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V. Life for Ethnic Nepalis in Bhutan

Ethnic Nepalis who were not evicted and who remain inside Bhutan face persistent discrimination and ongoing threats to their citizenship status. A nationwide census completed in 2005 classifies 13 percent of current Bhutanese permanent residents as “non-nationals.”⁵⁸ While it is not possible to say what groups or individuals have been classified as “non-nationals,” they are widely believed to include many ethnic Nepalis.⁵⁹ Following the census new ID cards are being distributed to all recognized Bhutanese citizens. In interviews with Human Rights Watch, ethnic Nepalis who reside in Bhutan reported that only those people who have been classified as F1 (genuine Bhutanese citizens) and F4 (non-national women married to Bhutanese men, and their children) are given new citizenship cards.⁶⁰ One man said, “Until now, everyone has had a red ID card [the old version of the Bhutanese ID card]. But the new cards are given only to [people who have been classified as] F1 and F4. The others don’t get one.”⁶¹

No Objection Certificates

Following the unrest in southern Bhutan in the early 1990s, the government introduced so-called “No Objection Certificates” (NOCs), issued by the police on the basis of confirmation from the Dzongdag (district administrator) that the person in question is not in any way involved in “anti-national activity.”⁶² NOCs are required for enrollment in higher education, employment with the civil service, to obtain business and trading licenses, for travel documents, for buying and selling land, and for selling some cash crops. Being denied a NOC deprives a person of almost all means of earning a living. All Bhutanese citizens must apply to the police for their NOC on an annual basis. One ethnic Nepali student from Bhutan who had no NOC and who had gone to India to go to college said, “The NOC is crucial. Without a NOC we get no government jobs, no promotions. Even some private sector people ask for the NOC. My parents are really worried that I will not get a job. It is very hard for us to get jobs, particularly white-collar jobs.”⁶³

Drukpas are routinely re-issued with NOCs every year. As one man said, “Drukpas just phone and they [the police] issue their NOC. They have no problems.”⁶⁴ Ethnic Nepalis, on the other hand, experience great difficulties in obtaining NOCs. In particular, if ethnic Nepalis are known to have relatives in the refugee camps in Nepal they are denied NOCs. One man said, “If you have relatives in the camps, then for you there will be no NOC, no other facilities.”⁶⁵ Another man described his predicament as follows: “I am in F4. F4 is nearest to F1. But in practice, since my parents are refugees, I cannot get a NOC. I cannot get government jobs, I have to work privately.”⁶⁶

One measure of the disastrous consequences of not having a NOC is the extraordinary fear on the part of ethnic Nepalis in Bhutan about making contact with their relatives in the refugee camps in Nepal, because they are afraid that any such contacts might disclose to the authorities that they are related to refugees. Many refugees reported that they have had no contact with their relatives who had stayed behind in Bhutan ever since they fled to Nepal in the early 1990s. An ethnic Nepali from Bhutan said, “We are not in touch with anyone from the camps. If we keep in touch with anyone in the camps, we will get into trouble.”⁶⁷ A refugee woman said, “People in Bhutan hide the pictures of their refugee relatives. Parents in Bhutan have no photos of their refugee children in their homes. When the children call their parents in Bhutan, the parents put down the phone because they are afraid.”⁶⁸ Refugees who receive occasional visits from their relatives in Bhutan reported that during these visits their relatives refuse to impart any information about the conditions inside Bhutan for fear that if the information spread in the camps, the Bhutanese authorities might discover the source of the information. Another refugee said, “My brother still lives in Bhutan, he has come to visit me three times in the last 16 years. When he is here he doesn’t talk about the situation in Bhutan, because he fears that the information might get back to Bhutan and then he will be expelled too.”⁶⁹ A refugee teacher said, “When they come here they are afraid to come out of our hut. They are afraid that spies will report back to the government of Bhutan.  Their minds are full of fear.”⁷⁰

Even Drukpas are afraid about having contact with refugees for fear that it might affect their security clearance in Bhutan. A refugee student at a college in Kalimpong, in India, described the mindset of students from Bhutan: “The Bhutanese students, Ngalongs, are scared of us, because the government has said to them that we are terrorists, anti-nationals.”⁷¹ Another refugee student, who had told his fellow students that he was Nepali, said, “Students from Bhutan are afraid of the refugees. That is the mentality created by the Bhutanese government. When I ask them about Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, they are afraid, they say, ‘Please don’t introduce us to them.’”⁷²

In interviews with Human Rights Watch, Drukpa students were extremely reluctant to comment on the situation of the Bhutanese refugees and the reasons behind their eviction. One Drukpa student simply stated that refugees were anti-nationals and were therefore expelled.⁷³ Another Drukpa student said, “We know there was a problem in southern Bhutan. There were refugees. But we don’t know why they left.”⁷⁴

Education

In interviews with Human Rights Watch, ethnic Nepalis who still live in Bhutan explained that, 15 years after the mass eviction of their fellow ethnic Nepalis, they continue to suffer discrimination in almost all aspects of their daily lives in Bhutan, including education, employment, and land ownership. After the unrest in southern Bhutan all schools in the southern districts were closed. Recently a number of schools have reopened, but only in places where Drukpas have been resettled on land formerly owned by refugees. Drukpa students are given priority for the limited number of places available in these schools, leaving many ethnic Nepali children to compete for the few remaining places.⁷⁵ There is no instruction in the Nepali language, even in schools in the southern districts: only Dzongkha and English are taught. Ethnic Nepalis are still expected to wear the traditional Drukpa clothes (gho for men, kira for women) in schools and other public places, as stipulated by the king’s 1989 decree of driglam namzha.⁷⁶

Compulsory labor

Ethnic Nepalis also reported discrimination in the way Bhutan’s system of forced labor is implemented. Bhutan’s citizens are expected to contribute labor to construction projects.⁷⁷ As one man said, “If there is a construction project, everyone has to provide labor. If you can’t, you have to hire someone else, or pay a fine. After the project, a form is issued to say that you have contributed.”⁷⁸ However, he said that these rules were implemented in a discriminatory manner.

Following the expulsion of the refugees in the early 1990s, the government resettled Drukpa people from northern Bhutan on land that was formerly owned by the refugees.⁷⁹ Ethnic Nepalis reported that these Drukpa settlers are exempted from Bhutan’s system of compulsory labor, while ethnic Nepalis in southern Bhutan are forced to work for the settlers to help them build their new homes. An ethnic Nepali who still lives in Bhutan, said:

In southern villages, forced labor still exists. I don’t know about the central areas. Sometimes they ask for one week, or 15 days. If you cannot provide the labor, you can pay compensation to provide other laborers. The Northerners who have been resettled are not asked to provide labor. They are given free housing loans, free timber; they don’t have to pay land tax for ten years. The southern Bhutanese have to provide labor for them: help out with building a house, provide timber, transportation. They don’t receive any compensation; it is commanded from the administration office. If people refuse, they will be fined, they will be called, they will be penalized. No one can refuse in front of them.⁸⁰

Land ownership

Ethnic Nepalis also face many difficulties with respect to land ownership. Buying and selling land requires a NOC. Moreover, government guidelines for a nationwide land survey state that any land that is registered in the name of non-nationals is liable to confiscation by the government.⁸¹ This is a major concern for those people who were denied registration in the 2005 census and who have not been given a new citizenship card. As one man said, “If only one member in a family is F1, all property is registered in his name. When he dies, the property will not be transferred to his family members, but it will be confiscated by the government. It is written in the Land Act.”⁸² Another man stated, “Suppose I am F1 and I marry a foreigner. Our child would be F4 and the child would not inherit my property. The property would go to the Bhutanese government.”⁸³

The land-survey guidelines also authorize the government to confiscate all land that is registered in the names of refugees, whether or not they left the land certificates with their relatives in Bhutan before they exited the country.⁸⁴ Relatives of refugees therefore find themselves in an extremely difficult position. They are likely to be denied NOCs because of their relatives in the refugee camps, which means they have no access to government employment and cannot apply for business and trading licenses. They are thus largely dependant on their family land as their only means of survival, but they risk losing that land too if it was registered in the name of a refugee relative. An ethnic Nepali who lives in Bhutan said:

My land has not been surveyed. When I go to pay [land] tax, they tell me my name is not on the census. If they don’t take the tax, it means that my land has been seized. At any time, the government can acquire it. I have appealed to the district authorities, to the home ministry and even to the king. They say, “Come back later,” and after I have been a number of times they say, “Wait, we will get back to you.” But nothing happens.⁸⁵

This man, who was not included in the 2005 census and therefore has not been given a new citizenship card and has no NOC, went on to say that he did not think the Bhutanese authorities would eventually go so far as to expel him. But, he said, “They don’t ask me to leave, but they make me so miserable, I will be forced to leave. I have no identification, so I cannot do anything, go anywhere, get any job.” Other ethnic Nepalis from Bhutan agreed that while they did not expect the government to undertake a new round of expulsions, many ethnic Nepalis might eventually decide that their lives and livelihoods are so insecure in Bhutan that they are left with no other option but to leave the country. One of them said, “The king has become clever. He does not want the international community to criticize him because he is throwing out his citizens. Instead, he has made it impossible for us to survive in Bhutan, so that we are forced to leave anyway.”⁸⁶ Another stated:

Ethnic Nepalis are not called born Bhutanese, they are called immigrants. There are two categories: legal and illegal. Whoever is not F1, they started to call them illegal immigrants. They are not allowed land registration, are not included in the census. They will be struck off everything. F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7: all except F1. No service will be provided to them, no NOC. They won’t be expelled, but life will be made impossible for them.⁸⁷

Even ethnic Nepalis who possess citizenship cards and NOCs told Human Rights Watch that they feel at constant risk of losing their status. As one man said, “Every year people face the risk of being reclassified. If you’re F1, they can dig something out and then you are put in a different category.”⁸⁸ As a result, there was a strong consensus among ethnic Nepalis in Bhutan that it would be unwise for them to make any attempts to advocate for an end to Bhutan’s discriminatory policies and laws. As a student said, “It is not possible to say that we want human rights for ethnic Nepalis. It is very dangerous to say these things. They will definitely take away your NOC [if you make such demands]. They might even take your citizenship card.”⁸⁹ A teacher stated, “Nepalis in Bhutan are aware that they are deprived of their human rights. But they don’t agitate, because they are afraid of being evicted.”⁹⁰ A third person said, “The people are afraid because they have seen the example of the refugees; if they cry for democracy, they will have the same fate.”⁹¹ There was general agreement that the situation of the ethnic Nepalis was unlikely to improve in the foreseeable future, but they saw no other option than to put up with the situation, because the alternative was even worse:

Everyone is keeping quiet. No one can raise their voice against the government. Everybody knows they are being discriminated against, but they don’t dare to raise their voice, because they think the consequences will be the same as for the people who have already left. So people are trying to make themselves patient, to bear the situation.⁹²

Democratization

In March 2005 the Bhutanese government released a draft constitution. It is expected to be ratified after a referendum, which will pave the way for Bhutan’s transition from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy with a limited form of representative government. Elections are scheduled for 2008, and political parties have been invited to register from July 2007. In a surprise move, the fourth king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, abdicated in favor of crown prince Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck on December 9, 2006.

The draft constitution sets out citizens’ fundamental rights and duties,⁹³ and provides for a transition to a two-party democracy in Bhutan.⁹⁴ In interviews with Human Rights Watch, many ethnic Nepalis in Bhutan and in the refugee camps in Nepal expressed skepticism that the process of democratization would bring real improvements in their situation. For a start, the draft constitution incorporates the discriminatory provisions of the 1985 Citizenship Act,⁹⁵ and provides that Dzongkha is the national language of Bhutan,⁹⁶ and that Buddhism is the “spiritual heritage of Bhutan.”⁹⁷ Ethnic Nepalis observed that only those people who were given new citizenship cards would be able to vote in the 2008 elections. As a refugee student said, “The Bhutan government is presently doing a census. The outcome is that again more Nepalis will be evicted from the country. Only after all that dust has been cleared, then they will give democracy.”⁹⁸

Others were suspicious of the extensive powers retained by the king under the new constitution.⁹⁹ A refugee stated, “The new constitution clearly mentions that the king is the head of the nation, not the prime minister. If that goes through, nothing will change.”¹⁰⁰ An ethnic Nepali who lives in Bhutan said:

As long as there is the royal family, I don’t think there will be any human rights. If they practice exactly according to the draft constitution, it will be good. But I don’t know how far they will follow the draft constitution. They write one thing and do something else. They have to show that book [draft constitution] to the international community.¹⁰¹

A third man observed:

Only those with new ID cards will be able to vote in the elections. Even after the elections, nothing will change, because the remote control will still be in the king’s hand. If the king wanted to give real democracy, he would allow free elections. Then after the elections, the parties would sit together and make a new constitution. But the constitution has already been drawn up and the king controls who is in which party.¹⁰²

Ethnic Nepalis frequently suggested that the process of democratization might be more for show, to impress the international community, than to institute real changes. A refugee said, “It is just done for the international community, to say that a wonderful thing has been done in Bhutan.”¹⁰³ A refugee student concurred, “They are just showing to the world, to get dollars from the world.”¹⁰⁴ Some conceded that even if the changes were made to improve Bhutan’s image in the eyes of the international community, some real changes might be brought about in the process.

However, ethnic Nepalis who still live in Bhutan said that any such changes could only have limited scope. One of them said, “Due to international pressure, there is some improvement. But it is more for show. There is some international influence, but until there is an internal change of heart, there cannot be real change.”¹⁰⁵ But not everyone is so pessimistic. A refugee said, “Yes, maybe democratization is to impress the international community. But at least what was not there is now there. For example, now at least there is a constitution. The content may not be to our specification, but it is up to the people to change that.”¹⁰⁶