Damak, May 25:

The United States will start the preliminary process of resettlement of Bhutanese refugees in the US from next week.

The first phase of the programme for the resettlement of 60,000 or more refugees would kick off next week, US envoy to Nepal James F Moriarty told a press conference in the UN High Commissioner’s office here today, after his tour of the Beldangi camp in Jhapa.

“The refugees will be informed about the whole process on June 6, prior to kickstarting the preliminary process,” he said.

Moriarty said that the International Organisation for Migration was selected for dealing with the resettlement issue. In this connection, camps will be established in Kathmandu and Jhapa in July and September, respectively. It would require at least a five-month period for a family to leave for the US, he said. Officials in the Citizen and Immigration Services of the US Home Ministry will directly interview each refugee after the application for migration, he added.

“The refugees’ interest matters most for migration to the US rather than age, academic qualification or ability to find employment,” he said.

Upon arrival in the US, the refugees would be provided with living quarters, furniture, food supplies and clothes by NGOs. These organisations will also assist them in finding employment, take English lessons and help admit children to schools, Moriarty said. The US government will provide allowances and health facilities once the refugees reach the US. The main objective of resettlement is to make the refugees self-reliant, he said. Once they arrive in the US, they would no more be refugees but citizens of the United States with the freedom to choose their religion and move to any place within the country, he added.

The refugees would have the right to apply for permanent residency after a year and will be granted US citizenship after five years, he said. If they wish to return to Bhutan later they would have that option too, he said. He also said that the US would continue to exert moral pressure on Bhutan to repatriate its refugees.

USAID’s $2 million food aid

KATHMANDU: The US on Friday offered $2million in food aid for the over 108,000 Bhutanese refugees living in camps in the eastern part of the country. American ambassador James F Moriarty on Friday announced in Jhapa that his country is making an additional $2 million contribution to the refugee food programme. The donation from the USAID Food for Peace (FFP) programme is in addition to the US donation of $1.8 million earlier this year, according to Moriarty.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) in Nepal welcomed the aid. “Twice this year, the United States has stepped in at critical times and provided WFP with the resources needed to avoid cutting food rations to the Bhutanese refugees. The combined impact of the US’s generosity means that the refugees will have enough food for four months, but challenges for ensuring food supplies for the refugees remain,” a statement issued by the WFP quoted Richard Ragan, WFP Country Representative in Nepal, as saying. — HNS