rampant depression and increased rates of suicide among bhutanese refugees

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A tale of Bhutanese refugees: Sukumaya envisages a dark future
By Sanu Ghimire and Neetu Dubey


While driving down towards Kopundole from Pulchowk early this week, did you notice a group of Bhutanese refugee women staging sit-in just outside the UN premises? One of them was Sukumaya Gurung, 32.

Her fair face was coated with clear marks of frustration but her little eyes were sparkling with the hope that their efforts would bear fruits towards restoring all that she had lost twelve years ago.

Sukumaya was born and grew up in Lapsibote- block Goseling, in Chirang district of Bhutan. She lived with her parents, two sisters, and a brother. But as the Druk regime continued what Bhutanese refugees describe as its ‘ethnic cleansing policy,’ she was forced to leave Bhutan along with her family.

The Gurung family fled to India and stayed in Assam for nearly three weeks. But they were then forcefully driven away to Nepal border by the Indian security personnel, according to Sukumaya. She has been living one of the Bhutanese refugee camps at Sanischare, Morang, in eastern Nepal ever since.

Sukumaya got married in the refugee camp and now she has a ten-year-old son. She lives with her husband and in-laws, a joint family of seven, in one of the small huts in the camp.

Talking to Nepal news, she revealed many facets of life at the camp. “We have to survive on a small amount of food provided by various organizations. The food and clothing provided to us are not sufficient. We get 5 kg. of rice per head in every fifteen days. Our sufferings and pains have no limit as the donor organizations are gradually reducing aid that they used to provide us earlier,” she told us.

Sukumaya said due to widespread frustration and depression in the refugee camps, a number of young women have committed suicide while a number of young men have lost their mental balance.

"The huts in which we take shelter are too small and uncomfortable to live in because of the leaking roof especially during monsoon,” she said.

Sukumaya had arrived Kathmandu along with dozens of other refugee women to draw the attention of international community towards their plight. Their sit-in coincided with the 13th SAARC summit that concluded in Dhaka early this week. Leaders from the region spoke about the welfare of their citizens. But there was no word of solace for ‘stateless people’ like Sukumaya.

There have been dozen rounds of bilateral talks between Nepal and Bhutan to decide the fate of over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees over the last 15 years but to no avail.

Goma Koirala, Secretary of Bhutanese refugee Women Forum (RWF) at the Goldhap camp, too, has bitter memories of her days in Bhutan. Though the royal government of Bhutan had started forcing its own citizens of Nepali origin out of the country by introducing a `discriminatory citizenship law’ from late eighties, the repression reached new heights during 1992-93.

According to Goma, in southern Bhutan, government started torturing people of Nepali origin, forced Nepali women to trim their hair short as Buddhists did, forced them to wear Bakkhu, and prevented them from celebrating Hindu festivals. Even during the greatest festival like Dashain, we used to get only one day leave and hade to wipe up tika on our foreheads before stepping out of the houses," recalled Goma.

"On top of that, Bhutanese army used to imprison young women of Nepali origin between the age of 15 to 18, and misbehaved and raped them," said Goma.

Bhutanese authorities refute such allegations.

According to Goma, situation became worse after soldiers from Royal Bhutanese Army started locking out or even setting fire on the houses of well-known and respected Bhutanese of Nepali origin without any reason. They started taking people into custody randomly and torturing them severely. People had no other option left than to flee their own homeland.


They say even a river changes its course in every 12 years. After spending 12-long-years in the refugee camp, Sukumaya becomes nostalgic when people ask about their motherland. “I belong to Bhutan, I am a citizen of Bhutan and would like to go back to my country with dignity and respect,” said Sukumaya.

But, as things stand Sukumaya is getting more anxious especially about the future of her child. Children in the refugee camps can get education up to S. L. C. (high school graduate) only They have not opportunity to learn any skills and become competitive within the camps.

“We are prevented from working outside the camp. We are kicked out from the job as soon as the employer comes to know that we are Bhutanese refugees alleging that we are snatching away the job opportunity of the Nepalis," said Sukumaya.

Sukumaya asked us to convey the story of her grief and sorrow to concerned authorities and international community. "Our only demand is that we should be allowed to return to Bhutan,” she said. She also appealed the Indian government to allow refugees to return to Bhutan via its territory.

The sit-in by refugee women concluded on Tuesday and they have returned to their respective UNHCR-maintained refugee camps in eastern Nepal.

But the question Sukumaya asked us during the interview still resonates in our ears. She inquired if there was any prospect of her early return to her homeland.

We were just unable to answer. nepalnews.com Nov 17 05