DANGEROUS CROSSING: - International Campaign for Tibet

INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET
the detention of refugees caught in transit or in Kathmandu, and the imposition of
fines for violating Nepal’s immigration laws. Further complicating the implementation
of the Gentlemen’s Agreement have been accusations made by the Chinese
embassy in Kathmandu that Tibetan children making the journey into exile who are
not accompanied by a family member are not refugees, but “trafficked children.”
Despite lacking credibility, given the serious nature of these accusations, the UNHCR
and members of the international community have been obligated to follow up on
these claims, delaying the processing of these children and their movement to a
more stable Tibetan community in India.
The Gentlemen’s Agreement has been further confounded by inadequate border
monitoring by the UNHCR and inadequate training of border police by Nepali authorities.
8 The UNHCR’s failure to conduct missions to educate Nepali border guards
both raises the risks of forcible repatriation and means greater efforts must be undertaken
by the Tibetan Refugee Transit Center staff or NGOs, whose effectiveness
is constrained by lack of resources and a rescue mandate. The need to educate and
instruct Nepali security forces on the implementation of the Gentlemen’s Agreement
is made all the more necessary given the findings of the U.S. State Department in its
“Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011,” section on Nepal, in which
it reported that “the most significant human rights problems were abuses committed
by the security forces (including members of the Nepal Army, Nepal Police, and
Armed Police Force), which were responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, and
arbitrary arrest and detention…” 9
Despite the norms of international law and the attentiveness of some members of
the international community, the Gentlemen’s Agreement has been flagrantly violated
by Nepali officials working in concert with Chinese officials to forcibly return,
or refoule, Tibetan refugees. The principle of non-refoulement forbids the expulsion
of a refugee into an area where the person could be subjected to persecution.
And while Nepal is not a signatory to the U.N. Convention or Protocol Relating to
the Status of Refugees, it has acceded to the U.N. Torture Convention in which the
principle of non-refoulement is also enshrined.
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