Speech #1020207210

Office in Kathmandu was slated for closure in 1991. but an infusion of US $100.000 from the US Government to support a Tibetan refugee protection and processing program was critical to keeping this Office open. US funds were primarily used to administer a refugee reception center in Kathmandu. with some assistance also coming from the CTA Office in Nepal. and to provide health care. food and transportation money for newly arrived Tibetan refugees. The 19921993 UNHCR budget estimate for continued administration of the Tibetan refugee program is US $130.000. The Office has been diligent and effective in meeting its mandate to provide protection to Tibetan refugees. However. the recent and burgeoning influx of Bhutanese refugees into Nepal (9.000 refugees in 1991) and the fact that the Office has only one automobile have prevented the UNHCR from regularly conducting firsthand investigations and monitoring of the forced repatriation problems at the TibetNepal border. A second automobile. preferably a fourwheel drive vehicle. would greatly enhance a badlyneeded UNHCR presence at the TibetNepal border. The work of the Office received very high marks from newly arrived Tibetan refugees. the CTA and the US Embassy in Nepal. All interviewed new arrivals were previously unaware of the protections they are now eligible to receive through the UNHCR and were genuinely surprised and grateful of the attention and services provided by the Office in Kathmandu. Similarly. the UNHCR representatives in Kathmandu praised the cooperative spirit of the new arrivals and the CTA authorities in Nepal. Unlike other past refugee populations in Nepal. the Tibetans had no intcrest in collecting a regular stipend from the UNHCR Office. Usually. even Tibetans in the most dire conditions of health were eager to leave Nepal immediately and to travel to Dharamsala. India. "to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama." After the issue of refugee refoulement and the need to better monitor Nepalese border guards. an immediate need is to build a large and permanent building to serve as a reception center and health clinic for newly arrived refugees. The current center is rented and inadequate to meet current and projected demands. The center has also changed sites several times because of Nepalese landlords fears that the Nepal Government disapproves of the refugee facility and that the large numbers of refugees regularly overcrowd and badly damage housing property. The CTA has purchased a fiveacre site outside of Kathmandu and has drawn up plans. in consultation with the UNHCR Office. to construct a permanent reception center. The cost is estimated to be US$264.898.