Nepal
After a long wait, the Government of Nepal has finally decided to issue exit permit for “urban refugees”, other than Tibetan and Bhutanese, to resettle in various western countries.
Prior to this development, Nepal was issuing exit permits to just Bhutanese and Tibetan refugees. Some 60,000 Bhutanese in exile have already resettled in different eight countries in the west after getting such documents.
Senior government officials said the Minister of Home Affairs has sought the consent of the finance ministry to waive visa fees and penalty slapped on urban refugees, who have already received acceptance letters from host countries for resettlement, reports the Republica daily from Kathmandu, Monday.
“We have decided to allow their resettlement as prolonging their stay in Nepal would only complicate matters,” said the Ministry’s Spokesperson for Shankar Koirala. View full article »
बाल्यकालदेखि नै बाँसुरी बजाउन शुरू गरेका आस्मान राई खुदुनावारी शिविरका प्रायजसो भूटानीका लागि परिचित नाम हो । अझ, धेरैले यी बाँसुरीका हस्तीलाई ‘बुबु’ भनेर सम्बोधन गर्दछन् । “राई भाषामा बुबु भनेको दाई हो, यो मेरो उपनाम हैन । त्यसकारण मलाई जे भने पनि हुन्छ,” मुसुमुसु हाँस्तै उनी भन्दछन् । कति वर्षदेखि उनले बाँसुरी बजाउन थालेको हो भन्ने उनलाई ठ्याक्कै थाहाँ छैन तर पनि करिब २५ वर्ष जति वितेको उनको तर्क छ ।
Initially, both the government and UNHCR were convinced that the registration process would grant refugee status to all asylum seekers from Bhutan, including Indian and Nepali women married to refugees in camps. But, it was not to be. Some individuals, who missed the official counting intentionally or otherwise, are now struggling to get their status recognised by the government. These include new arrivals from Bhutan, who were expelled recently from the country or released from jails. Now, they have come to the refugee camps to join their family members and friends. The local authority even claims that the ongoing resettlement process has lured some of them and this is why they left the country or married their loved ones from Nepal and India. It might be true that people can be attracted towards resettling in developed countries through marriage chains, but to dare to leave the country to become a refugee for this is unconvincing. It is the right of all asylum seekers to get their status defined so that they don’t remain stateless, and even qualify for any solution of the refugee issue, including third country resettlement and dignified repatriation to the homeland. 
Acting Chief District Office of Jhapa, Yogendra Dulal, and Durga Devi Bista signed the agreement paper where representatives from various agencies, rights defenders, the camp management committee of Beldangi and journalists were present as witness.
First marked in 1981, the campaign aims to create public awareness to prevent violence against women.
Issuing a press statement on Saturday, HUROB Chairperson S.B.Subba requested the Government of Nepal and UNHCR to consider the case and meet their demands at least on humanitarian ground once for all.
Those under medical supervision included Indira Bhattarai (25), Chandra Maya Khadka (37), Indra Kala Bhandari (25) and Radhikar Poudel (22), informed an AMDA representative.
The group announced that Durga Devi Bista is leading the particular woman advocacy group from among those who are without “refugee status” was formed last week.
According to Ram Gurung, Bhutani Kirati Samudaya organized pooja and homadi in Milam Park in morning of last Sunday. On that particular occasion, 3 priests named Sarbasshree Dil Khaling, Prakash Rai and Buddha Bir Subba were chief and responsible for that pooja and Homadi.
