States of Impunity: Bhutanese Refugee Camps in Nepal

Neikirk, Alice M; Nickson, Ray

doi:10.13169/statecrime.6.1.0037

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State Crime Journal

Volume 6, Issue 1

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States of Impunity: Bhutanese Refugee Camps in Nepal

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Author(s): Alice M Neikirk ¹ , Ray Nickson ²

Publication date (Print): 1 April 2017

Journal: State Crime Journal

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: corruption, humanitarianism, ethnic cleansing, citizenship, Lhotshampa

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Abstract

Refugee camps are generally conceived as an indication of ongoing conflict. As refugee generating conflicts become increasingly complex and protracted, however, camps become sites of post-conflict reconstruction. This has been the experience for the Bhutanese refugees who have lived in camps for close to thirty years, and are subject to numerous efforts to reconstruct their lives, community and economy. The international organizations that fund and manage the camps have directed their attention to the society of victims, rather than the state that perpetrated the crimes. Yet because the population lacks citizenship and their camps exist within another post-conflict state, these reconstruction efforts have contributed to corruption and exploitation. This article highlights that when post-conflict reconstruction is used to transform populations rather than states, these efforts may foster corruption because they allow the original perpetrating state to act with impunity.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): statecrime

Title: State Crime Journal

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 20466056

ISSN (Electronic): 20466064

Publication date (Print): 1 April 2017

Volume: 6

Issue: 1

Pages: 37-54

Affiliations

[1 ] The Australian National University

[2 ] Fresno Pacific University

Article

Publisher ID: statecrime.6.1.0037

DOI: 10.13169/statecrime.6.1.0037

SO-VID: c1b36859-1c1c-4518-ac60-c828237055d0

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

References

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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Agamben, G. ( 2005) State of exception . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

[2] Agier, M. ( 2011). Managing the undesirables . Cambridge: Polity Press.

[3] Amnesty International ( 1992a) Bhutan: Human Rights Violations against the Nepali-Speaking Population in the South . ASA 14/04/92. London: Amnesty International.

[4] Amnesty International ( 1992b) “First AI Visit to Bhutan”, Amnesty International Newsletter XXII( 4): 1.

[5] Aris, M. ( 1994) “Introduction”, in M. Aris and M. Hutt, eds. Bhutan: Aspects of Culture and Development . Gartmore: Kiscadale Publications.

[6] Banki, S. ( 2008) Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal: Anticipating the Impact of Resettlement . Canberra: Australian Research Council, Australian National University.

[7] Barnett, M. ( 2001) “Humanitarianism with a Sovereign Face: UNHCR in the Global Undertow”, International Migration Review 35( 1): 244– 277.

[8] Barnett, M. ( 2005) “Humanitarianism Transformed”, Perspective on Politics 4: 723– 740.

[9] Betts, A. ( 2013a) “Regime Complexity and International Organizations: UNHCR as a Challenged Institution”, Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations 19( 1): 69– 81.

[10] Betts, A. ( 2013b) Survival Migration: Failed Governance and the Crisis of Displacement . Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

[11] Birendra, K.C. and Nagata, S. ( 2006) “Refugee Impact on Collective Management of Forest Resources: A Case Study of Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal's Eastern Terai Region”, Journal of Forest Research , 11( 5): 305– 311.

[12] Bradley, M. and Duthie, R. ( 2014) “Introduction: Accountability and Redress for the Injustices of Displacement”, Journal of Refugee Studies 27( 2): 161– 170.

[13] Brown, T. ( 2001) “Improving Quality and Attainment in Refugee Schools: The Case of the Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal”, in J. Cript, C. Talbot, D. Cipollone and B. Daiana, eds, Learning for a Future: Refugee Education in Developing Countries . Geneva: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

[14] Cassese, A. ( 1998) “On the Current Trends towards Criminal Prosecution and Punishment of Breaches of International Humanitarian Law”, European Journal of International Law 9( 1): 2– 17.

[15] Chambliss, W.J. ( 1989) “State-Organized Crime: The American Society of Criminology, 1988 Presidential Address”, Criminology 27( 2): 183– 208.

[16] Collins, V.E. ( 2014) “Vicitmizing the Undocumented: Immigration Policy and Border Enforcement as State Crime”, in D.L. Rothe and D. Kauzlarich, eds., Towards a Victimology of State Crime . New York: Routledge.

[17] Crisp, J. ( 2001) “Mind the Gap! UNHCR, Humanitarian Assistance and the Development Process”, International Migration Review 35( 1): 168– 191.

[18] Cunneen, C. ( 2008) “State Crime, the Colonial Question and Indigenous Peoples”, in A. Smeulers and R. Haveman, eds., Supranational Criminology: Towards a Criminology of International Crimes . Antwerp: Intersentia.

[19] Department of Immigration and Border Protection ( 2014) Settler by country of birth (Settlement by state) . Canberra: The Australian Government.

[20] Duffield, M. ( 2007) Development, Security and Unending War: Governing the World of Peoples . Cambridge: Polity Press.

[21] Duffield, M. ( 2010) “The Liberal War of Development and the Development-Security Impasse: Exploring the Global Life-Chance Divide”, Security Dialogue 41( 1): 53– 76.

[22] Evans, R. ( 2010) “The Perils of Being a Borderland People: On the Lhotshampas of Bhutan”, Contemporary South Asia 18( 1): 25– 42.

[23] Feldman, I. ( 2009) “Gaza's Humanitarianism Problem”, Journal of Palestine Studies 38( 3): 22– 37.

[24] Friedrichs, D.O. ( 2000) “State Crime or Governmental Crime: Making Sense of the Conceptual Confusion”, in J.I. Ross, ed. Controlling State Crime . New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

[25] Friedrichs, D.O. ( 2015) “Rethinking The Criminology of Crimes of States: Monumental, Mundane, Mislabeled and Miscalculated Crimes”, International Journal of Crime, Justice and Social Democracy 4( 4): 106– 119.

[26] Gardiner, J. ( 2002) “Defining Corruption”, in A.J. Heidenheimer and M. Johnston, eds., Political Corruption: Concepts and Contexts . New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

[27] Gilroy, P. ( 1990) “Nationalism, History and Ethnic Absolutism”, History Workshop 30( 1): 114– 120.

[28] Green, P.J. and Ward, T. ( 2000) “State Crime, Human Rights, and the Limits of Criminology”, Social Justice 27( 1): 101– 115.

[29] Harrell-Bond, B. ( 1986) Imposing Aid: Emergency Assistance to Refugees . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[30] Human Rights Watch ( 2003) Bhutan/Nepal: Trapped by Inequality: Bhutanese Refugee Women in Nepal . Report. New York: Human Rights Watch.

[31] Hutt, M. ( 2003) Unbecoming Citizens: Culture, Nationhood, and the Flight of Refugees from Bhutan . New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

[32] Hutt, M. ( 2005) “The Bhutanese Refugees: Between Verification, Repatriation and Royal Realpolitik”, Peace and Democracy in South Asia 1( 1): 44– 56.

[33] Kauzlarich, D., Matthews, R.A. and Miller, W.J. ( 2001) “Toward a Victimology of State Crime”, Critical Criminology 10( 3): 173– 194.

[34] Kritz, N.J. ( 1996) “Coming to Terms with Atrocities: A Review of Accountability Mechanisms for Mass Violations of Human Rights”, Law and Contemporary Problems 59( 4): 127– 152.

[35] Kymlicka, W. ( 1995) Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[36] Lee, T.L. ( 1998) “Refugees from Bhutan: Nationality, Statelessness and the Right to Return”, International Journal of Refugee Law 10( 1/2): 118– 155.

[37] Laczo, M. ( 2003) “Deprived of an Individual Identity: Citizenship and Women in Nepal”, Gender & Development 11( 3): 76– 82.

[38] Loescher, G., Betts, A. and Milner, J. ( 2008) The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): The Politics and Practice of Refugee Protection into the 21st Century . New York: Routledge.

[39] Malkki, L. ( 1995) Purity in Exile . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

[40] Menzies, K. ( 2000) “State Crime by the Police and its Control”, in J.I. Ross ed., Controlling State Crime . New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

[41] Muggah, R. ( 2005) “Distinguishing Means and Ends: The Counterintuitive Effects of UNHCR's Community Development Approach in Nepal”, Journal of Refugee Studies 18( 2): 151– 164.

[42] O'Brien, M. ( 2010) “Fears of ‘Demographic Inundation’ Behind Bhutan's Refugee Crisis”, East Bay Times , 28 August. Available online at http://www.eastbaytimes.com/san-leandro/ci_15906108?source=pkg (accessed 9 August 2016).

[43] Ong, A. ( 1999) Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logics of Transnationality . Durham: Duke University Press.

[44] Orrù, E. and Ronzoni, M. ( 2011) “Which Supranational Sovereignty? Criminal and Socioeconomic Justice Compared”, Review of International Studies 37( 5): 2089– 2106.

[45] Pickering, S. ( 2005). Refugees and state crime . Sydney: Federation Press.

[46] Reilly, R. ( 1994) “Life and Work in the Refugee Camps in Southeast Nepal”, in M. Hutt, ed., Perspectives on Conflict and Dissent . Gartmore: Kiscadale Press.

[47] Rose, L.E ( 1977) The Politics of Bhutan . Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

[48] Ross, J.I. ( 1995) “Controlling State Crime: An Introduction”, Journal of Criminal Justice 23( 5): 493– 495.

[49] Ross, J.I. ( 2011) “Reinventing Controlling State Crime and Varieties of State Crime and Its Control: What I Would Have Done Differently”, in D.L. Rothe and C.W. Mullins, eds, State Crime: Current Perspectives . New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

[50] Rothe, D.L. ( 2009) State Criminality: The Crime of all Crimes . Plymouth: Lexington Books.

[51] Saul, B. ( 2000) “Cultural Nationalism, Self-determination and Human Rights in Bhutan”, International Journal of Refugee Law 12( 3): 321– 353.

[52] Schoultz, I. ( 2014) “European Court of Human Rights: Accountability to Whom?” in D.L. Rothe and D. Kauzlarich, eds., Towards a Victimology of State Crime . New York: Routledge.

[53] Sharkansky, I. ( 1995) “A State Action May Be Nasty but Is Not Likely to Be a Crime”, in J.I. Ross, ed., Controlling State Crime: An Introduction . New York: Garland.

[54] Spiro, P.J. ( 2011) “A New International Law of Citizenship”, American Journal of International Law 105( 4): 694– 746.

[55] Thinley, J.Y. ( 1994) “A Kingdom Besieged”, in M. Hutt ed., Bhutan: Perspectives on Conflict and Dissent . Gartmore: Kiscadale Publications.

[56] Transparency International ( 2015) “Corruption Perceptions Index 2015”, Transparency International . Available online at http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015 (accessed 8 August 2016).

[57] Transparency International ( 2016) “Frequently Asked Questions on Corruption”, Transparency International . Available online at http://www.transparency.org/whoweare/organisation/faqs_on_corruption (accessed 23 February 2016).

[58] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) ( 2008) A Community-Based Approach in UNHCR Operations . Geneva: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

[59] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( 2013) Global Appeal . Geneva: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

[60] Weber, M. ( 2004) “Politics as a Vocation”, in R. Livingstone, trans., D. Owen and T. Strong, eds, The Vocation Lectures . Chicago: Hackett Books.

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