DANGEROUS CROSSING: - International Campaign for Tibet

INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET
freedom of movement within the territory of Nepal, with the exception
of areas forbidden to foreigners, unless his/her habitual residence is
located in such an area.
-- Inside page of Refugee Identity Card (RC)
Living in Nepal is hard. There are not many opportunities if you don’t
have an ID. I was born in Nepal in 1989, but I still don’t have an ID. We
have no identification to say whether we are Nepali or Tibetan. Nepali
people are good, but if the Nepal government would just give us refugee
cards, then at least we would have a status.
-- Tenzin Kunga, Paljorling Tibetan settlement, Pokhara
In 1974, the Nepal government began issuing Tibetans Refugee Identity
Cards (RC), a state-recognized document which allows the holder
to reside and have freedom of movement within unrestricted areas of
Nepal. 152 Tibetans were eligible for the RC if they or their parents entered
Nepal before 1990 and once they were 16-years old. They were
obligated to renew their identity card with local Nepali authorities annually.
After 1989, the RC document served to distinguish between
those Tibetans who were allowed to remain in Nepal, and those who
were obliged to pass through Nepali territory onward to India. In 1994,
the Nepal government stopped issuing and renewing RCs to eligible Tibetans.
This did not signify a change in official policy towards Tibetans
who could carry on living in Nepal, using their out-dated RCs as proof
of their right to reside there, but it did considerably weaken their status.
This was most apparent when the offspring of RC-holders reached eligibility
after the 1989 cut-off date. In some cases, Tibetans were added
onto their parents’ RCs when they were born, but this was done at the
whim of local authorities in their settlement area. Even in these cases,
this practice is not sufficient and creates obvious difficulties when both
parents and child need the documentation. Without official records, it
is hard to make an estimate on the exact number of Tibetans living in
Nepal without RCs, but a substantial number of Tibetans are trapped in
a bureaucratic limbo that precludes their legal access to a wide range
of rights and services, including employment, higher education, driving
licenses and travel documents (which permit foreign travel). Although
they are bona fide refugees, their lack of an RC forces Tibetans into the
grey areas of the law in order to maintain a normal life.
Tibetans without documents are also liable to be mistaken by Nepali
authorities, whether intentionally or not, as newly arrived refugees. This
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