Denmark has played an active role in negotiating long-term durable solutions for more than 100,000 refugees from Bhutan living in refugee camps in Nepal for nearly 20 years.
In the late 1980s, the Government of Bhutan began enacting increasingly strict laws in response to concern over the number of ethnic-Nepalese or Lhotsampas and their potential influence on traditional Bhutanese culture. Government efforts to impose a single national culture and language and to restrict citizenship led to a rise in tensions, violence and even imprisonment of Lhotsampas. Many Bhutanese of Nepalese origin lost their citizenship resulting in the mass exodus to Nepal. In 1992, at the request of the Government of Nepal, United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees and World Food Programme began providing humanitarian assistance to the more than 80,000 refugees, who had arrived from Bhutan.
By the mid-2000s, more than 100,000 refugees from Bhutan were living in seven camps in eastern Nepal. As refugees, they are not legally able to work outside of the camps or to own land, making them completely dependent upon considerable humanitarian assistance each year to meet their basic needs for food, shelter, clothing and education.Over the last 20 years, more than 15 round of talks between the Governments of Nepal and Bhutan have been held without achieving a resolution to the refugee issue.
In November 2005 in Geneva, seven countries – Denmark, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and the United States - organized themselves under the Core Working Group (CWG) on Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal in order to encourage a comprehensive solution to the protracted refugee issue.
In 2007, as opportunities for repatriation back to Bhutan became less realistic, the CWG and the Government of Nepal agreed to provide third-country resettlement options for more than 100,000 refugees from Bhutan still residing in Nepal. As the lead member of the CWG in Nepal, Denmark played a critical role brokering Nepal’s acceptance of third-country resettlement options and has spearheaded ongoing efforts to pressure for a more comprehensive solution to the refugee crisis including repatriation and local integration options in Nepal.
As of October 2011, more than 55,000 refugees from Bhutan have been resettled in CWG countries, with the vast majority going to the United States. Denmark has received more than 300 refugees to date, and has committed to accepting up to 150 refugees from Bhutan annually over the next few years.
Denmark’s tenure as the lead of the Nepal CWG ended in 2010, but Denmark will continue to be an active member of the CWG and to support the refugees from Bhutan in Nepal through continued pressure for durable solutions as outlined in the Communique of the Core Working Group of Bhutanse Refugees in Nepal. Along with advocacy, the Danish government provided emergency funds in 2009 and 2011 to WFP to cover a gap in food assistance, ensuring that refugees continued to receive their full food ration.