare for the reintegration of the refugees from Nepal’. Bhutan’s important bilateral development partner, Denmark, was more explicit when its representative said ‘There is a growing perception among Bhutanese of Nepalese descent--so-called Lhotsampas--that they are treated as second-class citizens. It is important that the National Assembly and the government eliminate discriminatory laws and practices so that all permanent residents of Bhutan can be fully integrated into Bhutanese society’. Japanese Ambassador, Hiroshi Hirabayashi, had said, ‘Japan sincerely hopes that agreement be reached between Bhutan and Nepal in cooperation with UNHCR for a fair and equitable solution of the refugee problem bearing in mind the political, economic and social implication in Bhutan’. Except for the representative of the Indian government, all participants from abroad, including that of UNICEF and other funding agencies, expressed their concerns at the plight of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.

Therefore, for all practical purpose, the Bhutanese refugee issue is already internationalised, and the international community is sympathetic towards their plight. The flow of money has not been too tight, and the camps in Jhapa are considered some of the well-organise camps in UNHCR’s history. The refugees have made the best use of the opportunity available in adversity: be it in schools, informal education, skill development or in health awareness. The cost effectiveness of every dollar spent in the Bhutanese refugee camps is not inferior to investment in the social sectors of many developing countries, if not better. The international community has appreciated this, and the visiting US dignitary this year stated to the refugees in the camps ‘the State Department knows about them and their good conduct’.

After having spent a decade in an unconventional setting an ordinary refugee hopes to lead a normal life to raise his/her family. The international community must support the involvement of UNHCR at all levels, starting from strict implementation of the principle of non-refoulement to receiving the refugees at the border in Bhutan, to finding a durable solution for those who will not qualify to return. As the mandated organ of the UN General Assembly, UNHCR is better placed to monitor the reintegration process of the returnees in Bhutan, including their human rights rehabilitation. UNHCR is not an agency of international diplomacy. In 1990, Paul Mathew, UNDP Resident Representative at Thimphu, was unceremoniously transferred because of his explicit concern at the highhanded policy of the Royal Government towards Nepali Bhutanese. Therefore, unless there is concurrence of opinion among the international community and HMG Nepal on how to handle the post repatriation scenario in Bhutan, the returnees may face yet another ordeal, possibly becoming refugees for the second time.

These are Kollywood blockbusters

By Ranjan Rijal

One of the most significant things I found missing in the posters of the Kollywood movies is the rating of movies. When we see Indian movies, we find ratings like ‘U’, ‘UA’, ‘A’ etc. Similarly in Hollywood movies there are age bar such as - not suitable for age under 15, 12 or Parental Guidance (PG) etc. But we can see neither any age bar nor rating of the Nepalese motion movies.

It is only the casting, now let’s move into the full story.

Saturday is the day most working Nepalese wait for. It is simply the day we enjoy with our family along with masu, bhat, tass and, of course, sometimes for some people a romantic date. Nevertheless, I too had some plans--I along with my cousin’s family decided to hit the road to watch a new movie at a theatre.

When I reached the theatre with much haste, I found that it was Saturday not only for me but also for all, as there was hardly a leeway to put my foot. Then, the only option left for us was to compromise to watch the movie by spending my hard earnings for the black tickets. There was still some time left for the movie to start so we started to glance at the posters inside the hall. Some posters depicted dance, fight, name of director, producer, actor, actress, to name a few.

In the meantime, I started to have some discussion about making of a Nepali feature film with my cousin. He was lamenting that we all were compelled to watch these carbon copy Hindi movies. We were born either too early or too late to see typical Nepali movies. But I didn’t agree with him, my only point was that our film industry tried enough to make pure Nepalese movies but they were never commercially successful forcing our film producers to make the copy movies. Besides that what is there in Nepalese Motion Film? We hardly see any fictional movies and none of the animation movies. Only thing we find is the same story with the change in artistes who attempt to imitate real life.

Bringing an end to our curiosity, after a long and tiresome tarrying, the movie finally started. With no change in our thought, imitation of real life. There were fight scenes, gunfire exchange, theft, robbery, drugs scandal, rape scene, fight between the protagonist and the antagonist, and of course climax and blah blah... Only difference is that we see those scene under one roof for certain hours and in real life we see it in a difference of time.

At last, the antagonist died forcing the movie to end. We headed for our home. The same evening when I went in the courtyard to call the children of my cousin for evening meal, I saw them imitating the movie they saw few hours earlier.

They were imitating a fight scene creating filmi sound like dhishum dhishum. In that very movie there were plenty of fight scenes to entertain kids, rape and kissing scenes to entertain loafers, songs to entertain music lovers, dialogue to entertain intellectual people etc.

I feared children learned something from rape scenes too. It doesn’t mean that children should keep away from sex education but that doesn’t mean they should be informed in that way. When I tried to learn something from them I found they didn’t know anything about those porno scenes. They thought it was a fight between male and female like usual fight between a hero and villains.

At last, I came to know that as stated above neither rating nor age bar is needed in Nepalese Films. Every thing shown on the movie reflects real life and we don’t have habit of keeping the age bar in real life, we can do anything we desire: five-year-old kid can smoke, 10-year-old kid can buy alcohol. I should stop my story because issues are uncountable.

Time out

By Jug Suraiya

The Swadeshi Jagran Bunch held a rally in Dilli today to protest against the new year which they said was a deep-rooted conspiracy which involved not just one foreign hand but no less than three foreign hands: namely, the hour hand, the minute hand and the second hand of clocks and watches. This column brings you live footage of the rally, addressed by that fiery spokesperson of the Bunch — Agni Pootribhoomi.

Agni: Bhaiyo and beheno, brothers and sisters, bal and bache, infants and kids, today I come here to urge all of you to boycott the new year. Why to boycott the new year? you will ask. The answer is simple: Because the new year, like the old year, is nothing but a gigantic hoax perpetrated on us by Time. Do you know what Time is? (Unseen hand throws copy of Time magazine on dais). No, no! I don’t mean this disgusting videshi magazine. I mean an even more disgusting videshi instrument of oppression that is also called Time.

Has anyone ever seen Time? Or heard it, or smelt it, or touched it or tasted it? Is time accessible to any of our five senses, or even our sixth sense? No. Certainly not. Yet Time rules every moment of our lives, like the danda of a videshi policewalla. And that is exactly what Time is: an anti-people element totally foreign to our glorious parampara, our own tradition. Time is an oppressive legacy left behind by those wicked westerners who ruled us for so many years once, and still scheme to rule us once again in future — whatever horrible timely foreign invention that is.

Just think of it. Before those wicked westerners came to rule us, did our trains and planes never operate on time as is always the case now? Certainly not! Our trains and planes were never not on time because not only did we not have planes and trains we also didn’t have time on which they could operate on. Same to same with appointments. People were never late for appointments, because not only were there no appointments for people to have with each other but also because there was no late as opposed to early to compare it with. People just did what they liked, when they liked. Whatever ‘when’ meant.

People got born when they liked, and lived as long as they liked, and died when they liked. Everyone was happy. And as a bonus point no one had to do history exams, ever, because apart from planes, trains and appointments there was also no history.

It was too good to last. Along came those wicked westerners and foisted Time on us. And not any old Time, mind, but their Time, specially designed to suit them and make them seem punctual and progressive while we seemed perpetually late and backward. How did they do that? Very simple. By making a Time such that when it was today in the west, it was already tomorrow here. Yes, we were condemned always to live in tomorrow.

That is why today — I mean, tomorrow — our planes, trains and appointments meant for today — I mean tomorrow — always turn up tomorrow — I mean, day after tomorrow. If you see what I mean, which I don’t.

Anyway, finally after a long, long time (that horrible word again!) we threw out the wicked foreigners. But by then the damage had already been done. Time was here to stay, and keep us in a perpetual state of doing tomorrow what we should have done today. That is why we as a nation are 150 years behind everyone else. And also why our beloved netas live to such a ripe old age, because instead of dying today they always put it off till tomorrow.

But now the time (ugh!) has come to break the shackles of Time! And what better way to get rid of Time but to get rid of it wholesale! And the Swadeshi Jagran Bunch proposes to do this by banning the import into this country of the new year! Send Time packing back to the future! Throw away your watches, smash your clocks, burn your calendars. Shirkers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your attendance registers!

(Waits for applause which doesn’t come)

What? No applause? But how can there be when there is no one at this rally and hasn’t been since we started. Not one single bhai, not one single behen, not one bal, not one bache. Naturally not. Because when you heard the rally was today, you all naturally decided to turn up tomorrow.

Thus proving my point. Thank you, absent bhaiyo and beheno, bal and bache. I look forward to not seeing you again tomorrow. When you will be here and I will be somewhere and somewhen else.