IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aph/ajpbhl/10.2105-ajph.2005.067777_5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dangerous journey: Documenting the experience of Tibetan refugees

Author

Listed:
  • Dolma, S.
  • Singh, S.
  • Lohfeld, L.
  • Orbinski, J.J.
  • Mills, E.J.

Abstract

Objectives. Since the 1950 invasion of Tibet by China, Tibetan refugees have attempted to flee into Nepal over the Himalayan mountains. We documented the experiences of a group of refugees making this journey. Methods. We conducted semistructured interviews with 50 recent refugees at the Tibetan Refugee Transit Centre in Kathmandu, Nepal. Results. Participants ranged in age from 8 to 56 years, and 21 were female. The average length of their journey from Tibet to Nepal was 34 days. During their journey, a majority of the refugees encountered authorities or became involved in altercations with Nepali Maoist groups. Most of these interactions resulted in extortion and threats of expulsion. Several Tibetans were tortured, beaten with weapons, threatened with being shot, and robbed. Three women were sexually assaulted at gunpoint. Conclusions. The refugees who took part in this study experienced physical and mental hardships and, often, human rights abuses on their journey to Nepal. International pressure is needed to prevent human rights violations and reduce potential long-term physical and mental health effects associated with this dangerous crossing.

Suggested Citation

  • Dolma, S. & Singh, S. & Lohfeld, L. & Orbinski, J.J. & Mills, E.J., 2006. "Dangerous journey: Documenting the experience of Tibetan refugees," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(11), pages 2061-2064.
    • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2005.067777_5
    DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.067777
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2005.067777
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2105/AJPH.2005.067777?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jankovic-Rankovic, Jelena & Oka, Rahul C. & Meyer, Jerrold S. & Gettler, Lee T., 2020. "Forced migration experiences, mental well-being, and nail cortisol among recently settled refugees in Serbia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    2. Tol, Wietse A. & Kohrt, Brandon A. & Jordans, Mark J.D. & Thapa, Suraj B. & Pettigrew, Judith & Upadhaya, Nawaraj & de Jong, Joop T.V.M., 2010. "Political violence and mental health: A multi-disciplinary review of the literature on Nepal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 35-44, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2005.067777_5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.apha.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.