Buddhist persecution of Hindus in Bhutan, speech to GBHO

My Address To
Global Bhutanese Hindu Organization, USA

Hello, 

My name is Vincent Bruno, president of the Justice For Hindus organization. Due to the work of my colleagues and myself to highlight the violation of Hindu human rights in Asia and beyond, I have been asked by the organizers of this 3rd annual conference of the Global Bhutanese Hindu Organization, to briefly address you, our Bhutanese Hindu brothers and sisters, gathered here in Charlotte, North Carolina, from Dec 21-25th, 2016. 

While the majority of global Hindu activist work focuses on the plight of Hindus living within the Islamic States of Pakistan and Bangladesh, there is another looming crisis which is not given enough time or energy, likely because it is hardly publicized. I am referring to the ethnic and religious cleansing of Hindus from the Buddhist State of Bhutan. 

The nation of Bhutan, a Democratic Constitutional Monarchy, borders the nation of India to the north and comprises a multi-religious, multi-ethnic, and multi-lingual society. In the early 1990s, Bhutan implemented the discriminatory “One Nation, One people” policy to forcibly homogenize the country into a Buddhist state, because Bhutanese Hindus and Buddhists often come from different ethnicities, this policy also carries racist overtones. This policy of Buddhist extremism in Bhutan has culminated in the eviction of over 100,000 ethnic Hindus from the nation of Bhutan, reducing their population share from 42% to 30%. 

The Bhutanese government continues to violate the fundamental rights of Hindus, restricting their linguistic and political rights; preventing the full and open practice of Hinduism, and denying citizenship rights to more than 80,000 people. The construction of non-Buddhist places of worship is still largely restricted, particularly in rural areas. Until 2007, over 100,000 Bhutanese Hindus were housed in United Nation's refugee camps in Nepal. As of 2013, 82,000 of these refugees have been resettled around the word, with nearly 70,000 Bhutanese Hindu refugees living here in the United States. 

Due to your forced displacement to a foreign nation and foreign culture, the Bhutanese Hindu community living in the United States deals with a unique set of problems which other Hindu ethnic groups may not be aware of. Bhutanese Hindu refugees in America are struggling to adapt to the individualistic culture here. Unlike other Hindu groups, it has been difficult for your community to find employment, education, stable housing and a feeling of self-reliance. Due to these adverse circumstances the Bhutanese Hindu community is today struggling with mental and emotional health issues, drug and alcohol addiction; suicide has become all too prevalent. 

However, in the traditional Hindu spirit, your community is being proactive, taking the necessary steps to adjust to this new environment and find the help that your community needs. This being your 3rd annual conference on these issues proves that you are committed to taking your destiny into your own hands, that despite all your struggles you are self-aware and self-organizing. I am also very pleased and honored that you have asked me to make this video to address your conference, because it shows you are willing to look outside your particular ethnic community to join the growing pan-Hindu movements in the West. 

In recent years we have seen a steady increase in Hindu concern for their coreligionists who live outside their own national borders. Hindus from India, Trinidad, Guyana, Fiji, South Africa, Europe and America, they have all come out to support our rallies at the United Nations and the White House to end the ongoing and systematic cleansing of Hindus from the Islamic states of Pakistan and Bangladesh. As you likely know, awareness of these issues is now becoming mainstream, we are on the verge of seeing real world results in our efforts to end these atrocities. 

Just as we have done for the Hindus of Pakistan and Bangladesh, we must bring the plight of Bhutanese Hindu refugees to public awareness in the West and Asia. The Bhutanese government must be held accountable for their systematic ethnic cleansing in the name of creating a Buddhist theocracy. The Hindus of India have created the world's largest secular democracy, a secular democracy which today is home to the Tibetan Dalai Lama, a Buddhist leader who himself is a refugee. 

The Hindus of the world have provided Buddhists and others a safe haven in India where they may practice their religion free from discrimination. The time is coming when Hindus of every nationality and ethnicity will become aware of the Bhutanese Hindu plight, we will rally with you to seek justice. We will also work together to ask Buddhists leaders to become involved in the issue, taking the steps necessary to end this cruel oppression on the part of the Bhutanese Buddhist theocracy. 

As a longtime Hindu activists I have come to learn that results in social justice are hastened by consistent persistent information campaigns, permeating the global community with the facts and keeping them at the front of our minds. These organized conferences and your outreach to me is a monumental start. I request that you please send me your speeches and other information at the conclusion of your conference so that I may post them here on the Justice For Hindus website. 

Besides this, I would also like to encourage you to begin widely publicizing your condition. Don't think that you must make it into mainstream media right away, blogs and social media posts go a long way in this day and age. Be specific, give statistics, name names, and show the personal side of your suffering so as to arouse interest and compassion for your cause. It is possible that within a few months’ time, perhaps this summer, large groups of Hindus from all around the world can be assembled to protest outside the United Nations and Bhutanese Consulates on your behalf. This will also give you the opportunity to network with other Hindus, helping to ease your social and economic isolation. 

I would like to close this statement by once again thanking you to ask me to speak for this event. I have come to find that every Hindu group, whether they be Pakistanis or Bangladeshis or Caribbean Hindus, each has something unique to offer the global Hindu narrative. You and Bhutanese Hindus have a very unique situation which will give global Hindus the opportunity to further probe all of the elements which are hindering our united upward movement. Your perseverance all these long years, while you have suffered in relative silence, is moving and motivating to us all. My last words will be this, Dharma protects those who protect it, and so I call upon all Hindus around the world to take an active measure in waking up the masses to this ongoing crisis and finding innovative and effective ways in remedying the situation. I am certain we will all be seeing each other in a brighter future sometime very soon. 

Thanks You 

Vincent Bruno