The Nepali Minister of Foreign Affairs Pradeep Gyawali has offered a written clarification to Members of Parliament about an agreement signed in secrecy with China during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Nepal in October last year.
The governments of China and Nepal have reportedly agreed to hand over people crossing “each other’s” borders illegally or without proper documentation within seven days of their custody. This is seen as a move targeting the already vulnerable Tibetan refugees who cross over into Nepal from Tibet to flee Chinese persecution.
This clarification by Minister Gyawali was due to the legislation in the Nepalese constitution requiring the government to appraise Parliament within one month of the session’s resumption about any international treaty or agreement the government has signed.
Higher officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the above agreement will come into effect “soon”, as the internal procedures required to bring this into play are being worked out. “It may still take at least one month to bring this into implementation,” said an official, asking not to be named.
While such legislation may be relevant for border security, experts say that this provision will immediately target “refugees” from Tibet who cross the border to make a safe passage to India and elsewhere through the United Nations refugee agency in Nepal. China officially claims that there are no Tibetan refugees in the world, but simply those who have crossed the border illegally.
The report cited that the “gentleman’s agreement” Nepal had reached with the international community in the early 1980s, under which Kathmandu agreed to provide “safe passage” to those fleeing Tibet, and adhering to a “non-refoulment policy” on humanitarian grounds, will be overridden. This will dramatically restrict the likelihood of illegally entering Nepal from Tibet on the Chinese side of the border. The report further quoted officials as saying Nepal would stick to its gentleman’s agreement, but only verbally.
Nepal is home to 13,514 Tibetan refugees, the vast majority of whom have been born there and are undocumented. According to the report, this “was the first point of the 20-point agreement signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Nepal”. While it will officially come into effect from February “Nepal seems to be under an influence to enforce it before time”.
The agreement is facing criticism within Nepal. Nepal has not signed the United Nations Convention Relating to Refugee Status which guarantees their refugee populations certain rights; New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch says that Nepal cannot send back refugees to countries with threats to their life or freedom, due to several international legal obligations and that they are bound by the principle of non-refoulment.
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