KATHMANDU (UCAN) -- A prominent Bhutanese refugee leader has called on the United Nations to take an active role in finding a solution to the Bhutanese refugee problem in Nepal.

Rakesh Chhetri told UCA News in Kathmandu that as executive director of the Center for Protection of Minorities and Against Racism and Discrimination in Bhutan (CEMARD) he was invited to present a paper on the plight of Bhutanese refugees.

Addressing the session of the U.N. Working Group on Minorities (UNWGM) held May 25-31 in Geneva, Switzerland, Chhetri said he made 13 recommendations, which he hopes will be incorporated in UNWGM's report to the U.N. session on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities slated for this coming August.

Of the recommendations pertaining to the U.N., Chhetri called on UNWGM to take a more active role in repatriating Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.

According to Chhetri, this may come in the form of mediation between the Bhutanese government and the refugees, field visits to the refugee camps to assess the refugees' situation and needs, etc.

He urged the U.N. to allow greater participation on the part of the refugees in the formulation and implementation of policies or programs that concern them, for example, in deliberations of the UNWGM and the upcoming World Conference on Minority Rights.

He also called on the U.N. to channel some of its aid consortium fund to the development of minority areas saying, "It is pointless to save tigers through environmental trust funds, when the people are living in abject poverty."

Of the recommendations pertaining to the government of Bhutan, Chhetri called on the ruling ethnic Drukpas to not only engage in bilateral talks with the newly installed government of Nepal, but also to dialogue with the refugees.

In light of this Chhetri called on the Bhutanese government to repeal the 1985 Citizenship Act, where over 120,000 Lhotshampas, Bhutanese of ethnic descent living in the south of Bhutan, were denationalized overnight through manipulation of the law and confiscation of their citizenship.

He also appealed to the Bhutanese government to stop resettling other people on the former lands of the refugees and to respect the rights of minorities as specified in the "Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic Religious and Linguistic Minorities," adopted by the U.N. General Assembly without vote in 1992.

Bhutan, with a population of about 700,000 consists of three major and seven minor cultural-religio-linguistic groups, each occupying a different geographical area and all having been "immigrants," Chhetri said.

However, the ruling ethnic Drukpas, who speak the Dzonkha language and practice Drukpa Kargyupa school of Mahayana Buddhism, have engaged in a policy of making Bhutan culturally homogenous through forced assimilation.

The policy, called "Driglam Namzha," bans the cultural and religious expression of non-Drukpas. This includes the public and private practice of Christianity.

Under the 1988 decree, the non-Drukpas were said not only lose their cultural, religious and language rights but were also denied equal excess to businesses, government positions and the armed forces, Chhetri said.

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