UN refugee agency ‘extremely concerned’ over fate of 18 Tibetans in Nepal
Expressing “extreme concern” over the fate of 18 Tibetans whose return is being demanded by China, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has called on Nepal to release them instead into the agency’s care until their claims can be ascertained.
Expressing “extreme concern” over the fate of 18 Tibetans whose return is being demanded by China, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has called on Nepal to release them instead into the agency’s care until their claims can be ascertained.
“Our mandate is to protect asylum seekers until such time as their claim and their status have been determined,” UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said in Geneva. “Returning people before their status is determined would amount to refoulement and would be in clear contravention of international law.”
The Tibetans, detained in Nepal on 17 April, have requested UNHCR's assistance and “we have strong reason to believe that they would be of concern to us,” Mr. Redmond added. “However, despite several requests, we have not had access to the 18 so that we can assess their claims through individual interviews.
“According to agreed procedures regularly used by Nepal and UNHCR in the past, we would facilitate the onward travel to a third country of any Tibetan new arrivals in Nepal who are found to be of concern to us,” he said.
The 18 were part of a group of 21 who arrived in Nepal. The other three are children who have been released to UNHCR's care.
Chinese officials in Kathmandu yesterday told UNHCR of their intention to take the group back to China, Mr. Redmond said, and the agency’s office in Nepal sent an urgent letter to the Nepalese Prime Minister requesting that they not be handed over, but instead be released to the care of UNHCR “so we can ascertain their claims.”