Stéphane Jaquemet is new UNHCR Representative in Nepal

Mr. Stéphane Jaquemet has been appointed as the new Representative of United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nepal.

Mr. Jaquemet presented the Letter of Credentials to the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Nepal Sujata Koirala on Wednesday. 

Before coming to Nepal, he served as the UNHCR Representative in Lebanon, Beirut. Having spent 17 years with UNHCR, Mr. Jaquemet has held a number of senior positions both at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva and in other UNHCR offices, including Indonesia, Togo and Croatia. 

Mr. Jaquemet has a strong legal background, and served as Chief of Protection Capacity Section, Department of International Protection, at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva from 1997 to 2002.

Upon assuming office, Mr. Jaquemet said, "I am happy to be in Nepal, such a beautiful and cultured country, and work for one of UNHCR's largest resettlement operations in the world."

Since late 2007, UNHCR has helped more than 25,600 refugees from Bhutan to start new lives in the United States, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and New Zealand. The agency also carries out awareness programs to inform refugees of the option of resettlement to a third country, alongside a range of other protection and assistance programmes. Some 85,863 refugees remain in seven camps in eastern Nepal.   

"We will continue working with the international community and the Governments of Nepal and Bhutan to find solutions for these refugees, including repatriation to Bhutan and resettlement to third countries," said Mr. Jaquemet.

UNHCR's work in Nepal also includes providing protection and assistance to around 300 individuals from some 10 countries who have sought asylum in Nepal (who are not from Tibet or Bhutan), helping find solutions for stateless people, and facilitating the safe transit of Tibetan new arrivals to a third country.