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Asia and Oceania
Bhutan |
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Last reviewed: 27 October 2009 |
Country information
POLITICS
In the 1950s Bhutan established some representative political institutions, including an indirectly elected National Assembly (Tshogdu Chhenmo) and elected village headmen, but there were no political parties. In 1998 the Assembly elected a Cabinet for the first time.In March 2005 the draft of the first written constitution was published and the King initiated public discussions in October 2005. The constitution came into effect in 2008.
In December 2005 Jigme Singye Wangchuck announced that he would abdicate in 2008 and that Bhutan would hold its first general elections in that year. However on 14 December 2006, he announced his immediate abdication and transfer of the throne to his eldest son Jigme Khesar Wangchuck. The official coronation of the new King took place on 6-9th November 2008.
Following the introduction of the first Constitution, the new democratic system comprises an upper and lower house the latter based on political party affiliations. There is no limit to the number of political parties which can exist, though they must all be registered with the Election Commission. However, in a unique system, there are two rounds of elections for the National Assembly. In the first round the people vote for a political party. The two parties which receive the most votes are the two parties which can then contest for seats in the National Assembly.
Elections for the 20 elected seats of the 25 member upper house (National Council) were held on December 31, 2007, while elections for the lower house, the 47-seat National Assembly, were held on March 24, 2008. Two political parties, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) headed by Sangay Ngedup, and the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) headed by Jigme Yoesar Thinley, competed in the National Assembly election. The Druk Phuensum Tshogpa won the elections taking 45 out of 47 seats in the parliament. There are ten Cabinet Ministers. The elected Government holds office for a fixed period of five years.
Under the Constitution, the combined Upper and Lower Houses may in certain circumstances require the abdication of the reigning Monarch in favour of the heir. The monarch may be either male or female.
HUMAN RIGHTS
While there are no legal human rights NGOs in Bhutan, the Bhutanese have allowed access for various human rights organisations. The then UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Mrs. Ogata, visited in her final year in office in 2000. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights visited Bhutan in 1994 and the UNCHR Working Group on Arbitrary Detention visited in May 1996. The International Committee of the Red Cross visits regularly, most recently in 2009, and is allowed unimpeded access to all detention facilities and prisoners therein. Amnesty International visited Bhutan in December 1998.Bhutan has signed and ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
Refugees
Over the last century or so the Nepalese have had a history of emigration to the northern parts of the sub-continent. Many went to the lowlands of Bhutan. Some of these lowlands with significant ethnic Nepali populations, for example Cooch Behar, were confiscated from Bhutan by the Treaty of Sinchula, and are now part of India. However, in the late 1980s Bhutan tightened up the implementation of its citizenship law, required all citizens to adhere to a single cultural code and placed increasing pressure on ethnic Nepalese who could not prove their citizenship entitlement (mainly based on residence in Bhutan prior to1959). Between 1990-93 thousands left Bhutan. Some valid Bhutanese citizens voluntarily emigrated, usually with their non-Bhutanese relatives, and thereby under Bhutanese nationality laws lost their entitlement to Bhutanese nationality. Allegations of human rights violations by the relatively untrained security forces during this period are commonly voiced by occupants of the camps. Over 100,000 people are now in UNHCR-run camps in eastern Nepal (for which the UN's World Food Programme provides, with substantial input from the EU, much of the estimated annual $14 million running costs). There are also claimed to be about 15,000 refugees in India concentrated in West Bengal and Sikkim, though this figure is unsubstantiated. As a result of bilateral discussions with a succession of governments in Nepal a joint Nepal-Bhutan verification team commenced work in 1993 to verify the exact background of the occupants of the UNHCR camps. This exercise was brought to a halt when violence broke out in the camps in December 2003. In an interview in February 2009 with a delegation of members of the EU Parliament the Prime Minister indicated that he aimed to make significant progress on a solution to this problem during his term of office.
