REFUGEE VOICES OF SHANGRI-LA.

A Dutch citizen, who spent 27 years working and researching in Bhutan, eventually blacklisted and cannot visit it again.  She still couldn't believe why she is blacklisted, but someone told her that she criticized a royal family member while in Bhutan. In this episode of "the refugee voices of Shangri-La," she shares her experiences working in Bhutan's remotest places, cut off from the outside world, and a deep feeling of love lost sense. 

She expressed her excitement to do research in Bhutan when she got a letter from her professor. She thought ‘This is the ideal place!’ for her, and accepted without our second thought. She made 12 hours hike from the road to go reach her destination. She writes, "The village was still set in middle ages, there was nothing from the 20th century. In that village, I learned what it means to live a truly sustainable life because the people were 100% dependent on nature."

Later, her dream and excitement took a u-turn and crashed. 

"My detention continued at Damphu High School and so did the ill treatment and torture by the Royal Bhutan Army personnel. I was handcuffed all the time and confined in a foul smelling room, as I was required to pass urine and stool in a tiny tin pot kept in my room. I was provided with food which was adulterated with sand and pebbles, and even the droppings of mice. The army guards on duty used to have fun by bringing other inmates to my room and forcing us to fight, head butting like bulls. We were threatened and forced to bull fight with greater intensity, and the guards would burst into laughter seeing us in such action. We were regularly forced to wrestle and beat one another very hard with bamboo sticks. If someone was found to hit the fellow inmates lightly, the army would mercilessly beat that person, demonstrating how to hit hard. My cousin Harka and I were also made to carry the tin pot, filled with our own urine and faeces, on our backs and carry another inmate on top of that and crawl around the room."

For more detailed torture survivors, please visit this site: http://bhummatss.org/

HRW reports that in 2005 the nationwide census classified 13 percent of Bhutan residents as "non-nationals" (May 2007, 27). A thematic report on Bhutan from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) corroborates this information and adds that about 82,000 people, many believed to be Lhotshampas, have been unable to acquire citizenship cards since the 2005 census (NRC 25 Jan. 2008, 15). The NRC report indicates that only people classified as F1 (Genuine Bhutanese citizens) or F4 (non-national women married to Bhutanese men, and their children) are able to obtain citizenship cards (ibid.). The United States (US) Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007 states that Ethnic-Nepalese Bhutanese must meet very strict criteria to be considered "genuine" Bhutanese and obtain citizenship and security clearances in the form of No Objection Certificates (NOCs); without citizenship they are stateless …. (US 11 Mar. 2008, Sec.2d)

"In the 1990s, people in Nepal like Gurung, with certain ethnic backgrounds, were pushed out of the country through a severe campaign to retain Bhutanese national identity. Around 108,000 people moved through India to Nepal, where camps were eventually established. In 2007, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, started accepting applications for moves to third countries. After almost a decade of the resettlement program, more than 105,000 Bhutanese refugees have moved abroad. The vast majority have started new lives in the United States." 

Danielle Preiss

https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-12-28/bhutanese-refugee-camps-nepal-wind-down-resettlement-program-considered-success

Robin Gurung, left Bhutan when his grandfather was found unconscious in the street. Robin told that his grandfather was thrown out of Bhutanese prison after inhumane torture thinking he is dead. Fortunately, he was found alive by his family, but could not save his life while in the refugee camp in Nepal. Robin has faint memories of his grandfather and his motherland, Bhutan. Now, he is a frontline advocate for community healing through dialogue, and says, "eventually, reconciliation comes itself."

Subash left Bhutan when he was twelve years old. He lived in refugee camps in Nepal for about two decades. He left his immediate family members back in Bhutan, and ever since, he has not met them. It is because the Bhutan government would not allow him even though Bhutan is peace now. Thousands of Bhutanese are currently living in the United States, who are looking to reunite with their families. Bhutanese refugees waited in refugee camps for decades for their rightful return to their homeland. And now, after resettlement, they are looking to meet their family members separated about thirty years ago.

Mr. Karki worked hard to support the expelled fellow Bhutanese in India and initiated the opening of the Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal. He organized a food drive for them, and now raising voice to release the Bhutanese political prisoners. He hopes that one day he will be able to visit his birthplace