Towards Better (Territorial) Solutions for Displaced People: The Tibetan Model

Abstract

This article envisions alternatives for refugee camps, detention centres and precarious encampments by exploring the management of Tibetan refugee settlements, particularly in India. They have developed from encampments to unique settlements, forming a community some call the world’s most successful refugee community. In terms of existing alternative ideas to provide better placements for the displaced, these settlements share similarities with a vision of Refugia, which aims to increase refugees’ agency and end mass displacement through a network of autonomous places. The Tibetan model can predict some challenges and possibilities of Refugia and suggest improvements to the current refugee protection system.

Keywords:

• Displaced
• refugee camps
• Refugia
• Tibetan refugee settlements
• India

Acknowledgements

We want to thank all Tibetans who have shared their knowledge about the community management of the Tibetan refugee settlements with us. We also thank the anonymous referees for their insightful comments.

Disclosure Statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Notes

1 It is not easy to find anything about Zatopia in English beyond Cohen and Van Hear (2020), but information exists in Dutch; e.g. https://www.oneworld.nl/lezen/opinie/femke-halsemas-burden-de-tyrannie-van-demiddelmaat.

2 Thousands of Tibetans tended to escape to India annually until 2009, except in those periods when the PRC tightened its border controls, and almost no one could escape (see Yeh, 2013). After 2009, the Tibetan flow out of the country has been minimal because of the PRC’s stricter border controls, affected by the Tibetan riots during the Peking Olympics, and perhaps also because of the improving economic situation in Tibet in comparison with Nepal and India in general (e.g. Frilund, 2020).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rebecca Frilund

Dr Rebecca Frilund is an Associate Lecturer at Northumbria University (the UK), Department of Geography, and a Postdoctoral Researcher at Tampere University (Finland), Social Sciences. She has primarily worked with questions related to migration, refugees, refugee journeys, and community management among refugees, particularly Tibetans in India. She holds a PhD in Human Geography from the University of Turku (Finland).

K. Wangdu

Dr Kalsang Wangdu is an education specialist. He works with Alinea International (Canada) on education projects for Tibetan refugee children in India and Nepal. Dr Wangdu has published research articles on teaching history in Tibetan refugee schools. He holds a PhD in Education from the University of Turku (Finland).