[Buddha-l] Re: Bhutan & Whose happiness? [WAS: Bhutan & happiness]

[Alberto Todeschini]

Michael LaTorra wrote:


 >However, I'm more interested in something else going on in Bhutan. The
Bhutanese government is employing a new measurement to replace (or 
supplement)
the ubiquitous Gross National Product that every other nation uses: Gross
National Happiness. See: http://tinyurl.com/2t5t74<

This is all well, but some fundamental problems with the Bhutanese 
government remain.
At the risk of sounding repetitive, once again, I wish to point out 
something that the Red Cross, the UN, Human Rights Watch and others have 
already pointed out.
There are over 100000 Hindu Bhutanese presently living in refugee camps 
in Nepal because of new citizenship and immigration laws implemented in 
Bhutan by the Buddhist government.

 From the UN Refugee Agency:

"The [Bhutanese] authorities increased their intimidation of the 
Lhotshampas in southern Bhutan by destroying their property and 
arbitrarily detaining and torturing activists. Individuals were forced 
to sign 'voluntary migration certificates' before being expelled from 
the country. In December 1990 the authorities announced that Lhotshampas 
who could not prove they were residents of the country before 1958 must 
leave. Consequently, tens of thousands of Lhotshampas were made 
stateless and fled to Nepal and the Indian state of West Bengal."

http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/publ/opendoc.htm?tbl=PUBL&id=4444d3c93e

Now, what would we say if the USA or a European country did the same?
Is the Bhutanese government putting the happiness of these refugees in 
the equation to calculate the Gross National Happiness?

Regards,

Alberto Todeschini