Nepal - Six-year-old Yagandra Kami flew to Pennsylvania in the USA on Wednesday, becoming the 75,000th refugee from Bhutan to be resettled from Nepal under a major programme launched in November 2007.

IOM Nepal Chief of Mission Maurizio Busatti and UNHCR Nepal Representative Stephane Jaquemet welcomed the milestone in the Nepali capital Kathmandu.

“It has only been possible due to the incredible generosity of the resettlement countries, the resilience of the refugees, the great support of the Government of Nepal, and the exemplary partnership between IOM and UNHCR,” said Jaquemet.

Under the programme, over 63,400 of Bhutanese refugees of Nepali origin have begun new lives in the USA. Other countries to accept the refugees have been Australia (3,837), Canada (5,296), Denmark (724), New Zealand (710), the Netherlands (326), Norway (546), and the United Kingdom (257).

UNHCR is responsible for interviewing refugees and referring their names to resettlement countries, while IOM conducts health assessments, organizes cultural orientation courses and transports the refugees from Nepal to their countries of resettlement.

UNHCR also provides information to the refugees through mobile counselling in the two remaining camps – Sanischare and Beldangi. At the start of the programme, some 120,000 refugees were living in seven camps.  

Of the over 41,000 remaining refugees in the camps, some 31,300 have expressed a desire to move. The acceptance rate by the countries of resettlement is over 99 per cent, the highest in the world, according to UNHCR.

For more information please contact

Tracy Vunderink
IOM Nepal
Tel. +977-23-585-201
Email: tvunderink@iom.int