Sep 09, 2005

Tibet: US Proposes Sanctuary for Tibetan Refugees from Nepal


Tibetan refugees from Nepal will be provided sanctuary and resettled in the US under a new programme proposed by the George W. Bush administration and slated to start next year
Untitled Document
Tibetan refugees from Nepal will be provided sanctuary and resettled in the US under a new programme proposed by the George W. Bush administration and slated to start next year.

Bush's Refugee Admissions Programme proposal for fiscal 2006, conveyed to the Congress Aug 30, includes a new programme to resettle "certain Tibetans from Nepal in the US.

If approved, the programme would resettle a section of Tibetans living in Nepal, particularly those who have been in the kingdom for several years and are considered especially vulnerable to deportation to China.

The US decision was made after consultations over a long period with the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the administrative arm of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, based in Dharamsala in India, a statement by International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), an NGO with chapters in the US and Europe, said.

The ICT served as a liaison between the CTA and the US state department and assisted Lodi Gyari, the Dalai Lama's special envoy, during consultations about the Refugee Admissions Programme.

The ICT in a recent survey said it was getting more dangerous for Tibetan refugees to flee to India via Nepal as the Nepal government was intent on improving ties with China and had begun cracking down on the refugees.

"In considering this programme, we were guided by the observation of His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) that, as has been the experience of other people throughout the world, the Tibetan diaspora can also be a resource to sustain cultural and religious traditions," Gyari said.

"In the future, the newly resettled refugees should be capable of a greater contribution to the Tibetan exile communities but, most importantly, to inside Tibet."

Mary Beth Markey, ICT executive director, said: "This programme should help mitigate some problems of Tibetan refugees in Nepal where, at this time, vulnerabilities and needs are most pronounced."

"This would not be an immigrant visa operation, as in 1991, but rather a US Government-funded refugee resettlement effort," the CTA said.

"In the past four decades, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the CTA have been able to provide for the needs of the majority of Tibetan refugees with generous support from India, the US, other governments, and international agencies.

"We would welcome a decision by the US to go ahead with the programme as an expression of its commitment to continuing support for the welfare of Tibetan communities."

According to the CTA, 125,381 Tibetan refugees were living in India, Nepal and Bhutan, as of March 2004, with some 2,500 new arrivals each year from Tibet. Approximately 10,000 Tibetans are living in the west.

Source: New Kerala