Re-examine refugee report: US

July 10, 2003
1 MIN READ
A
A+
A-

Discontented with the Joint Verification Report on Bhutanese refugee, US Ambassador to Nepal Michael E Malinowsky Wednesday stressed the need to re-examine the report’s conclusion.

“I urge Nepal and Bhutan to re-examine the report’s conclusion and review, as well as make more transparent, the empirical basis for categorisation,” Malinowsky said in a statement Wednesday.

“The US government is also concerned about the absence of guarantees provided to Bhutanese refugees returning to their homeland,” he said.

UN envoy called for UNHCR’s greater role in repatriation process, saying, “I strongly believe that UNHCR is uniquely qualified to assist in the verification and repatriation of the refugees.”

“The current conditions of return, we believe, are unlikely to foster sustainable reintegration of the refugees back into Bhutanese society.”

Of 12,183 refugees of Khudunabari camp, the Joint Verification Report identified only 2.4 percent as the genuine Bhutanese. Their repatriation process too has been made complicated, according to experts. nepalnews.com mr July 10