20,000 Bhutanese resettled so far
Posted by acorcoran on September 9, 2009
Just a little over 40,000 to go (we committed to 60,000 over 5 years).
Most have come to the United States* according to this blog that appears to be affiliated with the UN:
Over 20,000 refugees from Bhutan have left Nepal to embark on fresh lives in third countries as part of one of the largest resettlement schemes of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The 20,000th refugee was eight-year-old Sita Budhathoki, who left Nepal yesterday with her parents and siblings for Des Moines, Iowa, in the United States, agency spokesperson Andrej Mahecic told reporters in Geneva today.
The US has taken in the lion’s share of Bhutanese refugees, with over 17,000 resettled in the North American nation to date. They have also moved to countries such as Australia, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and Denmark.
The programme to resettle refugees – who had fled ethnic tensions in Bhutan in the early 1990s – in seven camps in eastern Nepal kicked off in November 2007.
* The Bhutanese are the third largest group to be resettled in the US this fiscal year. Iraq is number one and Burma is number two, here.
Update: We get a mention over at National Review Online, here.
4 Responses to “20,000 Bhutanese resettled so far”
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“American Dream” elusive (also) in New Hampshire « Refugee Resettlement Watch said
[...] we have Bhutanese refugees (we are taking 60,000 altogether) unable to find work, and based on the extensive comments, we have loads of local people expressing [...]
Somali illegal aliens stuck in Nepal « Refugee Resettlement Watch said
[...] “Bhutanese” living in camps, 60,000 of whom are on the way (or have already arrived) to live in the US are ethnic Nepalese who had gone to live in Bhutan, Bhutan expelled them, and [...]
“Refugees” caught faking documents to get in line for resettlement « Refugee Resettlement Watch said
[...] fake documents to help non-Bhutanese get in line for resettlement—likely to the US since we take the largest numbers of Bhutanese [...]
Mark Krikorian cites Ann on National Review blog « Refugee Resettlement Watch said
[...] 20,000 Bhutanese resettled so far [...]