Three representatives of 100,000 Bhutanese refugees living in camps in Jhapa and Morang met representatives of Bhutanese donor countries  in Kathmandu Friday and asked them to press the Buddhist kingdom to protect and promote human rights, the refugees said.

Kamala Khadka, Tanka Nath Acharya and Ratan Gazmere met Kathmandu-based diplomats from Denmark and Japanese and handed over petitions signed by 1,933 Bhutanese refugees asking donors meeting in Europe next month ” to discuss the Bhutanese refugee problem and the lack of any progress in bilateral negotiations in detail,” the refugees said in a statement.

“The representatives  believed in the early resolution of the Bhutanese refugee problem,” the trio said after the meeting. The petitions were signed by refugees at the Khundunabari camp in Jhapa where representatives of Bhutan and Nepal last year for the first time verified the status of the displaced persons in the camp.

The refugees in the camp are on an indefinite relay fast asking for the early repatriation of the refugees, the publication of the joint report and identification of refugees in six other camps. “The delegation asked all donors participating in the forthcoming Geneva meeting to attach strong human rights conditionality in their aid partnership with Bhutan, particularly the repatriation of verified Bhutanese refugees without further delay,” a statement said.

The issue has been unresolved for 12 years. Foreign Minister Narendra Bikram Shah is in Bhutan trying to negotiate a breakthrough in the impasse.

Shah’s Bhutan trip is his first foreign outing after assuming office October last year.