In the early 1990s, Bhutan deprived tens of thousands of ethnic Nepaleses of their Bhutanese citizenship in order to decrease the rising influence of the Hindu minority on the Buddhist society. Many of these ethnic Nepalese fled to neighbouring countries to escape arbitrary arrest and detention in Bhutan.

Bhutan does not have a written constitution providing for fundamental human rights and the ethnic minorities in the country are always in a precarious position. The Bhutanese Government denies claims by the Nepalese minority that they have suffered from discrimination, deportation and repression and points out that they left the country voluntarily.

The refugee community reports that people were violently forced to leave and put under pressure to sign Voluntary Migration Forms (VMFs). Aita Singh Gurung, a member of the ethnic Nepalese community living in a refugee camp in Nepal tells:

"We were very sad when my father was made to sign the Voluntary Migration Form. The official said we would have to leave Bhutan within fifteen days. We sold our cows, goats and sheep and came to Nepal. All we brought were four boxes, mattresses, clothes, three pots and some other utensils. When we arrived we were given rations and plastic [sheeting] by an agency. My house in Bhutan is now covered by jungle. Nothing in the world can erase my sweet dream to go back to my motherland, Bhutan. I hope one day I will go back to my country".

For the past 17 years, about 100,000 people stripped of their Buthanese citizenship have been living in seven refugee camps in Nepal hoping for return to their motherland. Nepal and Bhutan have been disputing over how to solve the problem without any real success.

In October 2006, the U.S. Government offered to resettle up to 60,000 of those refugees in the U.S. But the offer is not without controversy: part of the Bhutanese refugee community opposes moving abroad and pleads for repatriation or reintegration into the Nepalese society. Tek Nath Rijal, self-appointed leader of the Bhutanese refugees fiercely critises resettlement plans and holds that the USA should pressure the Bhutanese government to repatriate them. Many refugees believe that accepting the US offer "will spell the death of their dream to return home". Furthermore, it is unclear what will happen with the remaining 40,000, and an estimated number of 10,000 – 15,000 unregistered refugees in Nepal.

Most of the 20,000 refugees living in Beldangi Refugee Camp are simply confused and don't know what to think. They still dream of going back to Bhutan and their children sing about returning to a motherland they have never seen. Life in the refugee camps is characterised by the lack of basic necessities. The refugees' survival depends on international aid as medical treatment is more than deficient. Those who are undecided or willing to leave Nepal face intimidation and violence by others in the camps.

There are reports of refugees who were intimidated and beaten by other refugees because they support the resettlement solution. Rumours spread that people will be used as slave labour on arrival in the USA. The offer of resettlement intended to ease the plight of the refugees has been misinterpreted and has created conflicts among them. Some of the refugee, like Mahindra, who has been living in Beldangi Refugee Camp for 17 years, want people to "let refugees decided their own fate and destiny”.

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