(TibetanReview.net, Dec17, 2014) – Thousands of Tibetans gathered at a school in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu on Dec 10 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize to Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. They used the occasion to raise awareness about the situation in Tibet at the Srongtsen Bhrikuti Boarding School in Tinchuli, Kathmandu, reported aljazeera.com Dec 15.
The report said the gathering also marked the Tibetans’ 55 years in exile in Nepal and the International Human Rights Day.
Tibetans began arriving in large numbers as refugees in Nepal in 1959. In 1989, Nepal stopped registering Tibetan refugees under pressure from China. Before 2008, the number of Tibetans arriving in Nepal reached 2,000, or more, each year, with the majority of them continuing to India. The number had dropped to less than 200 per year by 2013 due to the strengthening of security on both the sides of the border.
The number of Tibetans living in Nepal remains unknown as a substantial number of them remain unregistered. However, it is generally considered to be around 20,000.