• News
  • Business
  • Donate
  • Features
    • Opinions
    • Arts & Style
    • Video
    • Photos
    • Interviews
    • Audio
  • About Us
  • New Americans Business Magazine
  • Contact
  • News
  • Business
  • Donate
  • Features
    • Opinions
    • Arts & Style
    • Video
    • Photos
    • Interviews
    • Audio
  • About Us
  • New Americans Business Magazine
  • Contact
Popular
Recent
Comments
Tags
  • U. S. 2020 Diversity Immigrant Visa Program opens Wednesday, Oct, 3

    October 1, 2018

    Feyi Tolani: An Advocate-In-Nursing

    November 1, 2018

    America’s Immigration Debate: The “Danger of Telling a Single Story.”

    February 13, 2017
  • CBUS Soul® Fest Expands to Two Days in 2025 – Augu ...

    May 16, 2025

    Ohio Business Enterprise Conference Supports Ohio ...

    May 16, 2025

    Community Center Playgrounds Opens Registration fo ...

    May 12, 2025
  • Good job, sir!

    January 12, 2021

    I'm call Haji I live the dadaab comp I am a refuge ...

    October 12, 2020

    Narayan vai, you spoke the truth about the importa ...

    September 6, 2020
  • Zora's House Zoning Code Zimbabwe Youths Youth of the Year Youth Foundation Youth Development of Columbus Youngstown Younger Ohioans Young At Art You Don’t Know Yoruba Club 21 Yoga International Day Yoga Day Yoga and Marathon X Gender Passport Wuyue Dance Worthington Christian School World Refugee Day World Radio Day World Mental Health Day World Hygiene Day World Hijab Day World Food Day World Cup 2022
  • CBUS Soul® Fest Expands to Two Days in 2025 – Augu ...

  • Ohio Business Enterprise Conference Supports Ohio ...

  • Community Center Playgrounds Opens Registration fo ...

  • Ohio Tourism Day Holds May 15

  • Columbus Department of Neighborhood Appoints 8 Nei ...

  • Bill Gates: 20 Years To Give My Wealth Away

  • Lt. Governor Tressel Announces Expanded Access to ...

  • The Ballot Box: A Kaleidoscope of Our Collective C ...

  • Governor DeWine Rejoices With The New Pope Leo XIV

  • Kiriji Memorial College Set of 1972 Seeks Educatio ...

  • Governor DeWine Rejoices With The New Pope Leo XIV

  • The Ballot Box: A Kaleidoscope of Our Collective C ...

  • Lt. Governor Tressel Announces Expanded Access to ...

  • Bill Gates: 20 Years To Give My Wealth Away

  • Columbus Department of Neighborhood Appoints 8 Nei ...

  • Ohio Tourism Day Holds May 15

  • Community Center Playgrounds Opens Registration fo ...

  • Ohio Business Enterprise Conference Supports Ohio ...

  • CBUS Soul® Fest Expands to Two Days in 2025 – Augu ...

  • Kiriji Memorial College Set of 1972 Seeks Educatio ...

Previous Next

Bhutan Refugees ask Japan to withdraw decoration of ex-Bhutan minister

Posted by: New Americans Magazine , July 5, 2021

By Bikash Sangraula, KYODO NEWS, with agency reports

Groups representing Bhutanese forcibly evicted from Bhutan have written to the Japanese prime minister asking that Japan withdraw a decoration conferred upon Dago Tshering, a former home minister accused by human rights activists of being a key perpetrator of ethnic cleansing in the Himalayan kingdom three decades ago, according to Kyodo News.

Also, a petition campaign is on-going requesting  a signature to enable ‘every member of Bhutanese Diaspora and all freedom and justice loving people to participate and voice their concern to the Japanese government.”

In April, the Japanese government said that Tshering, Bhutan’s home minister from 1991 to 1998 and ambassador to Japan from 1999 to 2008, would receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, earning him the distinction of being the first Bhutanese to get the honor.

Dago Tshering

“While we acknowledge the desire of your government to strengthen mutual relationship between Bhutan and Japan through the conferral of this award, we regret to state that this very gesture of goodness has unlocked deep-seated injury and trauma that many of us Bhutanese have personally undergone during the Home Minister’s tenure,” the groups said in a letter to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga dated June 24.

The groups represent Bhutanese living in the United States and elsewhere in the world, including nearby Nepal.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry and the Cabinet Office, both of which deal with state decorations, denied knowledge of the letter. While the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi acknowledged it is aware of the letter’s content, it did not say whether Japan officially received it.

In 1988, the Bhutan government implemented a national integration policy centered on the traditions embraced by majority Tibetan Buddhists, sparking anti-government movements among Nepali-speaking Bhutanese citizens.

On Aug. 17, 1990, then Deputy Home Minister Tshering revoked the citizenship of thousands of Bhutanese citizens. His order, and the ensuing state persecution of Nepali-speaking Bhutanese citizens, forced 130,000 Bhutanese to flee Bhutan and settle in refugee camps in eastern Nepal. They were prevented by Indian security personnel from settling in India or re-entering Bhutan.

The refugees lived for two decades in Nepal in makeshift camps, during which countless efforts at repatriation failed. Under a resettlement program launched in 2007, most Bhutanese refugees were resettled in eight countries — the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, Canada, Britain and the Netherlands. A few thousand Bhutanese refugees still live in Nepal, hoping to return to their homeland.

Bhutan human rights activist Tek Nath Rizal, who refused resettlement and lives in Nepal awaiting repatriation, says he cannot understand how the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star could be conferred on Tshering.

“I cannot fathom how a country like Japan, which has championed for the guarantee of human right and democracy in Bhutan in various forms for years, has now decided to award Dago Tshering, a racist, ruthless and corrupt former home minister,” Rizal was quoted as saying in a guest piece published on The Diplomat, an online news magazine, in May.

In an online signature campaign seeking broader support for the demand, members of what some human rights activists call the most forgotten refugees in the world have mentioned gross abuses, including arrest, torture, and eviction they faced, and have expressed a belief that Japan will revoke the award.

“I am signing this petition because my father was arrested and tortured by the Bhutan Army for months in Bhutan. This was done under the strict order and watch of Dago Tshering. Our property was then snatched from us, and we were driven out of our country. Bhutan and Dago Tshering is responsible for all this,” Malty Sharma, one of the signers, wrote.

In announcing the conferral of the honor on April 29, the Japanese government said Tshering “contributed to the strengthening of ties between Japan and Bhutan as well as to friendship” between their peoples.

Post Views: 1,862

Tags: Bhutan Refugee

Share!
Tweet

New Americans Magazine

About the author

Deba Uwadiae is an international journalist, author, global analyst, consultant, publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the New Americans Magazine Group, Columbus, Ohio. He is a member of the Ohio Legislative Correspondents Association, OCLA.

Related Posts

Bhutan: On the List of Red or Black

By Vishnu Luitel, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Nestled within the mighty Himalayan range lies the s ...

Bhutan: Reasons and Remedies For Being On Red List

By Ganga Lamitare, Columbus, Ohio There isn’t just one reason why Bhutan has been placed on the ...

Bhutanese Community Urges End to Deportations Amid ICE Detentions and Human Rights Abuses

By Sudarshan Pyakurel MA, MSW As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detains more individ ...

UN Working Group Highlights Human Rights Violations in Bhutan

By Bhutannewsnetwork The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has release ...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Popular
Recent
Comments
  • U. S. 2020 Diversity Immigrant Visa Program opens Wednesday, Oct, 3

    October 1, 2018

    Feyi Tolani: An Advocate-In-Nursing

    November 1, 2018

    America’s Immigration Debate: The “Danger of Telling a Single Story.”

    February 13, 2017
  • CBUS Soul® Fest Expands to Two Days in 2025 – Augu ...

    May 16, 2025

    Ohio Business Enterprise Conference Supports Ohio ...

    May 16, 2025

    Community Center Playgrounds Opens Registration fo ...

    May 12, 2025
  • Good job, sir!

    January 12, 2021

    I'm call Haji I live the dadaab comp I am a refuge ...

    October 12, 2020

    Narayan vai, you spoke the truth about the importa ...

    September 6, 2020

Archives

  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016

Contact Form


1+1=


American international journalist and author of "The Immigrant on Columbus Way: A True Life Guide To Settling Down As A New Immigrant To America "

Current/Past Issues

  • DailyNews
  • Hotels
  • Hotwire
  • Merchantic
  • Reference
  • Thesaurus
  • Urbanspoon

All used images are licensed by The New Americans Magazine.

Copyright © 2024 The New Americans Magazine | Layout and design by LiQiD inc