Nepal - A major landmark was reached this week when the 90,000th refugee from Bhutan departed from Nepal for resettlement in Canada.

Eleven-year-old Suman Tamang left Kathmandu for Toronto accompanied by his parents and younger brother. On arrival in Canada they were they were met by Suman’s aunt and cousin, who were resettled there three years ago.

“I was very sad to leave my friends behind in the camp, but I’m excited to be seeing my cousin again,” said Suman, speaking at the IOM transit centre in Kathmandu before leaving for Tribhuvan International Airport. “I hope we will be able to go to the same school, which will be fun.”

The resettlement of refugees from Bhutan began in 2007. To date, over 5,800 refugees from Bhutan have been resettled in several communities across Canada, including Charlottetown, Saint-Jérôme, Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, among others.

The other resettlement countries are Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The largest number of refugees – over 75,000 – have been resettled in the United States.

The Chairperson of the Core Group of eight resettlement countries, British Ambassador to Nepal Andy Sparkes said: “This is another important step towards resolving one of the most protracted refugee situations in Asia. This has been possible due to the strong support of the Government of Nepal and the excellent cooperation between the resettlement countries, UNHCR and IOM.

“The courage and resilience of the refugees has been a great motivation for us to continue our engagement with this refugee population,” he added.

Of the some 27,000 refugees remaining in the camps, some 21,000 have already expressed an interest in resettlement and are expected to depart in the coming months and years.

An exercise is now underway in the camps in eastern Nepal in which refugees wishing to be considered for Group Resettlement are required to submit a Declaration of Interest (DOI) form to UNHCR before a deadline of 30th June 2014. After this date, no new DOI forms will be accepted.

For more information please contact

Maurizio Busatti
IOM Nepal
Tel: 977 1 4426250
Email: mbusatti@iom.int

or

Nini Gurung
UNHCR Nepal
Tel: 977 1 4414724
Email: gurungn@unhcr.org