Fifteen Bhutanese women have started fast-on-to-death demanding "refugee status" and other facilities as enjoyed by their fellow refugees in UN-managed Beldangi-II refugee camp from this Tuesday.

Those staging the hunger strike have declared that would not agree on any conditions unless the Government of Nepal becomes ready to accept them as refugees from Bhutan.

"We have decided to sacrifice our lives. For us death has become more favourable than living without any status," Durga Devi Bista, who has been leading the hunger strike, told reporters, Wednesday.

According to Bista, around 37,00 people from Bhutan have been leading miserable   life in the camps as the government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have not yet recognised their status.

Expressing solidarity to the hunger strikers, Dev Prasad Subedi of the Nepal Human Rights Organization asked the government authorities to meet the demands of all asylum seekers immediately.

According to his claim, all the asylum seekers, who are demanding refugee status, are citizens from Bhutan and that Nepal should respect their right to get refugee status.

Meanwhile, chairperson of the Bhutanese Refugee Representative Repatriation Committee, Dr Bhampa Rai, accused the Government of Nepal of ignoring the rights of Bhutanese asylum seekers.

"The conditions of asylum seekers have become more pathetic since nothing has been done to meet their demands. The government needs to be serious towards statelessness of over hundreds of Bhutanese citizens in Nepal," he said.

Last year, the government had agreed to register all asylum seekers as "refugees" at the time of breaking a 95-hour long hunger strike by asylum seekers in Sanischare camp.

The UNHCR doesn't entertain asylum seekers under the ongoing third country resettlement process.

Around 55,000 refugees from Bhutan still continue to dwell in various six camps of Jhapa and Morang. Some 60,000 refugees have already been resettled in various eight western countries. nepalnews.com