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Nepal Violates "Gentlemen's Agreement"
By KTM Metro Reporter
July 29, 2010: arresting and sending Tibetan refugees back to Tibet, Nepal has violated the "Gentlemen's Agreement" between the Government of Nepal and the UNHCR that has made the provision for the safe transit of Tibetan refugees through Nepalese territory and onward to India after Nepal has stopped providing refugee status to new arrivals from Tibet since 1989 according to the article posted by International Campaign for Tibet on Unpo.org.
The article says ‘Nepal has violated the well-established "Gentlemen's Agreement" with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and contravened its obligations under international law by forcibly returning three Tibetan refugees to Chinese border police in early June. This is the first confirmed case of the refoulement of Tibetan refugees from Nepal since May 2003. Two of the Tibetans who were returned, a young woman and a monk, are now in prison in Tibet.’
Mary Beth Markey, President of the International Campaign for Tibet, said: "Nepal is duty-bound under its own agreement with the UNHCR to ensure the safe transit of Tibetan refugees through its territory and, having acceded to the Torture Convention, not to put them at risk of imprisonment and torture in Tibet. We urge the Nepal government and the UNHCR to work together to investigate this incident, including China's extra-territorial role, and to adopt remedies that prevent future occurrences of refoulement from Nepal, including written instructions and trainings for immigration and border police in proper procedures and international human rights standards."
The U.S. State Department 2009 Country Report on Human Rights Practices reports that "Tibetans repatriated from Nepal reportedly suffered torture, including electric shocks, exposure to cold and severe beatings and were forced to perform heavy physical labor."
