UN asks Nepal to resettle Bhutanese refugees

Judy Cheng Hopkins, assistant high commissioner of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, said Nepal should look beyond repatriating the refugees and think about letting them stay permanently or move to other countries.

"The government of Nepal has given top priority to repatriation as the primary solution. It should be flexible and look at other options including third country resettlement and local integration," she told a press conference Saturday.

Hopkins visited refugee camps in eastern Nepal during a two-day visit and met UN and government officials to discuss the fate of the ethnic Nepalese evicted from Bhutan in the early 1990s and stripped of citizenship.

Hopkins expressed concern over the growing "radicalisation" and "militarisation" in the camps, which could threaten security and "hamper the repatriation and resettlement process."

But she said the government's decision to let 16 refugees settle abroad was a promising start.

She added the interim administration, which came to power after street protests ended the king's direct rule, had given the UNHCR permission to carry out a census in the camps.

Talks between the Nepal and Bhutan on the status of the refugees have stalled, angering the refugees many of whom lost property in the evictions.

Bhutan, a reclusive Himalayan kingdom of around 635,000 people, says many of the ethnic Nepalese were recent immigrants and therefore not eligible for citizenship.

However, human rights groups have accused Bhutan of discrimination and forcible eviction without recourse to appeal.