BEING A REFUGEE IN THE LAND OF ANCESTORS: A Case study of Bhutanese Refugee Youths of Sanischare BhutaneseRefugee Camp, Eastern Nepal

Abstract

The refugee problem is one of the unsolved problems of SAARC countries who have not ratified the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. Nepal despite being a developing country has been hosting the refugees since 1960s with the arrival of Tibetan refugee. Influx of Bhutanese refugees in 1990 once again made Nepal a host country providing asylum to Bhutanese refugees.

This study has presented the socio-economic life of Bhutanese refugees living in Sanischare Camp of eastern Nepal for the last 18 years. More focus has been given to the refugee youth, a potential social category of refugee society. It examines refugee youth’s current socioeconomic life, their challenges and future dreams. The study also discusses the coping strategies employed by refugee youth in search of sustainable livelihood. The concept of sense of place is used to acquire knowledge on refugee youth’s attachments with their current place of living. Similarly the Capability Approach is implemented as an approach to map available opportunity and its impact on shaping the future of refugee youth. Revealing refugee’s feelings of being a refugee in the land of their ancestors the study employed a qualitative methodological approach. The adopted qualitative method is conducted by interviews, observations and informal conversations with the informants. The study also included data from secondary sources.

The study has identified profound changes in the life of Bhutanese refugees. Access to basic infrastructures, education and skill development trainings has contributed for the changes. Good education system of camp school is recognized one of the main source of empowerment of refugee youth. The study has found that Bhutanese refugees though living with different status but they considered Nepal more like home than their host country. The similar sociocultural settings, strong interactions and the relationships developed amongst refugee and host has contributed on making more homely environment to refugees that they often forget their status. The limited and highly competitive opportunity and lack of platform to perform their skill are some of the well recognized challenges of refugee youths. Although repatriation is the most preferred solutions of refugees but the employed third country resettlement program has brought immense hopes and dreams to refugee youths.