Around 200 Bhutanese refugees staged a sit-in at Beldangi Camp in Jhapa on Tuesday, demanding repatriation.

Harkajung Subba, the vice-chairman of Bhutanese Refugee Janamanch (BRJ), said it was their right to return to their country while urging the government of Nepal and the United National High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to take the initiative to address their demand.

BRJ has been running Home Return Campaign since last year. As a part of the campaign, a BRJ delegation had met with the government officials in Kathmandu.

According to the UNHCR, there are around 7,000 refugees who did not sign up for the third country resettlement programme.

Bhampa Rai, chairman of Bhutanese Refugee Home Returning Committee, said those who do not wish to join the third country resettlement programme should be allowed to return to Bhutan.