RTM and silent Diaspora
The first Round Table Meeting of the Bhutanese donors since the beginning of resettlement process is scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Thimphu. This is also the first RTM held by an elected government in Bhutan. UNDP is coordinating the event where some 40 development partners of the country will gather to discuss how much money Bhutan requires for its development.
The resettlement has increased the size of Bhutanese Diaspora. The leaders and intellectuals, who have been raising their voices against Bhutanese atrocities and discrimination in the past and in present, have now greater access to Bhutan’s development partners. One of the primary reasons behind lack of progress in Bhutanese democratic struggle from exile is the inefficiency of those in leadership to reach appropriate development partners of Bhutan to generate enough pressure on Bhutan government to take swift decision on Bhutanese refugee issue.
This time too, we failed to tap the opportunity. We failed to talk with the donors and this has relieved Bhutan government to a great extent. The development partners are concerned with development activities and not with prevailing injustices. It is the activists who are responsible to caution the donors to review issues of discrimination and injustice prevailing in the country as conditions for providing development support.
The RTM is crucial at this point of time. The government has called for such a gathering to facilitate its democratic exercise of last three and half years and posing for next general election. The ruling party targets to bring in more development assistance as an indirect tactics of election campaign, which has already begun at snail’s pace.
Bhutanese still faces injustices, discrimination prevails. The development partners must look into human rights violations and particularly the de-bhutanisation process. There are large chunks of Bhutanese who still live in the mercy of the government. Little voices have begun to come up with the people who have been categorised as F5. Thousands of southern Bhutanese are still living stateless as they are alleged to have relations with refugees. Thousands of their children have been denied of education for lack of No Objection Certificate which they don’t get due to their relatives living in Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal.
The government had given assurances and cheated the international community regarding resolution of the Bhutanese refugee issue. The only time when the government moved back was from the third RTM where donors threatened to pull off if Bhutan continue to linger with refugee issue. It was then Bhutan agreed for verification in camps.
Our accessibility to the office of Bhutanese donors must be our best opportunity to lobby on putting conditions on lending donations for development. And such conditions would be to ensure citizenship to all those living stateless within the country, repatriate those who wish to go back and equal treatment to all the citizens of the country.
The Diaspora is not acting to its fullest capacity. The discussion among ‘regarded intellectuals’ revolve around minor issues. The political leaders in exile are moving west under resettlement and are keeping mum. Human rights activists who have arrived in west have gone extinct.
And Bhutan is gradually raising its head high forgetting its past. It is asking the donors to forget the past and plan for the future. However, it is crucial that development partners look into real commitments Bhutan makes towards democracy, equality, justice delivery and refugee issue among others.
The government has played a mock sending teams to southern district ahead of the RTM. The government is holding a press conference on Thursday in Thimphu (the day RTM begins) where it is expected that government will show its outer cover of being so loyal, so committed and so serious towards injustices. PM Thinley is scheduled to announce that government will look into matters wherein many Bhutan have been sent to jail for small sale of tobacco products.
These and some other issues might help Bhutan gain sympathy. The GNH agenda that got through the UN assembly recently will further pushed Bhutan’s profile up.
The fight has not culminated, we must keep moving.