Significant progress has been made in healthcare delivery, particularly in the areas of infectious disease control, non-communicable diseases, and traditional medicine. There are also several challenges faced by the healthcare system, including infrastructure issues, increased NCDs, and the integration of traditional and modern medicine. The article concludes with recommendations for improving healthcare services in the region, emphasising the need for evidence-based practices, infrastructure development, and sustainable healthcare policies. Read full
This edition of The Bhutan Journal is solemnly dedicated to the memory of the late Dr. Govinda Rizal—scholar, activist, and co-founding editor of this publication. Since the journal’s inception in 2019, Dr. Rizal remained a steadfast pillar of its editorial vision, intellectual integrity, and unwavering commitment to truth. Read full
The resettled Bhutanese, most specifically in the US, have widespread mental health issues. The trend has improved in the last couple of year, though. The issue is not completely absent in other countries where they have been resettled but due to the small population size, they receive less attention. There have been very few studies made on the cause of the issue to prescribe tentative solution. This article will look into the current situation of the mental health issues in the resettled communities and efforts made to address them. Read full
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Ram Karki & Awatif Laouedj Introduction On 30 April 2021, the Japanese government announced to award Dago Tshering with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star to strengthen the relationship between Bhutan and Japan (Mishra, 2021). Dago Tshering, former Bhutanese Ambassador to Japan, was recognised for his services to enhancing the partnership and friendship between Japan and Bhutan. This was the first time the honour had been bestowed by the Japanese government to a Bhutanese citizen. From 1991 until 1998, he was both Minister of Home Affairs and Commissioner of Cultural Affairs (Mishra, 2021). During his tenure, human rights violations took place against the Lhotsampa community, who were victims of ethnic cleansing (Bhattacharyya, 2017). This announcement has dismayed the crime victims, who are now protesting the decision. In the wake of this, considerable attention has been paid to the human rights violations of 1990-1993 under Tshering’s tenure (Bhutan News Service, 2021). Because of Drukpa’s cultural hegemony in Bhutan, the Lhotsampa, originating from Nepal, were made to follow Drukpa’s rules and standards. The Lhotsampa’s Hindu way of life was in stark contrast to these limitations (Bhattacharyya, 2017). In the late 1980s, Bhutanese elites perceived the growing ethnic Lhotsampa group as a demographic and cultural threat. The government enacted discriminatory citizenship laws that disproportionately affected the Lhotsampa community (Human Rights Watch, 2008). Lhotsampa’s were subjected to harrowing atrocities because they were Hindus in a mostly Buddhist society (Bhattacharyya, 2017) and this made them victims of a deliberate cultural and ethnic cleansing. Due to a new Act’s need for proof of residence, the Lhotsampas were labelled as illegal immigrants. From attacks on their dress code, language, and bank accounts to the most severe types of sexual molestation and torture, they were subjected to a barrage of assaults that forced the Lhotsampas to flee Bhutan (Pulla, 2016). About 108,000 Lhotsampas ejected from Bhutan by force were upset at the dismal state…
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A high-profile case involving the supreme court justice dominated the news outlets of the country for the majority of the year. The personal collusion between a lady and army chief was tagged as mutiny and criminal conspiracy. Where females are treated as incompetent compared to their male counterparts, sentencing a lady on a charge of mutiny is contentious. On the political front, the governing party DNT has gradually cornered the opposition DPT with the likely intention to kill it by the next election, scheduled for 2023. Since anti-king sentiments outpoured at the party’s gathering after the 2013 election, the palace has taken calculated steps to finish DPT at any costs. Other parties have become the instruments. Political participation of women and other minority communities remains very low due to a lack of government initiatives for positive outcomes. Women and girl children continue to face the wrath of masculinity – sexual abuses and rapes. The safety of girls is at risk. There are no government interventions despite the seriousness of the issue. The safety of women and girls is not the priority of any successive government. The solution is focused on jail terms for perpetrators where possible – rather than seeking long-term solutions through women empowerment and social awareness through education. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the economy to the brink. Unless any revolutionary programmes are launched, the economy is likely to take years to repair. The government-imposed restriction challenged the general life and treating citizens like criminals for minor violations of orders has questioned the very tenets of humanity in Bhutan. Unemployment has increased. Failure of the government to create employment opportunities provided good grounds for the palace to take advantage and present itself as the rescuer of an unemployed new generation. The initiative from the palace ‘Gyalsung’ has overtaken the constitutional mandate of an elected government. It may create some jobs, but it will undermine the authenticity of the elected…
Forward This is the third year BW publishing Annual Human Rights Report on Bhutan. This is our humble effort to promote human rights, equality and justice. We have been consistently exposing the issues of human rights violations since 2019 and questioning the authority of its inability to provide justice to the citizens. Though Bhutan claims being a democracy with a written constitution guaranteeing modest fundamental rights to all its citizen, it continues to violate human rights of its citizen. The media are controlled with punitive measures and social media is monitored and censored. Politicians appear to be ruled by bureaucracy. Citizens are still scared of speaking the truth about instances of Human Rights violations. There is no national mechanism to monitor. Justice to the victims rests on whims of the local bureaucrats. Issue of political prisoners lingers in limbo. These brave individuals fought for human rights and democracy. When the country proclaimed democracy, the democracy fighters are treated like criminals. They have failed to receive a fair trial. Until they remain in prisons, Bhutan cannot proclaim being a democratic country. At the international level, Bhutan has successfully painted its image as champion of happiness philosophy through its hypocritic Gross National Happiness (GNH) campaign. On top of that, being new entrée to democracy club, the international community has diverted its attention from human rights violations and refugees to helping install democratic institutions in the country. We would say, the process has been very slow and unreliable. Even the erstwhile critics of human rights records of Bhutan like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other international human rights organisations stopped their monitoring Bhutan rights records, turning deaf ears to human rights violations in the country. There is an acute need of an independent mechanism to monitor human rights situation in the country and bring those instances to the table. The timely birth of The Bhutan Watch and its continuous monitoring and reporting…
ABSTRACT Bhutan’s population design out of unfounded fears led to the eviction of over 20% of the country’s population, mostly Nepali speakers. It was not ethnic cleansing. It was Bhutan’s best effort to avoid democracy and respect human rights. The efforts to return to Bhutan failed. Most of them are now resettled in developed countries. The data included in this article were driven from primary research conducted by the author in August 2018. It was found that the lives of the resettled Bhutanese people have germinated with new hopes and a new vision for the future. They have embraced their new country and their connection with Bhutan is gradually eroding. The connection would have benefited both resettled Bhutanese and Bhutan. This paper provides a basic background of the Bhutanese refugee issue but focuses primarily on the integration of resettled Bhutanese in South Australia, their psychological attachments with Bhutan and Australia, and the way they are coping up with language challenges, cultural shocks, and identity issues. Keywords: Discrimination, equality, happiness, immigration, integration, refugees Read Complete Article
Introduction Bhutan has emerged well as a promoter of happiness parameter to measure the status of social wellbeing. However, the country failed to ensure that the principle becomes part of the Bhutanese society. Bhutan talked much of happiness, implemented less of it. Bhutanese, in all, failed to feel they are happy. Bhutan King’s ingenious idea of Gross National Happiness over Gross Domestic Product to measure development has stoked interests among many western scholars, governments and students. The fact is that the idea of happiness had evolved well before the enthronement of the King Jigme Singye Wangchuk in Europe and entered Bhutan in late 1990s. What Bhutan did is just coining a new term for it – Gross National Happiness. Early philosophers have extensively discussed the need of happiness as essential part of the in human existence. The ideal concept lost its track with growing influences of consumerism that sought happiness in material possession than on solace of inner self. Yet, search for happiness had not ended up all. Today, this has come up as an idea of fusion between positive psychology and economics. You must be mentally sound and economically well to live a happy life. Certainly the pursuit of happiness is not a new concept. The American Declaration of Independence eloquently makes a passing reference to it as the right of human to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Nevertheless economists have shied away from pursuing the path of happiness for long claiming that there is no scientific basis to measure happiness. But things seem to be changing. Happiness in Buddhist, Hindu and Stoic sense points towards detachment and comes from within, not outside and this makes amuses among the western scholars. From that point of view, certainly the material development becomes pointless and of no consequence to actual happiness. Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan make up most of the Himalayan range and were seen as the exotic place. The…