Minister for Foreign Affairs Narendra Bikram Shah left for Thimpu, capital of Bhutan today to hold talks on South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and bilateral issues between Nepal and Bhutan. Minister Shah will hold talks on the Bhutanese refugees issue with the Bhutanese officials during the visit, Foreign Ministry said.

Meanwhile a high-level United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) team is in Nepal to look into complaints of sexual abuse and violence against women and children in the refugee camps in eastern Nepal. It is a follow up visit after the probe carried out into the complaints of sexual abuse of refugee women and children in November last year.

It was found during the probe that 16 out of the 18 cases of sexual abuse recorded from June 2001 to June 2002 were carried out by Bhutanese refugee themselves affiliated to different NGOs, while a staff and a police were involved in the other two cases.

The three member UNHCR team currently visiting the Bhutanese refugee camps is led by Inspector General of UNHCR Dennis Mc Namara, Vincent Cochetel, head of the investigation team and member Diane Goodman.

Inspector General Mc Namara could not make it to the refugee camps Thursday after his flight was canceled due to bad weather. He returned to Geneva the same day. The other two members of the UNHCR team will be visiting the refugee camps very soon.