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On 19 September, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy submitted a petition concerning the proposal to reform Tibetan electoral system to each chithue (Members of Tibetan parliament-in-exile) ahead of the 4th Session of the 16th Tibetan Parliament-in-exile. The two-page petition includes the opinions and suggestions collected from the Tibetan public during the democracy awareness tour organised jointly by TCHRD with Tibetan Women’s Association in July 2017. Opinions were collected via open public discussions and written surveys under the ‘Mangtso: Tibetan Democracy Awareness Tour’. A USB flash drive, which contains the video recordings of all public discussions, was also presented along with the petition to all parliamentarians. TCHRD staff Ms Tenzin Dawa, Mr Tenzin Nyima and …

A former Tibetan political prisoner named Sonam Gyalpo was released last month after serving a 12-yr prison term at Chushul (Ch: Qushui) Prison located in the west of Lhasa City. Sonam Gyalpo, now about 56 years old, was released on 27 August and is believed to have returned to his hometown in Lhoka (Ch: Shannan) Prefecture in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). No further details are available. In more than three decades, Sonam Gyalpo had spent an aggregate of 16 years in prison on vague and overbroad political charges including the third prison term of 12 years. As reported by TCHRD, …

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) in collaboration with Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA) today launched a public awareness campaign to improve and strengthen Tibetan democracy. Through a series of activities focused on awareness raising and free and open public discussion, the campaign targets the exile Tibetan community including individuals, grassroots and civil society groups, as well as Tibetan parliamentarians, in an effort to accelerate the process of electoral reforms as a step towards wider democratic reforms in future. “In any democratic society, grassroots and civil society groups can serve as an effective conduit between the general public …