By Tenzin Choephel
Phayul Correspondent
Kathmandu, July 22: The United Nations High Commission on Refugees in Nepal organized a press conference for Judy Cheng Hopkins, Assistant High Commissioner of Refugees at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kathmandu today.
Ms. Cheng gave a brief statement on the outcome of her visit here which didnot include any information about the resettling of 5000 Tibetan refugees to the United States. When she was asked about the issue, she said her current visit was focused purely on the Bhutanese refugee crisis and that she did not get any opportunity to talk about the Tibetan resettlement issue with Nepalese authorities. Besides she said she considered it as a bilateral issue between the government of the United States and government of Nepal.
In her statement, Ms. Cheng said the purpose of her visit was to discuss the Bhutanese refugees’ issue with the Government of Nepal about which she had several meetings with the Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal and had a good understanding of the problems. She expressed appreciation that Nepal was looking forward to resolve this issue. Ms. Cheng in the statement enumerated three possible solutions to the Bhutanese refugee crisis: repatriation of refugees to Bhutan; resettlement to third countries like USA, Canada or Europe; or local integration.
She had visited Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal and talked to refugee leaders but she did not get a clear idea of whether refugees like the new idea of resettlement to third countries. In order to get a clearer perspective, she suggested that a survey of the refugees needed to be done.
