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Bhutan News Service

Bhutan News Service

GHRD releases report on Dutch Bhutanese

Posted: 22 Jan 2011 02:05 AM PST

Resettled Bhutanese in the Netherlands face problems of family split and dispersion, a report reveals.

In a meeting on ‘Promotion of resettlement in the European Union through practical cooperation between member states and other relevant stakeholders’, Bhutanese refugees' resettlement in The Netherlands was figured at the top of the discussion.

Bhutanese participants at the meeting

Global Human Rights Defense (GHRD), a Hague based international human rights group presented its final report on 'Bhutanese refugees' resettlement in The Netherlands'  through power point presentations after two years of its research on the issue. 

In its report GHRD highlighted several difficulties that Bhutanese refugees have faced in The Netherlands especially due to massive family splits and their relocations in various parts of the country against their wishes to live together in certain areas of the Netherlands.

Nawaraj Gazmere and Arjun Chhetri , two of the  Bhutanese youths resettled from refugee camp in Nepal  also participated in the deliberation.

Gazmere briefed the dignitaries on ethnic cleansing in Bhutan and how Bhutan denied taking back its citizen even after waiting for 20 years in UNHCR aided refugee camps in miseries.

He further informed the experts on the current resettlement programs in Nepal and thanked the European Union states for its generosity in helping 120000 Bhutanese refugees with food and other relief in the camps and eventually taking active part in their resettlement. He also narrated his post-resettlement experiences during the occasion.

With Jenny Lundstrom , a human rights officer at the GHRD , Gazmere answered the queries of  representatives from various national and international organizations including IOM and UNHCR.

Responding to the report and the stories of Bhutanese youths, Netherlands' organizations associated with refugees requested the Dutch government to take serious steps to solve the existing problems faced by the invited refugees. Janneke van Etten, an officer from Dutch home ministry stressed the need to unite all the stakeholders in refugee resettlement for their proper resettlement and integration in the local society.

It was the first ever high level expert meeting on resettlement that was ever attended by the Bhutanese representatives in The Netherlands. With this participation Bhutanese Dutch have started getting attention of the major stakeholders in the resettlement programs in the European Union.

(With input from Ram Bahadur Karki, Netherlands)

BNS journo Timsina in Canada mourns mother’s death

Posted: 21 Jan 2011 11:59 PM PST

Laxmi Maya Timsina, mother of Indra Timisha and BNS Canada correspondent, has passed away at the age of 78 on Friday at 10 am in Lethbridge of Canada.

Late Laxmi Maya Timsina

She was suffering from lungs cancer since five years. “We couldn’t treat our mom since treating a cancer in camp was financially impossible,” Timsina said in an email circular to BNS on Friday morning.

Born in Dagana district in 1933, late was registered at Beldangi-II Extension camp, Sector E/1-25 before she got resettled in Canada on June 2010.

The funeral ceremony and cremation program is planned for Sunday at 4 pm in Lethbridge itself, he informed.

Meanwhile, various media organizations in exile have expressed heartfelt condolence to the grief-stricken Timisna family.

"We are really sorry to hear this news and we take the side of one of the senior correspondents in Canada at this hour," said Buddha Mani Dhakal in a condolence message issued today from America.

General Secretary of Association of Press Freedom Activists (APFA) Bhutan, Vidhyapati Mishra, said the death of Timsina has closed a chapter in the history on Dagana district.

“The last moments with in the IOM transit camp in Kathmandu and back in camp are still fresh to my memory,” Mishra said, “I pray that her departed soul will always rest in peace in heaven.”

Likewise, the Third World Media Chapter – Bhutan also issued its condolence message saying Timsina's death has caused a great loss not only to co-worker Indra, but to entire Bhutanese community in the Diaspora.

Late Timsina is survived by four sons, two daughters and 16 grandchildren.