1.1 Refugee stories from Bhutan

From South Asia Forum for Human Rights

Story 1

"My father was born in Bhutan and his age is 63. Every day the office bearers used to come and threaten me to leave the village. They not only intimidated me, but the Bhutanese army one day suddenly came and burnt all the 27 houses of the village. They accused me of being a Nepali citizen and asked me to hand over our girls and wives to serve them. They demanded that 15- 20 ladies be handed over. In these circumstances we left our village. Our relatives are still there and we have our registered land there."

Story 2

"My husband and I had heard that the armies were coming to confiscate our goods, so we both went to take our valuables to my parents' house. On the way back, we were arrested on the banks of the Thulopinkwa river by about ten army personnel. The soldiers started beating us, asking us if we had gone to see the party people and where the leaders were. They asked us about the campsites of our party people. We said we did not know.?lt;br />
The soldiers tied our hands behind our backs and dragged us along. We were beaten all the time. We were taken to Sarbhang, about 30 km away and kept in a school that had been turned into an army barrack for about a month. I was locked inside a room and my husband was tied to a pillar in the compound. I could see him through the window. He was beaten until he vomited blood. He was also made to sit on the ground and was kicked. He was refused food for one week. Every night two or three soldiers came and raped me. This happened every night for a whole month. I was given food every night at about midnight. If I asked for water, I was beaten with chains that the soldiers used to tie on their guns. When I was released…I stayed for one month until I realised I was pregnant. I was so ashamed that I could not face the other villagers so I left Bhutan in early January 1991. I left my children with my mother in-law in Bhutan. I went to jungle hoping I would die there.

Then I went to Kachugoan in Kokrajhar, Assam where I stayed with some relatives. My sister and a male relative came to Kachugoan by chance and I bumped into them there. They paid for me to come to Maidhar. As a result of rape, I had twins, one of which died and one survived. I do not know if I will see my husband again." (From Amnesty International Report, Dec. 1992)

Story 3

"One day in January 1992, Mr. Uday Bhattrai, a local court official, came to my house accompanied by twelve army personnel, asked me to list my property and ordered me to leave the country within four days. The next day army personnel came and took me to the village headman (Gup). They harassed and threatened me by telling me of the dire consequences I'd have to face if I did not leave the country. They made me wait at the Gup office till mid-night. Two days later, the "Gup" took me to Dungkhag Court at Damphu, Chirang Bhutan, and handed me to the "Thrimpon" (Chief district court official). The "Thrimpon" ordered me to leave the country within four days, saying that it was an order from the King and the Royal Bodyguards. I refused to leave my motherland and told him that I was a bona-fide citizen of Bhutan who had landed property since generations. Moreover, I told him that my son Mr. Narayan Sharma had been arrested by the government and was imprisoned in Chemgang central prison because of his involvement in the human rights movement. When I repeatedly refused to comply with his order to leave the country, he took me to a court room and kept me in solitary confinement for the rest of the day. At dusk, he ordered me to return home in Lamidara which is about 35 kms form Damphu, I went home on foot, reaching there at midnight. After three days, army personal once again came to my home. They threatened me and looted all my movable household belongings. When the complaint of the Civil Administrators' excesses reached Thimphu, a high level delegation led by Home Minister Dago Tshering reached Chirang on January 13, 1992 for investigations. We were informed that we could express our grievances to the visiting minister. Accordingly, I wrote a petition, met the minister and submitted the same. The minister assured me that I could stay in Bhutan. However, as soon as he left for Thimphu, army personnel entered my house and ordered me to leave the country. I steadfastly refused to do so. However, as they continued to threatened me I ultimately told them that if it was the command of the King to evict me from the country and if I were to be penalized for refusing to do so, then I would appeal to the Royal government to release my son from the Thimphu central jail, where he had since been transferred from Chemgang, and was undergoing rigorous imprisonment since a peaceful demonstration in September 1990. The court official told me that my son would be released only on the condition that I leave the country. After a few days, my son was released. The very day that he came home, at mid-night, army personnel came to my house, threatened my family, then threw us out of our home which they proceeded to lock up. At mid-night, I along with the helpless members of my family left my beloved homeland. After a difficult four days trek, we reached the Indian border town, along with my son, my daughter-in-law and my 17 month old grandson. We were joined by other forcibly evicted Bhutanese nationals who helped us reach a refugee camp in Jhapa, eastern Nepal."

Questions:
1. Do you think these Bhutanese stories are typical refugee stories?
2. What other reasons might there be for leaving the country and seek asylum?
3. Do you know refugees in your country (or someone who has fled abroad)? What made them seek asylum?

1.2 Reasons for leaving

According to official definitions a refugee is someone with a well-founded fear of persecution on the basis of his or her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion, who is outside of his or her country of nationality and unable or unwilling to return. Refugees are forced from their countries by war, civil conflict, political strife or gross human rights abuses. Nowadays the biggest masses of refugees are caused by armed conflicts.?lt;br />
Racism is a one of the biggest causes of refugee crisis. Hundreds of thousands of people have left their homes because of racial discrimination or ethnic violence, such as ethnic minority groups in Burma and Tamils in Sri Lanka. Refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and internally displaced persons are the victims of racial discrimination, racist attacks, xenophobia and ethnic intolerance also in the hosting countries. Racism is both a cause and a product of forced displacement, and an obstacle to its solution.?lt;br />
Women just like men are persecuted for political, ethnic or religious reasons. Women may also be persecuted or discriminated because of not being able to fill strict social demands of the society. Persecution may emanate from a government authority or from non-state actors. Sexual violence, such as rape, may constitute persecution. The country deciding on refugee status also makes the decision on whether gender discrimination is accepted as a basis for asylum. The same goes for sexual minorities. Homosexuals may be eligible for refugee status on the basis of persecution because of their membership of a particular social group. This also depends on the hosting government's decision.