UNHCR to help build solar power oven for Bhutanese refugees

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has linked up with a Dutch agency to provide facilities for solar power to Bhutanese refugees.

With funding from the Dutch Postcode Lottery, the UN agency for refugees in partnership with Stichting Vluchteling, also a Dutch NGO, will help the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal to build solar ovens so they no longer have to burn scarce fire wood to cook their meals.

The Dutch agency would provide around €720,000 (euros) to UNHCR for the project. The agency said that this will reduce deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions as well as the use of costly kerosene.

However, the length of the project and when would it begin has not been mentioned.

A month ago the UNHCR began the distribution of coal briquettes saying its budget could not adjust with the increasing price of kerosene that had been distributed to the refugees since their settlement in Nepal. Refugees have been staging demonstrations in seven camps in eastern Nepal demanding redistribution of kerosene.

More than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees have been living in Nepal for the last 15 years. The Bhutanese fled their country after the enforcement of a 1985 Citizenship Act made life intolerable for the people of Nepalese ethnicity. The 15-round of bilateral talks between the Nepalis and Bhutanese government has failed to give any solution to the crisis. nepalnews.com ia feb 04 06