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The existing fact in Bhutan
The 15th round of bilateral talk between Nepal and Bhutan that took
place from 20th-3rd October 2003 in Thimphu, Bhutan has agreed to start
repatriation of verified refugees from Khudunabari camp from 15th
February 2004. But the situation inside Bhutan is not encouraging as per
the recent report received from Bhutan. It is reported that in a bit to
flush out the Indian insurgents(United Liberation Front of Assam,
National Democratic Front of Bodoland and Kamptapuri Liberation
Organization) from Bhutan, the clash between Royal Bhutan Army(RBA) and
reluctant insurgents to leave Bhutan have started resulting in few
casualties mostly on the RBA including two Majors.
The exact statistic of casualties of both the sides is not made known by
either side but the matter is serious which might lead to full-fledged
war costing huge human lives and mass internal displacement. It is
reported that the government has already started requisition of
transport from private and public sectors to evacuate the people from
the affected areas. This has sent a wave of fear among the public
especially in eastern and northern Bhutan and concern to the government.
Therefore, given the existing situation inside Bhutan where there is no
security of the people living inside itself, there leaves a room of
doubt whether Royal Government of Bhutan can start repatriation at the
scheduled time of 15th February 2004 and able to provide protection to
the lives of repatriated refugees and properly rehabilitate.
BRRRC Update
Annual Course on Forced Displacement Launched in Calcutta
On December 1, the Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, an
inter-disciplinary association of South Asian academics, journalists and
lawyers, convened its first annual winter course on forced migration.
This course, the first of its kind in the region, brought a diverse
group of practitioners and students from Australia, Bangladesh, India,
Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand to Calcutta, India for 15 days
of intensive study about the different aspects of forced migration in
South Asia. The course combined lectures by international experts from
around the world on the legal, human rights, political and historical
dimensions of refugee and IDP crises with special attention to ethical
and gender issues. The course also featured group debates, discussions
with activists, film presentations, writing assignments and field trips
to displaced persons camps.
Nepal’s Hidden IDP Crisis
In updating its profile on internal displacement in Nepal, the Norwegian
Refugee Council’s Global IDP Project suggested that more attention be
paid to Nepal’s internally displaced persons. In the updated profile it
is pointed out that “the government has to a large extent ignored its
obligation to protect internally displaced persons, particularly those
uprooted by its own security forces.” Also that UN and international
agencies are not specifically targeting their assistance to the
displaced. Estimates of the number of internally displaced persons vary
from 100,000 to 200,000. More precise numbers of IDPs are not known due
to the hidden nature of the IDP crisis.
http://www.idpproject.org
NRC Says Displacement in Burma Ignored by International Community
In its updated country profile on internal displacement in Burma, the
Norwegian Refugee Council’s Global IDP Project finds that IDPs are
subject to systematic human rights abuses since they lack protection
from both their government and the international humanitarian community.
Persons belonging to the Karen, Shan and Kerenni ethnic groups residing
along Burma’s border with Thailand are often harmed during
counter-insurgency operations and are subjected to forcible relocation
due to their perceived support for insurgent groups. Women are
frequently the victims of rape at the hands of the army. In other areas
of the country, displacement is the result of forced urban relocations,
brutal discrimination policies and development projects. NRC notes that
development and conflict-induced displacement are often related. Because
the authorities block access to IDPs, few of the estimated 40
international agencies working inside the country can directly assist
IDPs. NRC recommends that the international community raise global
awareness to the humanitarian situation of IDPs in minority areas and
“properly reflect the regime’s ongoing human rights violations,
including forced displacement, in the international response to the
crisis in Burma.”
Global IDP Project
Beliaghata evacuees wait for January hearing
The only hope for the nearly 1,000-odd families evicted from the
Beliaghata canal is the court. The families are waiting for the next
hearing scheduled for January 9.
Galiff street, MN Ganguly Road, Canal West Road and Canal East Road are
littered with remains of the eviction. Canal East Road and Galiff street
were being cleared off the debris on Wednesday. “It will take a few more
days before the entire place is cleared,” said an officer from the
Chitpore police station overseeing the operation. On the opposite side
of the canal sat Maya Debi (59) with a few other women. “The wood with
which we had built our houses are now providing us with heat. Police
have been threatening us every day to vacate the place,” Maya Debi said.
Police and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation have put up boards warning
dwellers to stay away from the canal. Though most of the families on
Canal West Road have left, there are still a few who have nowhere to go.
The anti-eviction joint forum will start a community kitchen in the area
for the evacuated people. Shaktiman Ghosh, convenor of the forum said
“The hawkers’ market on Galiff Street is lying vacant. Two floors can be
built above the market to house at least 700 families."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
India finishes fence along a third of Bangladesh border
India has finished a barbed-wire fence along “sensitive” stretches of
its border with Bangladesh to prevent the potential infiltration of
rebels and illegal immigrants, a military official said. “The sensitive
stretches along the 4,894-kilometer (3,034-mile) India-Bangladesh border
have been fenced,” said S.I.S. Ahmed, a senior official of the Border
Security Force deployed on the Bangladesh border.”It is nearly 35
percent of the total stretch and the remaining portion will be completed
by 2007,” Ahmed said on Wednesday. Indian officials say rebels fighting
myriad insurgencies in northeastern India take advantage of the porous
border with Bangladesh to set up bases out of reach from Indian troops.
Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani in January announced a drive to
deport some three million Bangladeshis he said were in India illegally
and could pose a security threat. Bangladesh denies it allows any
anti-Indian rebels to operate on its soil and says there is no illegal
emigration of its nationals to India. Ahmed said without specifying a
number that some Indian villagers had refused to leave their homes for
the construction of the border fence. “Many villagers have moved to the
courts challenging their eviction from no man’s land,” he said. India
and Bangladesh have historically had warm ties, but relations have
soured since New Delhi announced the deportation drive and stepped up
accusations that rebels operated from the neighbouring country.
AFP Calcutta, Wednesday November 12, 06:23 PM
Tripura told to act against border religious institutions
The state government has been told by the Centre to take action against
religious institutions which are active against provisions of the
Religious institutions (prevention of misuse), 1988. This is due to
Centre’s concern over growth of worship places along the international
border and their misuse by fundamentalists and activists. An official
report said, “There is evidence to show that the growth of these centres
is not out of religious zeal but is a part of a larger design to soften
our border by posing a threat to the internal security as well as
subvert the border population.” The Centre has asked the State to
identify such places of worship and prevent misuse.
Statesman News Service
http://www.thestatesman.net
Protests against fencing
Over 400 women and 100 children today protested against the Central
government’s decision to fence the border near Char Meghna, a stretch of
land adjoining Nadia which falls in Bangladesh. They demanded that the
Centre put a stop to the fencing, which will exclude the area from the
Indian Union. While the children lay on the fencing, the women squatted
on the land from the morning. The fencing of the border will render
450-odd Indian families living in Char Meghna homeless.
Statesman News Service,
http://www.thestatesman.net
Shan Women’s Action Network Newsletter
Despite the repeated denials of the regime since the publication of
Licence to Rape last year, and their attempts to block flows of
information, reports of sexual violence have continued to reach SWAN
from insideShan State. SWAN has documented the rape of a further 138
women and girls in Shan State by the SPDC military since Licence to Rape
was compiled. Of the cases this year, seventeen were girls under 18: two
of these girls, aged 10 and 13, were gang-raped so brutally that they
died shortly afterwards of their injuries. Another girl of 13 was
gang-raped and beaten so badly that her face has become permanently
disfigured. Of the incidents reported this year, no one was punished. It
should be noted that the atrocities, including gangrape, which were
committed in Murng Hsat at the end of May were taking place precisely
while the International Committee of the Red Cross were conducting one
of their periodic field missions to Shan State.
http://www.shanwomen.org/
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