Many organizations helped Bhutanese refugees in the camps of Jhapa and Morang, working with the Government of Nepal and with the refugees’ own committees. This page records what each of them did, with sources.
The Government of Nepal invited UNHCR in August 1991 to provide relief to the Bhutanese refugees on its territory. In 1992 UNHCR and the World Food Programme began a care and maintenance programme in the camps at the Government’s request.
Human Rights Watch recorded in 2007 that UNHCR supplied plastic sheeting for roofs, cooking fuel, and vegetables to add to the food rations. UNHCR was also responsible for the protection of refugees, and from 2007 it interviewed refugees who wanted to resettle and referred their names to the resettlement countries.
UNHCR still works in Nepal. It says it supports the Government’s programmes to protect and assist refugees, including legal identity documents and livelihood programmes.
Sources: Human Rights Watch, 2007 report · UNHCR Country Operation Plan 2002 · UNHCR Nepal
WFP provided food to Bhutanese refugees in Nepal from 1992, through a series of operations that the Government of Nepal asked for.
In 2018 WFP changed from giving food to giving cash, as part of a plan with UNHCR to end its assistance. In December 2018 it was reported that WFP would end its food assistance programme for refugees from Bhutan from January 2019. UNHCR said it would continue cash assistance for the refugees in greatest need.
Sources: WFP operation history · Setopati, 9 May 2018 · The Kathmandu Post, 5 December 2018
Nepal gave the refugees a place to stay. People who arrived before 1 June 1993 were recognized as refugees as a group. The Government’s Refugee Coordination Unit worked with UNHCR and the partner organizations in the camps.
In 2007 the Government agreed to resettlement in other countries, and signed an agreement with IOM for its work in Damak.
Sources: UNHCR Country Operation Plan 2002 · Human Rights Watch, 2003 report · WFP operation history · IOM, 10 December 2009
Each entry says what a source records and for which years. It is a record of past work and does not list the services available today. Check with each organization for its current programs.
IOM opened an office in Damak in December 2007. It handled cases for the resettlement countries, carried out health checks, gave cultural orientation courses, and organized the journey from the camps to the new countries.
IOM, 15 December 2008 · IOM, 10 December 2009 · How resettlement worked →
Caritas Nepal says it was the first organization to bring food and supplies to the refugees, that children were taught in the camps from 1991, and that a formal primary education programme began in 1993. Its Bhutanese Refugee Education Programme ran from January 2018 to December 2019; UNHCR also records Caritas as an education partner in 2020.
Human Rights Watch recorded in 2003 that LWF had helped create the water and sanitation system in the camps. UNHCR’s evaluation records LWF work in 2020–2022 on livelihoods, social counselling, education, health, and self-reliance.
AMDA Nepal says it ran its health work in the settlements itself from 2001 to 2020, as a partner of UNHCR. UNHCR records AMDA as a partner on health and medical services in 2019–2022. AMDA also documents later work with refugee settlement committees and community groups.
In July 1992 UNHCR, the Save the Children Fund and the United States Centers for Disease Control set up a system to keep track of illness and deaths in the camps.
With UNHCR, the Nepal Red Cross distributed kerosene for cooking in all seven camps in 2005. It was one of the partners that gave out food, blankets, cooking kits and tarpaulins after the fires at Goldhap and Sanischare camps in March 2011.
The Himalayan Times, 9 August 2005 · United Nations release, March 2011
Human Rights Watch recorded in 2003 that UNHCR had signed an agreement with the Nepal Bar Association to give legal counselling and representation to survivors of gender-based violence in the camps.
The Kathmandu Post reported in 2014 that UNHCR had worked since 2008 with TPO Nepal, an organization that provides counselling.
The Vajra Foundation, a group supported from the Netherlands, introduced solar cookers in the camps from 1998. By March 2006 it had given out 550 cookers in Beldangi I.
In December 2024 the ILO and UNHCR reported on a joint project to help refugees and their neighbours in Koshi Province earn a living.
AMDA’s account of its 2022–2024 work names settlement management committees, the Bhutanese Refugee Women Forum, the Bhutanese Refugee Children Forum, and the Bhutanese Refugee Association for the Disabled as community collaborators.
People who lived this history know it best. If a date, a number, a name or a description here is not accurate, tell us what is wrong and what it should say.
If an organization that helped you is not listed here, tell us its name and what it did.
