DATE            23 March 1996

        REGARDING       Bhutanese demonstrations-update 23 March 1996

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The European Parliament has adopted a resolution regarding the Bhutanese
refugees, and is calling for the government of Bhutan to begin making
arrangements for repatriation.  And inside India, the last group of
marchers held under IPC 144 have been released after Indian courts ruled
the detention was illegal.  A fourth group currently is being held under a
different penal code, IPC 151.

1. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION
According to a  press release from the Foreign Ministry of Nepal on
Saturday 16 Mar '96, the European Parliament unanimously adopted a
resolution on the Bhutanese refugee situation.  The full text of the
resolution is as follows:

The European Parliament is
a) deeply concerned at the plight of some 86,000, mostly Nepali speaking,
refugees from Bhutan who are currently in refugee camps in eastern
Nepal and of 15,000 others dispersed in the neighbouring areas of
Nepal and India.

b) is aware of Bhutan's policy of 'national integration,' on the
basis of western Bhutanese (Drukpa) traditions and culture, led to a
campaign of suppression of Nepali cultural expression in Bhutan
beginning from 1990, revocation of citizenship and intimidation,
arrests and sometimes torture of ethnic Nepalese, resulting in a
large scale exodus to Nepal of these people.

c) is disturbed that according to a recent report from the South
Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre, the conditions in the
refugee camps have deteriorated and that certain aid agencies,
including UNHCR, are now scaling down or withdrawing their assistance
to these camps.

d) is aware that certain Bhutanese refugee groups organised peaceful
demonstrations to protest against this unacceptable situation and
undertook to march from Nepal to Bhutan across Indian territory.

e) notes a report by Amnesty International that several demonstrators
were arrested by the Indian authorities in mid-January and released
after judicial verifications, but whereas several of them soon are to
be brought to the Siliguri court.

f) calls on the governments of Bhutan and Nepal, in co-operation with
all other parties involved, to reach an agreement which will allow
the early voluntary repatriation of these Bhutanese refugees to their
country of origin.

g) considers that the Indian  authorities must take full account of
the humainitarian situation of the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal and
aquit all persons arrested during the peaceful demonstration.

h) CALLS on the government of Bhutan to make practical preparations
for the UNHCR-supervised return of these refugees and to safeguard
the rights of minorities on it's teritory.

i) CALLS on the Commission, the Council and the governments of the
Member States to provide assistance to the refugees in eastern Nepal,
both via the government of Nepal and via the aid agencies operating
in the field.

j) CALLS on the Commission, the Council and the governments of the
Member States, in liason with the UNHCR, to discuss with the
government of Bhutan proposals for the provision of assistance for the
voluntary repatriation and reintegration of these refugees in their
former homes in Bhutan.

k) notes that most of these refugees would appear to qualify der
International Law as being genuine citizens of Bhutan and considers
that Bhutan's Citizenship Act 1985 may need to be modified as a
result.

l) instructs it's President to forward this resolution to the
Council, the Commisiion, governments of the Member States, the
governments of Bhutan, Nepal and India and the Secretariat of SAARC.
_________
Clearly, this is a major milestone in the Bhutanese refugees struggle
for repatriation. As an editorial in the Everest Herald expressed:
"Though the solution to the Bhutanese refugees still seems far away,
the recent resoluion of the European parliament has come as a respite
to both the Nepal government and the Bhutanese in exile."

The resolution has been enthusiastically received by the refugees and
BCDM has issued a vote of thanks to all Human Rights and support
groups who have been advocating their case and assisting with the
adoption of this resolution. Hopefully I shall have the ful text of
this tommorrow.

2. MARCHERS

2.1  3RD WAVE OF MARCHERS FROM MECHI BRIDGE
On the 18th March '96, the 344 Bhutanese refugees who constituted the
third group of peace marchers to be arrested at the Mechi Bridge
(ref 1.4 of jrsap update 19-Mar-96), were unconditionally released. At a
hearing before the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM),
Siliguri, the marchers were released after having been detained in
Baharampur Central Jail, West Bengal since 26th February under
Criminal Penal Code (Cr.PC) 144.

The release comes nearly two weeks after the 1st group of 150 and the
2nd group of 300 were unconditionally released on the 27th and 28th
of February respectively, after their detention was declared
"illegal." There are now no peace marchers detained under CrPC 144.

Following their release the 344 peace marchers made their way to the
temporary camp established on the banks of the Pancha Nadi River.
(ref 1.3 of jrsap update 19-Mar-96).

2.2  4th WAVE OF MARCHERS FROM MECHI BRIDGE
The 183 peace marchers who were arrested at the Mechi Bridgeunder
CrPC 151 on the 12th of March continue to be detained in Siliguri
Special Jail.

These are due to appear before the SDJM on the 25th of March.

2.3 PANCHA NADI CAMP
Following the release of the 344 peace marchers from Siliguri Special
Jail (ref 2.1 above), there are now c400 Bhutanese refugees in the
temporary camp which has been established on the banks of the Pancha
Nadi River in Siliguri.

2.4  1st WAVE OF MARCHERS FROM PANCHA NADI CAMP
During the court sessions of the 27th and 28th of February, SDJM
declared that the Bhutanese citizens have the right to freedom of
movement in India under the provision of the 1949 Indo-Bhutan
Friendship Treaty.

In line with this, on the 15th March, 150 of the Bhutanese refugees
from the temporary  Pancha Nadi Camp, Siliguri, attempted to resume
their peaceful demonstration to Thimpu to petition the King of
Bhutan. With an Indian police escort under the Darjeeling district
administration, the peace marchers left from Siliguri.

After having walked approx 5 km, the peace marchers reached the
Mahananda bridge, which marks the border between the Darjeeling and
Jalpaiguri districts. Here, they were prevented from proceeding by
the Jalpaiguri district administration and warned that they would be
arrested under CrPC 151.

On the 17th March, following a sit in of 2 days, the refugees again
tried to proceed. They were arrested under CrPC 151, produced before
the Jalpaiguri court and taken to Jalpaiguri jail.

When questioned as to why their path was impeded, the District
(Executive) Magistrate of Jalpaiguri district administration could
provide no satisfactory response. He said he was fully aware that
the marchers had not committed any crime which deserved arrest but he
had to follow orders from the government authorities.

The marchers had already sent a petition to the Chief Minister of
West engal, Mr Jyoti Basu, to allow free and safe passage to proceed
to Bhutan. So far, this has not been forthcoming.

2.5  2ND WAVE OF MARCHERS FROM PANCHA NADI CAMP
On the 18th of March, another group of 150 peace marchers from the
temporary Pancha Nadi Camp resumed their peace march to Bhutan. These
are now squatting on the Mahananda bridge, Siliguri, replacing the
previous group of 150 who were arrested on the 17th (ref 2.4 above).

3. STATEMENT BY OFFICIALS  OF BHUTAN

3.1 THE FOREIGN MINISTER OF BHUTAN

In an interview with the weekly Indian magazine "Outlook," the
Foreign Minister of Bhutan, Dawa Tsering has said: "Our position is
that not all the people in the camps are from Bhutan and all those
who may have gone from Bhutan aren't Bhutanese citizens. They are
immigrants sans citizenship status."

Here he refers to the position in Bhutanese law that one forfeits the
right to citizenship by emigrating.

3.2 THE KING OF BHUTAN
The full text of the remark made by King Jigme Singye Wangchuk of
Bhutan  in an interview with the "Indian Express" 7-Mar-96 is: "If
the Nepalese, 99% of whom are not Bhutanese nationals, had crossed
into Bhutan, we would have definitely broken off our talks with
Nepal."

He refers here to the bilateral interministerial talks between Bhutan
and Nepal regarding the repatriation of the Bhutanese refugees.
These, reportedly, are due to be held on the 4th to 8th of April and
are the first to be conducted at foreign minister level rather than
home minister.

It is interesting that although the talks are to be held between
foreign ministers and that under the 1949 treaty between Bhutan and
India, "Bhutan agrees to be guided by the advice of the Government of
India in regard to it's external relations," that India refuses to be
involved, insisting that the issue is a bilateral one.

This is to be the 7th round of talks. All previous rounds have failed
to produce anything substantive and have been largely futile.

4. UN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS.
The Annual meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights commenced on
the 18th of March 1996, in Geneva, Switzerland.

In a press statement, the AMCC has urged the Commission "to resolve
to work towards finding an immediate solution to the human rights
problem in Bhutan and the Bhutanese refugee crisis."


Background

All the marchers have lived in refugee camps inside Nepal since being
expelled from their home of Bhutan in the early 1990's.  Over the last six
years international talks have failed to resolve their situation, even
though many of the refugees carry valid citizenship and property documents.

The marchers began a peaceul march back to Bhutan in January of this year,
but  were detained illegally by Indian officials.

The peace marchers have all along insisted on acting non-violently.

The refugees in Nepal, totalling about 1/6 of the 600,000 people populating
Bhutan, were forced to leave the country in the early 1990's after a "One
Nation/ One People" policy effectively rendered them stateless.  The
international community has been thus far ineffective in resolving their
plight.  Bhutan has the largest percentage of its people living as refugees
in the world.