Over 3,000 Bhutanese in Nepal resettled

Kathmandu, Aug. 14 : Over 3,000 Bhutanese refugees in Nepal have been resettled in western countries, The Kathmandu Post reported on Thursday.

The refugees have been resettled in the United States, Denmark, Australia and other countries under the third country resettlement program.

Xinhua quoted an official at the International Office for Migration (IOM), which is playing a key role in the resettlement process, as saying that the process is continuing smoothly and as planned.

Among them, 3,034 were taken to the U.S., 102 went to New Zealand and 19 headed for Norway. Likewise, 13 and 62 others were taken to Denmark and Australia respectively, while 17 refugees were resettled in the Netherlands.

The IOM plans to resettle over 8,500 refugees under the third country resettlement program, most of whom will go to the U.S.

An IOM official also claimed that the resettlement process is becoming easier due to the positive messages from those already resettled abroad.

More than 108,000 Bhutanese refugees have been living in seven camps in Jhapa and Morang districts, some 300 km east of Kathmandu since 1992.

ANI