KATHMANDU, Nepal, April 26 (UNHCR) – The resettlement of refugees from Bhutan reached a major milestone this week, with 100,000 people having been referred for resettlement from Nepal to third countries since the programme began in 2007. Nearly 80,000 of them have started their new lives in eight different countries – an important step towards resolving one of the most protracted refugee situations in Asia.

Description

The Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) was established in May 2000 and provides direct grant assistance to the poorest and most vulnerable groups in developing member countries (DMCs) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) while fostering long-term socioeconomic development. The grants target poverty reduction initiatives with the direct participation of nongovernment organizations, community groups, and civil society.

Following the enforcement of restrictive and discriminatory citizenship laws in Bhutan, over 100,000 refugees from Bhutan fled to Nepal in the early 1990s, where they were recognized on a prima facie basis by the Government of Nepal (GoN). The refugees from Bhutan were originally settled in seven refugee camps in south-eastern Nepal, where the GoN and UNHCR provided them with basic humanitarian assistance and international protection, in cooperation with other national and international partners, including WFP.

Resulting damages have accumulated to over US$25 billion in the past five years alone. To promote engagement in disaster and climate risk management practices, a new report analyses the elements that are driving increases in disaster risk and provides disaster risk management profiles for the countries in the region.

FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT

• Above average aggregate cereal crop gathered in 2012

• Food inflation remains high

• Food insecurity persists in certain districts

A massive fire has been reported at the Bhutanese refugee camp in Beldangi, Jhapa on Tuesday afternoon.

District Police Office, Jhapa said the fire at sector B of the camp has now been contained by fire fighters from Damak, Bhadrapur and Itahari.
At least 100 huts have been reduced to ashes by the blaze, said police.

This is the third large-scale fire in the camp in two months, officials informed. Nepalnews.com

New Delhi, 24 January 2013 – As the camp population decreases and the international resettlement effort continues, JRS celebrates the mass resettlement from Nepal. Six-year-old Yagandra Kami recently became the seventy-fifth thousandth Bhutanese refugee to leave Nepal for a new life with her family.

After experiencing years of cultural conflict and government oppression in Bhutan, the Nepali-speaking families began fleeing to Nepal in the early 1990s, and for many, their dream of a new life is only now beginning to be realised.

OVERVIEW

Six-year-old Yagandra Kami flew to Pennsylvania in the United States on Wednesday, becoming the 75,000th refugee from Bhutan to be resettled from Nepal under a major resettlement programme launched in November 2007.

“Today we celebrate this turning point and look back the long way we have come from number one,” said Maurizio Busatti, Chief of Mission of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Nepal.