KATHMANDU: A total of 78,000 Bhutanese refugees have moved to the West from camps in Nepal where they have been living for two decades after being forced out of their homeland, the UN said Friday.
The refugees have been offered new lives in the United States and other nations following the failure of years of negotiations to secure their return to Bhutan, which says they were illegal immigrants.
Another 30,000 refugees remain in the camps. All are ethnic Nepalese who fled across the border in the early 1990s, claiming persecution after Bhutan made national dress compulsory and banned the Nepalese language.
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said in a press statement on Friday that 100,000 have submitted applications for the resettlement so far.
"Making 100,000 submissions and reaching nearly 80,000 departures are incredible achievements in the history of this refugee programme and for UNHCR," said Diane Goodman, the acting representative of the UNHCR in Nepal.
The programme began in 2007 following the failure of years of high-level negotiations to secure their return to Bhutan.
Some 66,000 refugees have left for the United States, while Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain have also taken thousands.
The UNHCR said the total number of refugees to be resettled in the West is expected to reach 100,000 by the end of 2014.
"We spent more than 20 years in the camp but Bhutan didn't show any interest on repatriation. So, I think resettlement is the best option," Sher Bahadur Khadka, 30, who is leaving for the US next week with his wife, told reporters on Friday.
"My wife and I will try to get jobs there. I would also like to study. I hope to manage time both for my work and education."
Refugee leaders have expressed fears that with so many people leaving the Nepal camps, pressure on Bhutan to allow the rest home will evaporate.
However, Goodman said UNHCR representative held talks with the Bhutanese government officials last year about the repatriation and would continue to put pressure to allow the rest to return home. (AFP)
