US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU1621

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 001621 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SA/INS, PRM: RMACKLER, G:MFRIEDRICH 
LONDON FOR POL/GURNEY, NSC FOR MILLARD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/26/2013 
TAGS: PREF, CH, NP, Tibetan Refugees 
SUBJECT: NEPAL: WERE FOUR TIBETAN CHILDREN DEPORTED IN 
EARLY AUGUST? 
 
 
Classified By: DCM Robert K. Boggs for reasons 1.5 (b,d). 
 
1. (C) Summary.  Radio Free Asia reported on August 8 that 
four Tibetan children were deported from Nepal to China.  The 
facts of the alleged deporation are far from clear, however. 
The Office of Tibet has anectodal evidence that the 
deporation did occur while UNHCR officials in Nepal are 
convinced that the deporation did not occur.  Post has 
received a second-hand account from a police officer in 
Sindhupalchowk District, along the north-central Nepal-China 
border, that Royal Nepal Army soldiers in the district had 
arrested four Tibetan children, who reportedly were handed 
over to district police officers and later to Nepali 
immigration officials.  The source said he had heard that the 
children were later turned over to Chinese authorities, but 
had no definitive information.  The Government of Nepal, 
however, has denied, verbally and in writing, that the 
incident occured and has issued an explicit statement of 
policy against refoulement of refugees.  In light of recent 
GON commitments, Post believes that if the children were 
returned to China, it was the result of a lack of 
accountability by local-level authorities.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) On August 8, Radio Free Asia reported that four 
Tibetan youths, after hiding in the Nepali border town of 
Tatopani, were returned to Chinese authorities. 
Subsequently, PolOff spoke with Wangchuk Tsering, the Dalai 
Lama's Representative in Tibet, and later with Abraham 
Abraham, Country Director for the United Nations High 
Commission for Refugees. 
 
3. (SBU) Tsering said that a Tibetan woman had arrived at the 
UNHCR Reception Center in Kathmandu on August 5 looking for 
her 15 year-old cousin who was attempting to cross the 
Chinese border into Nepal.  The woman reportedly had paid a 
Nepali guide in the Tibetan border town of Zangmo to escort 
the young man to Kathmandu, he said.  According to Tsering, 
the woman was also told that the guide was escorting three 
other children into Nepal.  Later, Wangchuk reported, the 
woman received a call from a family member in Tibet that the 
young cousin was under Chinese custody in Zangmo after being 
deported from Nepal.  The Office of Tibet also sent a staff 
member to the Tatopani area to ascertain the validity of the 
woman's account.  The staff member spoke with one local in 
Lamo Sangu village near Tatopani who reported seeing the 
Royal Nepal Army arrest four Tibetan children and had heard 
the children had been handed over to Chinese authorities. 
 
4. (SBU) UNHCR's Abraham told PolOff that, in response to 
concerns raised by the Office of Tibet, he met with Foreign 
Secretary Madhu Raman Acharya and officials at the Home 
 
SIPDIS 
Ministry.  Abraham indicated that all of the Government of 
Nepal officials he spoke with assured him that no such 
deportation occurred.  Acharya, in particular, is aware of 
the potential repurcussions that deportation of Tibetans to 
China would have on Nepal's bilateral relations with the U.S. 
and other western governments, Abraham said.  Ten days after 
his meetings with GON officials, UNHCR received a letter 
signed by Under Secretary Kabi Raj Khanal of the Home 
Ministry confirming that no Tibetan asylum seekers had been 
deported to China.   Abraham believed that the Foreign 
Secretary had a role to play in the issuance of the letter 
 
SIPDIS 
since this was the first time the Home Ministry had ever sent 
such a letter to UNHCR.  Abraham said that, as a result, 
UNHCR does not/not believe the deporation occurred. 
 
5. (SBU) On August 22, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent 
the Ambassador a letter with a statement on the GON's Refugee 
Policy, which states that "Nepal will uphold the principle of 
non-refoulement of the refugees.  Nepal will not forcibly 
return any asylum seekers from its soil.  Nepal will allow 
the UNHCR to verify and establish the status of people 
seeking asylum and will allow the UNHCR to process them 
without any hindrance." 
 
6. (C) On August 26, the Embassy's Surveillance Detection 
Unit (SDU) contacted police officials at both Police 
headquarters in Kathmandu and police officers at the 
Sindhupalchowk District office.  (Tatopani is located within 
Sindhupalchowk District in north-central Nepal.)  Police 
officials in the capital said they had not heard of any 
deporations of Tibetans to China.  However, a sub-Inspector 
of Police in Sindhupalchowk confirmed that RNA soldiers in 
the district had arrested four Tibetan children over three 
weeks ago (roughly the same time frame).  The soldiers 
released the children into the custody of district police 
officers, who in turn handed them over to Department of 
Immigration officials.  The sub-Inspector subsequently had 
heard that the immigration officials turned the children over 
to Chinese authorities.  The police officer also said that no 
official records of the deporation existed. 
 
7. (C) Comment.  The account given by the sub-Inspector of 
Police in Sindhupalchowk is consistent with the report given 
to the Office of Tibet staff member by a local Nepalese in 
the same area.  Other than these second-hand accounts, 
however, there is no evidence to confirm that the four 
children were deported.  The GON has no official records of 
such an incident and repeatedly has denied that it happened. 
However, prior to the deporation of 18 Tibetans in May 2003, 
UNHCR believes, Tibetans caught near the Nepal-China border 
were frequently handed over to Chinese authorities.  After 
the May deportation, international pressure -- particularly 
by the U.S. -- succeeded in prevailing on the GON to frame a 
more explicit policy of non-refoulement and of cooperation 
with UNHCR on asylees.  If children were returned to China 
earlier this month, we believe the most likely explanation is 
a lack of accountability by local-level authorities along the 
border who benefit from cooperation with the Chinese.  To 
prevent these lapses of administrative discipline, Post has 
pressed UNHCR to conduct staff missions to border areas in 
order to sensitize local-level officials on the issue.  End 
Comment. 
MALINOWSKI