Human rights in Bhutan
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
in
Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...
are those outlined in Article 7 of its
Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...
.Constitution of Bhutan
, Art 7.
The
Royal Government of Bhutan The Government of Bhutan has been a constitutional monarchy since 18 July 2008. The King of Bhutan is the head of state. The executive power is exercised by the Lhengye Zhungtshog, or council of ministers, headed by the Prime Minister. Legislat ...
has affirmed its commitment to the "enjoyment of all human rights" as integral to the achievement of 'gross national happiness' (GNH); the unique principle which Bhutan strives for, as opposed to fiscally based measures such as
GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...
.Vishal Arora
"Bhutan's Human Rights Record Defies 'Happiness' Claim"
(25 April 2014) The Diplomat.
In practice, Bhutan's human rights record has received criticism for the treatment of the
Lhotshampa The Lhotshampa or Lhotsampa ( ne, ल्होत्साम्पा; ) people are a heterogeneous Bhutanese people of Nepalese descent. "Lhotshampa", which means "southern borderlanders" in Dzongkha, began to be used by the Bhutanese state i ...
people, many of whom became refugees in Nepal, as well as for failure to uphold
freedom of religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freed ...
.


Legal framework


Rights under the Constitution

Bhutan's
Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...
was adopted in 2008 and only after that was it transformed from an
absolute monarchy Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism (European history), Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute pow ...
to a democratic
Constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...
. Article 7 of the Constitution establishes numerous rights, including "many of the basic human rights enriched in international conventions", which are said to be "essential for development of the human personality and for the full realization of the human potential." "Fundamental rights" established in Article 7 include: *
Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...
,
liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
, and
security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...
; * Freedom of speech; *
Freedom of thought Freedom of thought (also called freedom of conscience) is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints. Overview Every person attempts to have a cognitive proficiency ...
and religion;Constitution of Bhutan
, Art 7.4.
* Freedom of the press; * Freedom of movement and residence within Bhutan; *
Property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...
; *
Freedom of assembly Freedom of peaceful assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right or ability of people to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend their collective or shared ide ...
and
association Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...
; *
Freedom from discrimination The right to freedom from discrimination is internationally recognised as a human right and enshrines the principle of egalitarianism. The right to freedom from discrimination is recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and enshrined ...
on grounds of race, sex, language, religion, politics, or other status. Other classes of rights protected are labor rights,
voting rights Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...
, and
intellectual property rights Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
. The Constitution also prohibits torture and "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment", including capital punishment. The final clauses of Article 7 enshrine a right to privacy with respect to arbitrary or unlawful interference only, protect against
arbitrary arrest Arbitrary arrest and arbitrary detention are the arrest or detention of an individual in a case in which there is no likelihood or evidence that they committed a crime against legal statute, or in which there has been no proper due process of ...
, and provide a right to legal representation as well as a right to undertake legal proceedings for the enforcement of Article 7 rights. While most rights guaranteed under Article 7 are accorded to "all persons" or people "within Bhutan" some rights are explicitly reserved for Bhutanese citizens, such as freedom of speech, thought, religion, movement, and assembly, as well as rights to information, vote, property, and labor rights. Article 8 of the Constitution outlines "corresponding fundamental duties".Royal Court of Justice
''A Guide to the Constitution of Bhutan''
(Judiciary of Bhutan) at 16.
Important provisions include articles 8.3 and 8.5. Article 8.3 states that every Bhutanese citizen is under a duty to "foster tolerance, mutual respect and spirit of brotherhood amongst all the people of Bhutan transcending religious, linguistic, regional or sectional diversities." Article 8.5 states that people should "not tolerate or participate in acts of injury, torture or killing of another person, terrorism, abuse of women, children or any other person and shall take necessary steps to prevent such acts."


International obligations

Although Bhutan's Constitution was framed to reflect various basic human rights protected by international conventions, Bhutan itself has neither signed nor ratified many key international treaties addressing human rights, including the
International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty that commits nations to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom ...
(ICCPR) and the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (GA) on 16 December 1966 through GA. Resolution 2200A (XXI), and came in force from 3 January 197 ...
(ICESCR).United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner
"Ratification Status for Bhutan"
ohchr.org.
Bhutan is party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the
Convention on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Co ...
(CRC), as well as the CRC's first two optional protocols. Bhutan has also signed, though not ratified, the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) is a United Nations convention. A third -generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discri ...
(CERD) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Bhutan joined the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
in 1971. It has therefore been subject to the
Universal Periodic Review The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a mechanism of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) that emerged from the 2005 UN reform process.resolution 60/251of 3 April 2006, the UPR periodically examines the human rights performance of al ...
(UPR), having gone through two cycles so far; first in 2009 and again in 2014.


Gross national happiness

In its national report under the first cycle of the UPR, Bhutan's Royal Government asserted that the enjoyment of all human rights is necessary to achieve GNH, "to which it is also deeply committed". GNH was said to establish the "framework for the protection, promotion and integration of human rights into the fabric of Bhutanese society."Bhutan
''National report''
A/HRC/WG.6/6/BTN/1 (2009) at 8.
This connection between GNH and human rights within Bhutan was reaffirmed in its national report under the second cycle, where Bhutan concluded by stating that social and economic rights were "reflected in its developmental concept of GNH." The concept of GNH was first articulated by Bhutan's fourth
king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in 1972.Prahlad Shekhawat
"Redefining Progress: A report from the Gross National Happiness conference in Bhutan"
(22 January 2009) Policy Innovations.
The development concept, rather than employing "conventional income-based measures", focuses on the happiness of individuals and the maximisation thereof through an aspirational, spiritual, and cultural lens. GNH has four "pillars". They are: * The promotion of equitable and sustainable socioeconomic development * Preservation and promotion of cultural values * Conservation of the natural environment * Establishment of good governance Bhutan's first national report to the UPR explicitly related these pillars to human rights, which it said were embodied within them. The first pillar is said to represent economic rights, ensuring that "present development does not compromise the right to development of future generations... and that every person in the country benefits from development activities." The second pillar is said to protect cultural rights and reflect Bhutan's non-discriminatory nature.


Human rights issues


Lhotshampa discrimination

The Lhotshampa are a heterogeneous
Bhutanese people This is a demography of the population of Bhutan including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. The Royal Government of Bhutan list ...
of Nepalese origin who have historically inhabited the southern regions of Bhutan. The Nepali who would become the Lhotshampa, or "southerners", began to emigrate from Nepal to Bhutan in the late 19th century. By the late 1980s, Bhutan's government recognised 28% of the population as Lhotshampa, though unofficial estimates go as high as 40% and also estimate that only 15% were legal residents. The extent of the Lhotshampa population became apparent in the 1988 census.BBC
"Bhutan profile - Timeline"
(20 May 2015).
Subsequently, ethnic tensions strengthened in Bhutan, with many Lhotshampa branded as illegal immigrants, citizenship laws were enforced by new measures and an emphasis was placed on the "Tibetan-based Bhutanese culture, antagonising heminority Nepali community." To that end, conformity began to be demanded of the Lhotshampa in numerous ways. In 1989, the
Nepali language Nepali (; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Himalayas region of South Asia. It is the official, and most widely spoken, language of Nepal, where it also serves as a '' lingua franca''. Nepali has official status in the Indian st ...
was prohibited from being used in schools. That same year, a traditional Bhutanese dress code, the
Driglam Namzha The Driglam Namzha () is the official code of etiquette and dress code of Bhutan. It governs how citizens should dress in public as well as how they should behave in formal settings. It also regulates a number of cultural assets such as art and arc ...
, was enforced among the general public, eschewing any traditional Nepali "costume" that might otherwise have been worn by Lhotshampas. Violent unrest and anti-government protests occurred in 1990 within southern Bhutan in response to the "Bhutanization policies" that had been implemented.Minorities at Risk Project
"Chronology for Lhotshampas in Bhutan"
(2004) refworld.org - UNHCR.
This "revolt" was met with a "crackdown" by the government that included the closure of 66 schools in southern Bhutan, as well as "harassment, arrests, and the burning of hotshampahomes." In late 1990 Lhotshampa refugees began entering Nepal, forced to leave Bhutan by the government after having been "arbitrarily stripped of their nationality."Alexander Casella
"Nepal finally waves away refugees"
(15 December 2009) Asia Times.
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor

(United States Department of State, 2015) at 7.
Amnesty International
"Bhutan Human Rights"
amnestyusa.org.
By 1995 86,000 Lhotshampa had taken up refugee status in Nepal, roughly one-sixth of Bhutan's then population of 509,000. Unsuccessful talks between Nepal and Bhutan regarding the status of Bhutanese refugees, in particular regarding Nepal's desire for them to be repatriated, were held in 1993, 1996, and 2001. By 2009 some 111,000 Lhotshampa resided within refugee camps in Nepal when a "third country resettlement program" began which has seen 88,770 Bhutanese refugees resettled, including 75,000 in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. As of September 2015, 10,000 Lhotshampa remain in refugee camps in Nepal overseen by the Office of the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integratio ...
(UNHCR). Bhutan's refugee situation has been categorised by Amnesty International as "one of the most protracted and neglected refugee crises in the world", with possible resolutions to the 'crisis' continuing to have been raised in the report of the working group for Bhutan's 2nd UPR cycle. There are ongoing delays by Bhutan's government to implement a process by which those Bhutanese refugees remaining in Nepal might be identified and repatriated. Of the Lhotshampa remaining in Bhutan many are not citizens or enjoy only limited citizenship rights, as there are categories of citizenship which affect their ability to receive a passport or vote. Whether someone is a citizen may also affect which fundamental rights they are afforded under the Constitution. Bhutan's Constitution has also been criticised for not adequately defining or protecting the rights of "Nepali speakers" (the Lhotshampa). The
United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
has noted in its 2015 report on Bhutan's human rights practices that there were unconfirmed reports of ongoing discrimination towards Lhotshampas preventing them from obtaining security clearances necessary to work in government jobs, from enrolling in higher education and obtaining licenses necessary to run private businesses. That report also noted that according to NGOs an unknown number of Lhotshampa in southern Bhutan were
stateless persons In international law, a stateless person is someone who is "not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law". Some stateless people are also refugees. However, not all refugees are stateless, and many people who are st ...
who subsequently have trouble accessing public healthcare, employment, education, travel documents, and also owning businesses.


Religious freedom

Article 7.4 of the Constitution of Bhutan states that: "A Bhutanese citizen shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. No person shall be compelled to belong to another faith by means of coercion or inducement." Article 8.3 places the corresponding duty upon citizens to "foster tolerance, mutual respect and spirit of brotherhood amongst all the people of Bhutan transcending religious... diversities." Article 3 of the Constitution recognises
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
as "the spiritual heritage of Bhutan" while stipulating that the king is the "protector of all religions in Bhutan." 75% of Bhutan's approximate population of 733,000 practices
Drukpa Kagyu The Drukpa Kagyu (), or simply Drukpa, sometimes called either Dugpa or "Red Hat sect" in older sources,
or
Nyingmapa Buddhism Nyingma (literally 'old school') is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), "order of the ancient translations". The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and transl ...
, which are forms of Mahayana Buddhism.Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labou
''International Religious Freedom Report for 2014: Bhutan''
(United States Department of State, 2014) at 1.
Hindus make up 22% of Bhutan's population, Christians about 0.5%, or between 2,000–25,000 people, and Muslims only 0.2%. The Religious Organizations Act 2007 provides for the formation of religious groups, and all religious groups are required to be registered with the government. Registration is determined by the Commission for Religious Organisations, which is required to ensure religious institutions promote the country's spiritual heritage by "developing a society 'rooted in Buddhist ethos.'"Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labou

(United States Department of State, 2014) at 3.
Only Buddhist groups and one Hindu "umbrella organisation" have been recognised, with other groups alleging their applications have been ignored. As a result, only Buddhist and Hindu groups are legally allowed to hold public religious gatherings, though members of other faiths were "sometimes" allowed to worship in private. The absence of Christian registration also prevents the presence of "Christian burial grounds,... church buildings and... book stores" in Bhutan. The conditions placed upon religious worship in Bhutan have led some to claim that it is ambiguous whether practicing Christianity is legal there, noting this "ambiguity has resulted in harassment of the minority by officials." One anonymous Bhutanese pastor described treatment as "second-class" Christians. In March 2014 two Bhutanese pastors, Tandin Wangyal and M.B. Thapa, were detained for 49 days, released, and then fined and sentenced to prison in September of the same year. They were sentenced under laws relating to unlicensed assemblies and unapproved receipt of foreign funds; activists claim they were targeted for their evangelical activities and charged with raising unapproved money for civil society organisations, as well as with screening a Christian music video publicly, which they argue was done outside on private property. Tandin Wangyal was sentenced to four years imprisonment but was released on bail after paying a $744 (US) fine and appealed his case, while M.B. Thapa was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment, which he was exempted from after paying a fine of $1630 (US). There are reports of preferential treatment of Buddhists and Buddhism by the government, including extending financial support for construction of Buddhist temples and shrines and for monks and monasteries. There is also a strong societal pressure placed on individuals to retain Buddhist beliefs and traditions, as well as reported cases of non-Buddhist children being denied admission to schools and religious minorities being verbally harassed by Buddhists. Bhutan's restrictions upon freedom of religion, as well as the need for a Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief to visit Bhutan, were raised as issues in Bhutan's 2nd cycle of the UPR.''Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review - Bhutan''
A/HRC/27/8 (2014) at 7, 11, 22-24.


See also

*
Censorship in Bhutan Censorship in Bhutan refers to the way in which the Government of Bhutan controls information within its borders. There are no laws that either guarantee citizens' right to information or explicitly structure a censorship scheme. However, censorsh ...
* LGBT rights in Bhutan


References


External links


Bhutan Permanent Mission to the UN

OHCHR - Bhutan


{{DEFAULTSORT:Human Rights In Bhutan
Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...