US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU984

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000984 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS AND PRM 
LONDON FOR POL - GURNEY 
GENEVA FOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/28/2013 
TAGS: PREF, PHUM, PREL, NP, CH, Tibetan Refugees 
SUBJECT: CHINESE PRESSURE NEPAL TO DEPORT TIBETANS 
 
REF: A. KATHMANDU 0753 
     B. KATHMANDU 0715 
 
Classified By: CDA ROBERT K. BOGGS.  REASON:  1.5 (B,D). 
 
1.  (C)  Summary:  On May 29 Office of Tibet Representative 
in Kathmandu Wangchuk Tsering reported that the Department of 
Immigration was preparing to hand over to representatives of 
the Chinese Embassy 18 Tibetans detained for immigration 
violations.  The Government of Nepal (GON) has also asked the 
UNHCR to hand over three Tibetan minors, originally detained 
with others in the group but later released into UNHCR 
custody, for deportation as well.  Emboffs have intervened 
with both the Department of Immigration and the Home Ministry 
to press them not to deport the Tibetans, who have been 
declared "persons of concern" by UNHCR, but prospects of 
non-deportation appear bleak.  Most alarming is the direct 
intervention by Chinese diplomats, who had heretofore applied 
discreet pressure on the GON to dissuade refugees, in 
attempting to secure the Tibetans' deportation.  End summary. 
 
2.  (SBU)  On May 29 Office of Tibet Representative Wangchuk 
Tsering reported to poloff that a member of his Office had 
 
SIPDIS 
run into Chinese diplomats at the Department of Immigration 
when he went there to pay the fines for 18 Tibetans detained 
in a Kathmandu jail since April 15 on immigration violations 
(Refs A and B). According to Tsering, the Chinese had 
apparently already paid the immigration fines for the 18 
(plus a 19th Tibetan who had been arrested separately on 
similar charges), and the Department of Immigration was 
preparing to hand them over to the Chinese for deportation. 
Tsering said he had already informed UNHCR, and asked the 
 
SIPDIS 
Embassy to raise the issue with the Ministry of Home and the 
Department of Immigration. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Emboff contacted Home Ministry Joint Secretary 
Niranjan Baral (the Secretary was out for the day), who 
professed to know nothing of the matter.  She stressed the 
importance of abiding by internationally respected norms and 
established past practice by handing over the detainees to 
UNHCR, who has declared them "persons of concern."  Baral 
undertook to look into the matter and asked poloff to call 
back later.  Poloff then contacted Immigration Director 
Subarna Lal Shrestha, who confirmed that the Tibetans would 
be summarily deported, "as per our regulation," to China.  He 
was unable or unwilling to describe what regulation mandated 
their deportation (there is no extradition treaty with 
China), nor would he disclose who had ordered their 
deportation or paid the fines.  In response to poloff's 
urging that the detainees be turned over to UNHCR, he 
redirected her to the Home Ministry.  In a follow-up 
conversation, Home Joint Secretary Baral advised that the 
intervention by the US and other embassies had made the 
Ministry reconsider the matter.  He and his colleagues were 
thinking carefully about what to do, he said, and would most 
likely defer deciding until the following day.  Poloff 
reiterated the above-mentioned points and added that 
deporting Tibetans (eight of whom are minors) to China would 
be certain to elicit strong negative international reaction, 
including from the U.S. 
 
4.  (C)  UNHCR Protection Officer Cecilia Becker, who spent 
several hours at the Department of Immigration in an effort 
to fend off the deportation order, told poloff that she had 
observed several Chinese Embassy cars throughout the day in 
the parking lot.  While at the Department, she was confronted 
by the Chinese DCM, who demanded that UNHCR turn over three 
Tibetan minors (two aged six and one aged nine) originally 
arrested with the 18, to him for deportation.  He reportedly 
told her that he "had been waiting all day" for the Tibetans 
to be turned over, and insinuated that UNHCR was to blame for 
the delay.  Becker said that the the Department of 
Immigration also asked that the three children be turned 
over.  She told poloff that she will ignore the order, but 
since the Home Ministry knows where the children are staying, 
she fears they may be picked up anyway.  (She also confirmed 
that her understanding was that the immigration fines had 
been paid by the Chinese Embassy.)  She said she was 
pessimistic that the Tibetans would be able to avoid 
deportation, but urged the Embassy to continue its efforts. 
 
5.  (C)  Comment:  High-ranking Government of Nepal (GON) 
officials have indicated to us in the past that pressure from 
the Chinese Embassy was responsible for their stricter 
application to Tibetans of immigration regulations.  That 
pressure heretofore had remained discreetly, if no less 
effectively, behind the scenes.  The actions today of Chinese 
diplomats--paying immigration fines to speed deportation and 
confronting UNHCR representatives with a demand that they 
hand over minors to the Department of Immigration--should 
remove any doubt of the extent of their efforts to ensure a 
more draconian interpretation of immigration laws for 
Tibetans attempting to transit Nepal.  The Embassy will 
continue to urge the GON to respect international norms and 
practice--and avoid international censure--by turning over 
these "persons of concern" to UNHCR. 
BOGGS