A/HRC/61/41/Add.1 E. Refugees 52. While Nepal has not ratified the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, or the Protocol thereto, and it has not acceded to the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons or the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, the country is home to around 20,000 refugees, including from Bhutan, Myanmar, Pakistan and Tibet Autonomous Region.85 53. Tibetan refugees have been arriving in Nepal since 1959, and, to date, Nepal hosts around 12,000 Tibetan refugees.86 Since 1995, Nepal has stopped issuing the Refugee Card87 and so, approximately 75 per cent of Tibetans lack official documentation, making them stateless. Without documentation, these Tibetans cannot pursue higher education, travel abroad, work legally, own property, open a bank account, obtain driving licenses or properly register births, marriages and deaths. Since 2008, Nepal has banned all Tibetan political activity, and Tibetan cultural and religious activities are severely restricted and deemed “political” or as “anti-China activities”. 88 The wearing of traditional Tibetan dress or displaying the Tibetan flag can lead to arbitrary detention, harassment and deportation from Nepal. 89 The Special Rapporteur also learned that, since the Generation Z protests of September 2025, Tibetans have also become a target of online hate speech, through which animosity is incited against Tibetans and the deportation of Tibetan refugees is called for. 54. The situation of other refugees, such as Bhutanese or Rohingya refugees, also needs to be addressed in conformity with international human rights standards. While the Special Rapporteur appreciates the Government’s 2021 Cabinet decision on the recommendations regarding the problems and solution measures for Bhutanese refugees, which is facilitating the process of inclusion of 6,400 Bhutanese refugees, he encourages its full implementation to enable durable solutions for Bhutanese refugees.90 55. Nepal proudly reports that it has resettled 113,579 Bhutanese refugees under third-country resettlement programmes, including with the support of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 91 Refugees in Nepal who have the opportunity to be resettled in a third country are required to apply for an exit permit in order to leave Nepal. The exit permits are issued with government approval through the Department of Immigration under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Currently, there are at least 15 families that have been given an opportunity to resettle in Canada with the support of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, but they are being prevented by the Nepalese authorities from leaving Nepal. Some have had to pay so-called “overstay fines” to the Ministry of Home Affairs in order to obtain the exit permit, reaching for some amounts as high as $100,000, while still being denied the possibility of leaving the country. The overstay fine and the penalties imposed on refugees, who are seen as “illegal migrants”, has been waived in the past on an ad hoc basis by the Ministry of Finance, when those concerned were leaving Nepal for third-country resettlement.92 In imposing a requirement of an exit permit, as well as arbitrary “overstay fines”, Nepal is de facto violating its international human rights obligations under article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which stipulates that everyone shall be free to leave any country. 93 The Special 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 GE.26-01953 See www.unhcr.org/media/nepal-factsheet. Ibid. Asian Dignity Initiative, “Tibetan refugee rights in Nepal amidst ever-growing Chinese influence”, 2024. See also A/HRC/55/NGO/180. Ibid. Ibid. See www.unhcr.org/uk/sites/uk/files/2023-05/unhcr-nepal-country-strategy-evaluation-report_16.pdf. A/HRC/WG.6/51/NPL/1, para. 9. See https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/700-illegals-set-for-3rd-country-resettlement; https://ceslam.org/news-media/36-urban-refugees-to-get-exit-permits/; and https://kathmandupost.com/valley/2015/03/24/73-foreigners-get-visa-amnesty. Restrictions on the right to leave are only permissible if they meet strict criteria outlined in article 12 (3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: they must be established by law; they must be necessary in a democratic society for specific purposes like national security, public order or protecting the rights and freedoms of others; and they must be proportionate, meaning that 15