According to the UNHCR there are 51.2 million people forcibly displaced across the world. Among them, an estimated 100.000 – 120.000 refugees are from Bhutan, living in camps in Nepal. This movie, Desh Khojdai Janda (In Search of a Nation), was filmed in one of these camps and is based on a true story of Bhutanese refugees. Come and watch it and join the talk afterwards on the situation in Bhutan and Nepal.

As Bhutanese, the makers of this film request viewers to ponder this genuine question: How can the nation of Bhutan claim peace and happiness when it generated one of the highest amounts of refugees worldwide?

The program starts with an opening speech of Ram Bahadur Chhetri, the General Secretary of Bhutanese Community in The Netherlands and of the film director Prakash Angdembe. After watching the film we will have a Q&A with Alice Verheij, an expert on the Bhutanese refugees issue.

Watch the trailer here:

About the speakers

Ram Bahadur Chhetri is a Bhutanese refugee activist and the present general secretary of Bhutanese Community in The Netherlands. He has been associated with Bhutanese human rights movement since early 1990s. In addition to his community works Mr. Chhetri owned a Himalayan restaurant at The Hague centrum.

Alice Verheij is a writer and filmmaker, who has visited Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal several times and did some study on their human rights and political situations. She wrote two books and several articles on Bhutanese refugees. 

Prakash Angdembe is the director of the Film ‘In search of Nation’. He is a renowed artists and film maker from Nepal.

The moderator is Mr. DP Mainali. He present President of the Bhutanese Community in The Netherlands

About this program

This program is organized by the Bhutanese Community in The Netherlands in order to create awareness about the Bhutanese refugees and the human rights records of Bhutan.