For nearly seven decades, Tibetans have risked their lives and abandoned their homes in a desperate bid to flee persecution. Refugees’ treacherous escape route across the Himalayas typically ends in neighbouring Nepal, where they either settle or transit before continuing to Dharamshala, India – home of the Dalai Lama.
However, geopolitics in the region have transformed Nepal from a safe-haven for Tibetans into effectively an open-air prison, denying refugees basic human rights and sometimes deporting them back to Tibet. Nepal has, for example, refused identification cards to refugees, preventing them from working, opening bank accounts or even leaving the country, thereby blocking resettlement to a third state.
