Kathmandu, May 2
A regional conference on the situation of refugees in South Asia and ways to address their problems began in Kathmandu on Monday.
Anup Raj Sharma, chair, National Human Rights Commission, inaugurated the two-day conference.
The third-country resettlement of Bhutanese refugees is the world’s biggest resettlement programme, Sharma noted, describing management of refugees in Nepal as challenging. The management of foreign refugees is emerging as a major challenge in Nepal, Sharma said, adding that the state has been coworking with relevant United Nations agencies to alleviate the refugees’ plight.
We have been constantly monitoring the situation of refugees and providing suggestions to government, he said.
We have been constantly monitoring the situation of refugees and providing suggestions to government, he said.
Nischal Nath Pandey of the Centre for South Asian Studies (Nepal) shed light on the situation of refugees in South Asia. Pandey said: I
ndia has two lakh refugees, Nepal has 40,000, whereas there are more than 30,000 displaced people in Sri Lanka. These data show South Asia has been grappling with a serious problem.
ndia has two lakh refugees, Nepal has 40,000, whereas there are more than 30,000 displaced people in Sri Lanka. These data show South Asia has been grappling with a serious problem.
More than a dozen working papers will be presented at the conference, which has CSAS (Nepal), Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Consortium of South Asian Think-tanks as organisers.
