Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat met with UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, at the UNHCR office on Tuesday and discussed the issue of Bhutanese refugees sheltered in Nepal.

According to the Nepal’s Permanent Mission in Geneva, Mahat clearly stated that it was the responsibility of Bhutan to take back the Bhutanese people who are not resettled in third countries. He reiterated that it was an inalienable right of the Bhutanese refugees, wherever they have been settled, to go back to their homeland.

Minister Mahat also thanked the UNHCR for its support in the third country resettlement of a large number of Bhutanese refugees and asked Grandi exert pressure on Bhutan to allow for voluntary repatriation of the remaining refugees.

Grandi noted that he was clear about the position of Nepal on the Bhutanese refugees and would do his best, within his means, in further continuing the third country resettlement, and exert moral pressure for voluntary repatriation.

He also said that UNHCR would continue to support the remaining refugees in the camps.