Impact of statelessness in South Asia

After assuming office as the President of the United States, Donald Trump not only reversed some of the Biden administration's foreign policies but also started ostentatious deportation of students and migrants, violating US laws.

- SMRUTI S PATTANAIK

Many Indians illegally working in the US were deported, and 12 Bhutanese refugees who had settled in the US as part of a UN-led third-country settlement to resolve the long-pending Bhutanese refugee issue also suffered the same fate.

However, Bhutan disowned these people as their citizens and deported them. They were given 30,000 Ngultrum each and were escorted by Bhutanese officials to the Indian border, from where they were sent to Nepal. The Nepal police arrested them for illegally entering the country. Families of some of these deportees are still living in camps in eastern Nepal. Notably, they were sent to Nepal in 1990 via the same way.

This is a double whammy for the Bhutanese refugees who were rendered stateless by Bhutan when it decided to expel Lhotshampas (Bhutanese of Nepali origin) from southern Bhutan, alleging that they were illegal migrants. They are now dismissed by the US. Nepal and Bhutan initiated bilateral talks on a four-point agreement that included joint verification by officials from the two countries to identify and repatriate more than 100,000 refugees living in the eastern Nepal camp. However, this did not yield any results. Bhutan refused to take the refugees back, claiming that they are not its citizens but illegal migrants. This four-point agreement was silent on what happens to those who cannot prove themselves as Bhutanese.