Geneva: The Global Campaign for the Release of Political Prisoners in Bhutan (GCRPPB) has urged the government of Bhutan to grant amnesty to all its political prisoners immediately and unconditionally.
Addressing the pre session on Bhutan ahead of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday, founder and global coordinator of the GCRPPB, Ram Karki, requested the member states to make the following recommendations in the forthcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Bhutan:
· Grant amnesty to all 34 political prisoners immediately and unconditionally.
· Ensure that released political prisoners receive proper rehabilitation inside the country and are compensated adequately.
· Invite International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to monitor prison conditions and facilitate family visits.
On the issue of Bhutanese refugees, and those resettled former Bhutanese with overseas passports willing to visit Bhutan, the international community was urged to make the following recommendations to Bhutan:
· Immediately develop a process for repatriating all those Bhutanese refugees who wish to return with honour and dignity in a time-bound manner under the supervision of the UNHCR.
· Guarantee the right of former Bhutanese citizens with overseas passports to obtain tourist visas to visit Bhutan to meet their near and dear ones.
Explaining several incidents of human rights violations such as arbitrary detention, unfair trials,
Unlawful state seizures of private land, lack of freedom of expression and speech and discrimination in the recognition of citizenship in Bhutan, Mr Karki urged the international community to make following recommendations to Bhutan in the forthcoming UPR session on Bhutan:
· Take immediate measures to establish an Independent Human Rights Institution in Bhutan, per the Paris Principles.
· Eliminate all obstacles curtailing the country’s freedom of press, speech, and expression.
· Allow international human rights organisations to operate in the country.
Geneva-based Bhutanese Ambassador Tenzin Rondel Wangchuk, Permanent Representative of Bhutan Mrs Dechen Om, members of permanent missions of several countries and members of civil societies from 14 countries whose UPR session takes place this November were present during the meeting.
This is possibly the first time in the history of the Bhutanese refugee movement that a representative of a Bhutanese refugee organisation has made a presentation at the UN platform, with high-level Bhutanese government officials as audience members and directly urging Bhutan government face to face to resolve the afore-mentioned issues in the presence of a large number of permanent representatives of the UN member countries.
Mr Karki also participated at the EU-Civil Society consultation at their Geneva based office on Wednesday afternoon and urged EU countries to make strong recommendations to Bhutan in the forthcoming UPR session. He urged the Bhutan government to stop dumping into India those political prisoners who were released after completing their prison terms immediately after being released and ask Bhutan to rehabilitate them inside the country with adequate compensation or arrange family reunion liaising with the countries where such prisoners’ families are resettled.
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