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Unheard Voices

Katia Nielsen

The writer has been executing a study with young Tibetans in Nepal to learn from their experience and aspirations concerning drugs, drinking and aggressive behaviour, and to pinpoint reasons as to why so many leave school.

The Nepalese say that the Tibetans are much better off financially than the Nepalese, that they have an easy life here in Nepal because they have access to funding and education. Between the lines the message is often that the Tibetans should be grateful that they have been provided with shelter and security from being expelled and persecuted in their home country, Tibet. It is often this attitude towards refugees that one finds in Western countries also. Here in Nepal though, I think that the fear of the local people is not founded in a concern about whether the Tibetan people will integrate well or not, but in a jealousy towards their economic status that in average, at least in the cities is better than the Nepalese. I will be the last person to deny the fact that Tibetans have most of the Western world’s support and that they are able to survive because of Nepal’s willingness to let them stay here, though these are not sustainable arguments to withdraw the Tibetan people’s civil, political and cultural rights. I will elaborate a little on this point:

At present most Tibetans are not allowed Nepalese citizenship. The children that are born in Nepal and even children of parent who themselves are born in Nepal are deprived from this right. This is directly against the Nepalese constitution that allows anybody living in Nepal for more than 20 years to get a Nepalese citizenship.

As a consequence the Tibetans are not allowed to buy land and in this way be able to move out from the refugee camps and integrate more easily in the Nepalese society. Also, they are not allowed to work in any official posts, like for example the governmental offices. Neither can they run for elections as candidates, both issues totally nullifying their ability to influence and participate in the development and running of the Nepalese society in general. Maybe I am native, but I would expect that a multi-ethnic society like Nepal would be far more developed in taking tolerant provisions towards these groups than any of the European countries where discrimination unfortunately also flourish.

Because most unfortunately do not have any legal citizenship, they are also not allowed to establish businesses, NGO’s or other organizations, at least officially. One young Tibetan told me that the Nepalese authorities did not want to allow the establishment of a metal workshop that would train both Tibetans and Nepalese young people, because the owner, a Tibetan, only held a Refugee Card (RC)

Holding a RC instead of a Nepalese citizenship the Tibetan’s freedom of movement is also restricted: One thing is that they have to apply to the Nepalese authorities to be allowed to leave the country, another thing is that the same authorities misuse their position by keeping asking for more and more, in my opinion, irrelevant information such as invitation letters, recommendations, bank accounts etc. This, to slow the process of acceptance and hereby indirectly ask for a ‘donation’ to speed it up!

Of course this problem can be solved if one chooses to buy a fake citizenship on the black market for around 80,000-100,000 rupees. It is obvious that this alternative is only creating more corruption and bribery, things that Nepal, as a country that is mostly surviving due to donor help also, has enough of already.

Growing distance

The bottom line in all this is that the Tibetan population in Nepal is forcefully held in their status as refugee instead of helping them integrating in the Nepalese society. And the distance between them and their Nepalese counterparts is growing bigger and bigger creating problems of ignorance, racism and jealousy on both sides. How can this be productive for any of the population? On one hand I understand the Nepalese reluctance to let the Tibetans have the same rights as other inhabitants of the country, since that would decrease their cultural and civil affiliation to Tibet. Thus, the young Tibetans that are born in Nepal are caught up in a frustrating ambivalent situation. They clearly identify themselves as Tibetans, but the reasons they are getting more and more distanced, and by the same token they are paralysed both by the Nepalese society and by the traditional values of their parents in their status as refugees. This, leaving them with a big question mark about who they actually are.

Already now one can detect increasing problems of drug and alcohol use, school dropouts and general frustration among the young Tibetans. Most of the problems are also present in the rest of the Nepalese society and actually in the rest of the world also. Though, I will argue that these escalating problems for the young Tibetans are specifically connected to their identity as refugees in Nepal.

Inspite the fact that they have the opportunity to attend school unit XII grade, many choose to leave before graduating. One could suspect that some of the reasons are that they fail twice or that their family cannot pay the school fees. But why are many of the Tibetans then ending up not having any job, or not even being willing to take one. I think we must dig deeper to find the explanation.

One young Tibetan explained that he felt no desire continuing school, because why should he go to school when nothing in Nepal would belong to him anyway, when he would never be able to influence the society, or have any power to change discrimination and unfair treatment. A Tibetan young woman told that even though she realises that education is essential in theory to get a good job, she sees no point in getting one, since many Tibetans even if they have the qualifications are put aside to the benefit of the Nepalese candidates. The Tibetans that left school before graduating often see their educated peers ending up with jobs that they themselves are doing, like selling jewellery to the tourists.

Their parents stand helpless to what they think is their children’s laziness. They ask: why are they not taking responsibility, why are they not joining the training programs, why are they not satisfied with the labour job in the carpet factory? The parents fail to see that all the possibilities the young Tibetan have to get education and a better financial situation than themselves are not necessarily a blessing or making their life easier. On the contrary the Tibetan parents have a great strength in being sure about their own roots, values and traditions. They were not influenced by the temptations of the modern society; they did not have to make the difficult choices between education, job opportunities and how to get accepted among their peers in the same way as today. Their hardship was no less, but it was different, they were grateful just getting food on their tables, and having a shelter.

Lost Case

In my opinion this situation will only change to the better if there will be initiatives from both the Tibetan and the Nepalese sides. For the young Tibetans to be able to gain strength enough to take responsibility for their own lives and avoid getting into drugs, drinking and aggressive behaviour, it would help a lot if they had the same rights as every Nepalese citizen, This will help them to feel that they belong somewhere, or at least they can choose if they wish. Also, if the Nepalese public in general could overcome its fear towards the Tibetans, the young people would not have to fight to the same extent trying to integrate and getting accepted.

Simultaneously, the Tibetan parents need to acknowledge that their youngsters can be granted real responsibility. Of course moral support is essential. I do not want to criticise nor undermine the excellent community network that the Tibetans have. I just think that the Tibetan youngsters are often locked up in the expectancy of their parents that they should be like them. If they make different choices or have different aspirations for life it is looked upon as undesirable. What is often happening with the young people that fall out of the mainstream ‘good boy’ or ‘good girl’ categories, the ones that are following the expectations of the surroundings, is that they are simply not given any chance to prove themselves differently. They are put into a box with a big stamp saying “lost case” or “bad boy” or “bad girl”. Their voices are not listened to, and even if they have alternative ideas, the tendency is that they are not taken seriously. Consequently, these youngsters have to fight even harder to reckon with this stigma inside their own community. Give them the courage to create things by themselves, and I think they will grow more self-confident. 

The young Tibetan in Nepal are better off, but still refuges with no civil, political or cultural rights.

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