Serving a cause close to my heart

Nabin Thapaliya is from Jhapa, a district in Nepal that hosted Bhutanese refugees for decades. While growing up, Nabin was surrounded by many refugee classmates and teachers and that led him to have deep empathy for refugees. In May 2022, Nabin joined UNHCR Thailand Multi-Country Office in Mae Hong Son as an international UN Volunteer specialist Associate Protection Officer. "I serve a cause close to my heart," he says.

Nabin supports refugees through durable solutions and community-based protection. This includes counseling refugees, and serving in areas of child protection and prevention, and gender-based violence. 

"My innate passion for serving displaced people, particularly refugees, motivated me to work in this area and to be a UN Volunteer,” says Nabin.

As the focal point for Durable Solutions for his office, provincial Gender-Based Violence (GBV) focal point, and border-wide Thematic focal point for Child Protection, he plays an important part in the coordination with multi-stakeholders including partners and UNHCR focal points.

He reviews documentation for refugee resettlement and makes resettlement and assessment determination, including for children, and third country resettlement context. He also facilitates UNHCR’s legal cases for GBV survivors.

"The most gratifying part of my volunteer experience is that the sincere efforts I put in my work directly help persons in need and do not end up just making an owner or any company richer,” adds Nabin.

Nabin prepares missions to the refugee camps. Primary data from resettlement and protection interviews helps his interventions. He also carries out training and awareness-raising sessions to educate refugees on different protection topics such as working with gender-based violence survivors, working with LGBTIQ+ refugees, and engaging men in gender-based violence responses.

"Nabin’s commitment to caring for displaced people, including refugee children and sexual minorities, has strengthened UNHCR’s operational efforts of their inclusion into Thailand’s national priorities. This is in partnership with various stakeholders in the spirit of “leaving no one behind” central to the purpose of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” – Katsunori Koike, Protection Officer and Head of Office, UNHCR Mae Hong Son Field Office.

"I strongly believe that extending solidarity to alleviate the suffering of others is a responsibility that ought to come from the deep conscience of every human being," Nabin concludes.

This piece was originally published on UNV.