Impact of Torture on Refugees Displaced Within the Developing World

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
SINCE 1990 a significant proportion of the southern Bhutanese population has sought refuge in Nepal and India.1 These refugees, called Lhotsampas, are ethnically Nepali, the majority group in southern Bhutan.2,3 Lhotsampa refugees were told to leave Bhutan by government officials and left fearing harassment and torture by the country's security forces. The Bhutanese Drukpa government appears to have sought to reduce the number of Lhotsampas in Bhutan and to weaken a prodemocracy movement.1 The total number of refugees is estimated to be 103000, which is about one sixth of Bhutan's official population.1 By the end of 1994, 85078 of these refugees were living in United Nations refugee camps in Nepal. Like the majority of refugees in the world, these refugees are displaced within the developing world.4,5