Freedom in the World 2001 - Bhutan

2001 Scores

Status: Not Free
Freedom Rating: 6.5
Civil Liberties: 6
Political Rights: 7

Overview

Signaling modest movement on a longstanding dispute, Bhutan and Nepal agreed in December 2000 on a procedure for verifying the citizenship of the 94,000 Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal since the early 1990s. However, the two sides put off negotiations over actually repatriating the refugees until after the lengthy verification process is completed.

Britain began guiding this Himalayan land's affairs in 1865 and installed the ruling Wangchuk dynasty in 1907. London's role ended with a 1949 Indo-Bhutan treaty that gave India control over Bhutan's foreign affairs. Since then, New Delhi has supported the Wangchuk family's continued rule as an absolute monarchy. The current monarch, Jigme Singye Wangchuk, succeeded his father to the throne in 1972.

The government began in 1987 requiring all citizens to adopt the dress and customs of the ruling, northern-based Ngalong Drukpa ethnic group. Authorities said they feared for the survival of Drukpa culture due to the large numbers of Nepali-speakers, also known as Southern Bhutanese, in the south. The situation for the Southern Bhutanese worsened in 1988, when authorities began applying a discriminatory 1985 Citizenship Act to arbitrarily strip thousands of Nepali speakers of their citizenship after a census showed Southern Bhutanese to be in the majority in five southern districts. The act confirmed the primary basis for citizenship to be residence in Bhutan in 1958, the year the kingdom extended citizenship to most Southern Bhutanese. But to prove citizenship, Southern Bhutanese now had to show a 1958 land tax receipt, which had been of little importance when issued three decades earlier. The act also tightened requirements for transmitting citizenship to persons born after 1958.

Southern Bhutanese groups organized pro-democracy demonstrations in 1990, although hardline groups reportedly carried out arson attacks and committed some political killings and other anti-government violence. In the early 1990s, soldiers reportedly raped and beat many Southern Bhutanese villagers and detained thousands as "anti-nationals." Tens of thousands of Southern Bhutanese fled to India and then into Nepal.

Under the December 2000 agreement, a 10-person, bilateral team will begin verifying documents and interviewing family heads in 2001. The team will place refugees into one of four categories first agreed to in 1993: bona fide Bhutanese whom authorities forcibly evicted; former Bhutanese who emigrated and therefore lost their citizenship rights under Bhutanese law; non-Bhutanese; and Bhutanese who have committed criminal acts. Many refugee activists fear that they will be placed wrongly into one of the latter three categories.

Moreover, since Bhutanese soldiers reportedly made many Southern Bhutanese sign "voluntary migration forms" before forcibly expelling them in the early 1990s, ordinary villagers potentially could be placed into the category of former Bhutanese who lost their citizenship by emigrating. The Bhutanese government maintains that most of the refugees either left voluntarily or were illegal immigrants. Refugee leaders say the vast majority of those in the camps are genuine Bhutanese nationals.

The government recently has faced pressure for political reform from members of the country's third major ethnic group, the Sarchops in eastern Bhutan, who in 1994 launched the Druk National Congress (DNC) party in exile. Since then, the DNC has organized demonstrations, wall postering, and other peaceful pro-democracy activities, mainly in eastern Bhutan. In 1997 and 1998 authorities arrested scores of suspected DNC members and sympathizers, including monks, religious teachers, and children and other relatives of DNC members.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Bhutanese lack the democratic means to change their government. King Wangchuk and a small circle of Ngalong Drukpa elites wield absolute power and make key decisions. In June 1998, King Wangchuk dissolved the council of ministers, or cabinet, removed himself as its chairman, and gave parliament the power, in theory, to remove the king through a two-thirds vote. The king also allowed the legislature to elect a majority of the cabinet, although the king will still assign portfolios. The diplomat Jigme Thinley became head of the council of ministers. It is unclear what effect these changes have had in practice.

The 150-member national assembly meets irregularly and in practice has little independent power. Every three years village headmen choose 100 national assembly members, while the king appoints 40 seats and religious groups choose 10 seats. The national assembly is often a forum for diatribes against the Southern Bhutanese, who hold a disproportionately small number of seats. In practice, authorities prohibit political parties, and none legally exist.

In the early 1990s the army and police committed grave human rights violations against

Southern Bhutanese, including arbitrary arrests, beatings, rape, destruction of homes, and robbery. Authorities have punished few, if any, of those responsible, which has resulted in a continued climate of impunity. The rudimentary judiciary is not independent. The king appoints and can dismiss judges, most of whom have little legal training. Several detainees and prisoners have reportedly died in custody in recent years as a result of poor conditions. The government released 40 political prisoners in December 1999. They included South Asia's best-known political prisoner, Tek Nath Rizal, whom authorities sentenced in November 1993 to life imprisonment under a broadly drawn National Security Act legislated three years after his imprisonment.

Authorities restrict freedom of expression and prohibit criticism of the king, except indirectly during national assembly discussions. The state-owned weekly Kuensel is Bhutan's sole regular publication and only offers pro-regime views. The state-controlled Bhutan Broadcasting Service's multilingual radio broadcasts and television service similarly do not offer opposition viewpoints. Authorities began operating a public-access Internet server in 1999, although the cost may make access prohibitive for most Bhutanese. Satellite television reception is illegal, although in practice it is generally tolerated.

Freedom of assembly is nonexistent. In recent years security forces have arrested participants in peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in eastern Bhutan, as well as Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal who entered and demonstrated inside Bhutan. Authorities sharply restrict freedom of association for political purposes but permit some business and civic organizations to function.

The sixth Five Year Plan (1987-1992) introduced the program "One Nation, One People," which promoted driglam namzha, the national dress and customs of the ruling Drukpas. A 1989 royal decree made driglam namzha mandatory for all Bhutanese, although enforcement is sporadic. The government continued to ban the Nepali language as a subject of instruction in schools.

The government reportedly continued to require Southern Bhutanese to obtain official no-objection certificates (NOC) to enter schools, take government jobs, and sell farm products. According to an April article in the Bangkok Post and other accounts, Bhutanese refugees say that authorities do not permit Nepali-speaking children in southern Bhutan to attend school, although it is difficult to confirm the extent to which this is true. In recent years, authorities have reportedly denied NOCs for schooling to children of Sarchop pro-democracy activists. In 1998, the government fired 219 mostly Southern Bhutanese civil servants, many of whom were related to pro-democracy activists.

The Drukpa Kagyu sect of Mahayana Buddhism is the official state religion. Buddhist lamas (priests) wield fairly strong political influence. During a 1997 crackdown on Sarchop pro-democracy activists, authorities reportedly closed 13 monasteries of the Nyingmpa school of Buddhism that is practiced by most Sarchops.

Independent trade unions and strikes are de facto illegal. Officials often force villagers to contribute "voluntary" labor for infrastructure projects. Property rights are limited. In recent years the Bhutanese government has resettled some northern Bhutanese on land belonging to Southern Bhutanese refugees.

In recent years, New Delhi has urged Thimpu to evict hundreds of Assamese and Bodo militants from the Indian state of Assam living in jungle camps in southern Bhutan. According to Indian press reports, Bhutanese officials say they are trying to persuade the guerrillas to peacefully vacate the bases. However, some Indian officials accuse Thimpu of sheltering the militants.