COHRE Right to Return Leaflet 2008

Lhotshampas who have lost Bhutanese citizenship and their ownership rights and whose land, that they originally owned, used and/or occupied, has been confiscated remain entitled to restitution.

The right to housing, land and property restitution does not depend on one’s nationality or citizenship. Also, it does not depend on the fact that the government of Bhutan has confiscated your land.

All Lhotshampas who were forced to leave their homes, lands and/or properties and who can prove they owned, used or occupied that home, land and/or property has a right to get it back.

A large number of houses and land left by the refugees in southern Bhutan has been confiscated by the government and has been used to relocate people from other parts of Bhutan or for government purposes.

If your home or land is occupied, you still have the primary right over your home and land, and the right to make a claim over the new (secondary) occupant, upon your return. However, you must follow due process to claim your home and land from the new (secondary) occupant. This includes opportunity for consultation, adequate and reasonable notice, effective legal remedy to the secondary occupants, so as to protect the new (secondary) occupant against arbitrary and forced evictions.

Everyone has the Right to Return If your home or property is damaged or destroyed, or your land no longer usable due to neglect, public interest projects (such as roads, schools, water treatment plants, hospitals etc.), you have the right to receive financial assistance, to enable you to purchase another land or to rebuild the damaged or destroyed property.

to their Homes in Bhutan Explaining the right to return and the right to housing, land and property restitution

CENTRE ON HOUSING RIGHTS AND EVICTIONS

Canadian International Development Agency

Agence canadienne de dĂŠveloppement international

Funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)

C O H R E

Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) 83 rue de Montbrillant 1202 Geneva, Switzerland Email: bhutan@cohre.org www.cohre.org

WHAT IS THE RIGHT TO RETURN? The Lhotshampas (or ethnic Nepalis) from southern Bhutan have been forced to leave their homes, lands and properties in Bhutan and became refugees in the seven refugee camps in Eastern Nepal for the last two decades.

Many are also living in India.

For many of the Bhutanese refugees their main wish is to return to their homes, lands and properties in safety and dignity. However, returning to their country and having their houses, land and properties returned is not yet possible. However, in August 2005 the United Nations Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons were adopted, also called the ‘Pinheiro Principles’. These Principles provide clear guidelines to make it possible for the Bhutanese refugees to return home. Such possibility applies to all the Bhutanese refugees irrespective of which option repatriation, local integration or third country resettlement - the Bhutanese refugees choose.

the right

to return

and the right to housing, land and property restitution

The starting point to the return process is for governments to recognise that the Bhutanese refugees have a right to return. All refugees have the right to go back voluntarily to their former homes, lands or places where they used to live, in safety and dignity. This means that persons displaced against their will must be allowed to return to their former homes and lands, if and whenever they wish to do so.

Return must be voluntary. Voluntary return in safety and dignity is when the choice to return is made without any pressure from any outside source - government, political groups and rebel forces - and where there is access to accurate information on the circumstances and conditions that displaced persons are returning to.

Refugees should be provided with complete, objective, up-to-date and accurate information, on physical, material and legal safety issues regarding their former homes, lands or places where they used to live.

The right to return is not restricted by the passing of time and cannot be limited to a certain period of time.

The right to housing, land and property restitution not only means that every refugee and displaced person has a right to return to their former homes and lands, but that they have a right to have their homes and lands restored; to have damage done repaired; to have destroyed property rebuilt.

This right is important for refugees and displaced persons to get on with their lives in Bhutan in peace, in adequate housing that meets their social, cultural and livelihood requirements.

If restoration, reparation or reconstruction of the old home or land is not possible displaced persons have a right to get compensation for their loss and/or a new house and/or land.

The right to return and the right to have one’s house, land and/or property restored will not cease to exist because of third country resettlement. Even if you choose to be resettled, your right to return to Bhutan one day, to your original land and home, and claim restitution and/or compensation cannot be taken away from you.

In order for this right to be realised, it is important for every refugee to collect all the documentation relating to their lands, homes and properties in Bhutan; these might include documents such as land registration certificates, land tax receipts, land sales receipts, rural tax receipts, house insurance receipts and kashos. These documents are essential to make restitution claims in Bhutan, therefore it is important that every refugee keep them in good conditions in a safe and secure place.