Bhutanese Martyrs Memorial and Torture Survivors Society (BHUMMATSS)

BHUMMATSS is an inclusive, non-profit, non-governmental and non-partisan organisation which was established on 18 May 2014 by the families of Bhutanese Martyrs and Torture and Trauma Survivors in South Australia and was formally incorporated on 3 June 2014 in South Australia.
The primary objective of BHUMMATSS is to document stories of torture and trauma survivors, their families, and most importantly to acknowledge and memorialise the contribution of Bhutanese Martyrs in the establishment of human rights, democracy and rule of law in Bhutan. Through Torture and Trauma-informed approaches, it also seeks to provide physical, moral, social and psychological support to the living survivors of torture and trauma, their families and the families of martyrs at their current country of residence as practicable.

Reporting on the plight of Bhutanese refugees, Amnesty International stated that “it believes that many of those in the camps in Nepal have been forcibly exiled from Bhutan on account of their origin or political beliefs” (Amnesty International, BHUTAN: Forcible Exile, 1994). Similarly, United States expressed serious concern regarding human rights practice in Bhutan including “implementation of the 1985 Citizenship Act and the failure to prosecute Security Force members who committed rape, torture and other abuses in the name of enforcing the Citizenship Act” (US STATE DEPARTMENT, 1994 Human Rights Report on Bhutan).

Revealing the dire state of human rights in Bhutan, Eric Sottas, Director of SOS/Torture in Geneva, stated in his book Development and Human Rights-1990, that -

“Bhutanese people do not enjoy human rights as their rights by Bhutan’s constitution or law. Bhutanese people have as a matter of law, no right to free speech and expression, no right to dissent or to express dissent, no right to publish or to a free press, no right to form associations or organization, no civil or political rights, no cultural rights, no economic or social rights.”

It is against the backdrop of demand for human rights and democracy in Bhutan that Royal Government commenced the imposition of Martial Law in 1990 resulting in mass arrest; detention; torture; rape; arson; loot; closure of schools and hospitals as well as economic blockade. The next move by the government was the en-masse expulsion of southern Bhutanese from their traditional land, home and hearth under gunpoint and other scheming administrative tactics.

Citing this exodus, Amnesty International reported that —
As arbitrary arrests of southern Bhutanese accompanied by torture and rape, escalated in 1991, southern Bhutanese began to flee from Bhutan fearing that they would become victims of such violation.
(BHUTAN: Forcible Exile, 1994)

While tens of thousands of southern Bhutanese, fleeing persecution, ended up in refugee camps in Nepal, hundreds of adult males were detained and tortured in different schools and health facilities in southern Bhutan, which were converted into detention-cum-torture-centre-cum-army-barracks. Later these detainees were transferred to prisons, shackled and chained, and put to extreme hard labour. Scores were killed extra-judicially and many died in prison due to excessive ill treatment and torture.

Present Day

Today, there are hundreds and thousands of Bhutanese families who have been scattered over eight resettling countries since 2008, and some have been languishing in refugee camps in Nepal for nearly three decades. Some members of these families are still in incarceration in Bhutan and our voices for their immediate hearing and release has not been heard. Majority of Bhutanese families, especially elders, torture and trauma survivors, their families, and families of martyrs are continuing to suffer silently going through unbearable episodes of post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health related conditions such as anxiety, depression, withdrawal, isolation, and thoughts of suicidal.

What We Do

BHUMMATSS through history documentation project, intends to highlight, document and appreciate the invaluable sacrifice and contribution of martyrs and torture survivors in establishing democracy in Bhutan, and to duly celebrate the lives of these unsung heroes. Similarly, BHUMMATSS through torture and trauma-informed approaches endeavours to help these survivors and their families overcome the danger of silence. BHUMMATSS in consultation and coordination with communities groups and service providers, initiates to seek and organise sustainable community-led and/or client-voiced programs and therapies to ensure that the health and wellbeing of these survivors is maintained.
By supporting to share their stories of trauma, we are trying to:
  • Help them unburden their pains and find peace and hope.
  • Aid them to avail the healing effect coming out of storytelling process.
By publishing and preserving their heartrending stories, we wish to:
  • Facilitate concerned families and individuals to find meaning in their sacrifice and contribution, and to retrieve the sense of satisfaction and purpose in life.

BHUMMATSS Publicity Warning Protocol

BHUMMATSS strongly suggests all individuals, cultural groups, community organisations and service providers across the globe including government and non-government agencies, to become aware and be informed that the contents in this website are all factual and accurate at the time when these contents are produced and documented. These Include stories of sacrifice, voices and struggles, and life experiences of Bhutanese Martyrs, Torture and Trauma Survivors and their families past and present.

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