Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 92: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the Irish Permanent Mission to the United Nations will support the request of Bhutanese refugees sheltered in seven camps in south-eastern Nepal to return in safety to their home country; if the mission supports the request that the King of Bhutan accept the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as an independent monitor of verified repatriation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18509/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The situation of the Bhutanese refugees has its origins in the policies of the Government of Bhutan in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which resulted in the expulsion of tens of thousands of people from the south of the country to Nepal. These refugees are of Nepalese descent and Hindu, unlike the northern Bhutanese who are predominantly Buddhist. Many of the refugees were forced to sign so-called "voluntary migration certificates" when they were expelled, effectively forfeiting their rights to Bhutanese citizenship under the country's citizenship laws. They are now accommodated in seven camps in southeast Nepal administered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR.

Although Bhutan and Nepal agreed in 1993 to set up a high level committee at foreign minister level to work towards a settlement of the refugee issue, little progress has been made. The committee last met from 19-22 May 2003, in Kathmandu, and agreed a report on the status of the refugees in only one of the seven camps. Furthermore, the UNHCR decided in October 2003 to phase out assistance to the refugees camps and promote local integration of the refugees in Nepal. This was due to the Government of Bhutan's refusal to allow UNHCR access to southern Bhutan to monitor the repatriation of refugees.

Together with our EU partners, Ireland continues to urge the government of Bhutan to allow UNHCR such access. We also call upon the governments of both Bhutan and Nepal to invite the UNHCR to participate fully in monitoring a verification and appeals process for the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.

In our national statement at the 61st session of the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on 11 April 2005, Ireland specifically raised the plight of the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, and called for "a prompt, viable solution to the problems of this group, involving voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement". Together with our EU partners, Ireland will continue to press the Government of Bhutan to accept the UNHCR as an independent monitor of verified repatriation for this refugee group.