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News from Majority World

The issue about the Bhutanese refugees living in UNHCR camps in eastern Nepal has been making rounds in certain publications in the past few years. These refugees have been living in those bamboo huts for over two decades, ever since the Bhutanese government exiled them after the Bhutan's Citizenship Act of 1985.
  
According to past records, the initial traces of the people of Nepalese origin, in Bhutan, were found in the early 1600’s when Newari craftsmen were invited to Bhutan to build a silver stupa. Since most Bhutanese were farmers, the government invited skilled contractors from Nepal in the late 19th century to work for them. The Nepalese community then grew in numbers and inhabited in the desolate parts of southern Bhutan. 

As per the UNHCR report, over 100,000 Bhutanese of Nepali origin fled from Bhutan and took asylum in 7 different camps in Eastern Nepal between 1991 and 1993. This figure obviously multiplied over the years. Since early 2008, over 100,000 people have been referred for resettlement from Nepal to third countries

Majority World Photographer ‘Mithila Jariwala’ spent time with these people, learning their perspectiveof life and how they felt about being called refugees.