2019 marks the 19th anniversary of International Mother Language Day observed annually on 21 February all over the world to highlight the importance of linguistic and cultural diversity for sustainable societies. First proclaimed by the UNESCO in 1999, the date represents the killing of students protesting for their mother tongue to be recognised as one of the national languages in…

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In arbitrary detention for over three years for advocating Tibetan language education, Tashi Wangchuk continues to maintain his innocence and seeks to appeal against his five-year conviction on trumped up charges of ‘inciting separatism’.

According to an update published by Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Tibetan language advocate Tashi Wangchuk’s lawyer Lin Qilei was not allowed to meet with his client on 15 January during a visit to Dongchuang Prison in Xining, Qinghai Province. Lin had sought the meeting to discuss details of Tashi Wangchuk’s appeal notice. After being made to wait for an hour, prison authorities told Lin that since the case was ‘sensitive’, approval was required from the provincial Political and Legal Committee.

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A-nya Sengdra in an undated picture

Hundreds of Tibetans have submitted three known petitions calling for the immediate release of a local anti-corruption activist who has been in Chinese police custody since September last year.

Mr A-nya Sengdra, 47, was beaten up and detained by Gade (Ch: Gande) County Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers on 4 September from a highway intersection in Golok (Ch: Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo.

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Chinese authorities have arbitrarily detained a popular Tibetan activist known for his tireless campaign to promote good governance, anti-corruption and social accountability in his hometown of Kyangche (Ch: Jiangqian) Township, Gade (Ch: Gande) County, Golok (Ch: Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAP), Qinghai Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo. Mr A-nya Sengdra, 47, was beaten up and detained on 4…

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On Monday this week, a 17-year old monk named Sangay Gyatso was arbitrarily detained by local Public Security Bureau officers for staging a solo protest on the main street of Ngaba County town in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo. A reliable source informed TCHRD that the monk carried out the protest…

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This report reveals the general situation of Tibetan literature under Chinese occupation and the censorship and discriminatory policies and practices imposed on wide ranging areas of literary works in Tibet. This report is evidence of the manner in which the Chinese authorities censor and repress Tibetan literary works that represent the history of Tibetan literature and the fate of Tibet…

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“We will not enjoy security without development, we will not enjoy development without security, and we will not enjoy either without respect for human rights.” 

                                 ~ Kofi Annan, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations

Today is the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a landmark document in the history of human rights that guarantees for all human beings the civil, economic, political and cultural rights that are universal, inalienable, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated.

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From left: Mrs Lhakpa Dolma, Ven Ngawang Woeber and Ven Ngawang Delek at the event

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) today unveiled a new Tibetan language website on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) at an event held at the conference hall of Hotel Tibet, Dharamshala, India.

The website honours the memory and legacy of ten monks from Drepung Monastery, also known as ‘Group of Ten’, who were tortured and imprisoned for distributing the Tibetan translation of UDHR in the Tibetan capital Lhasa.

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  “In the decree declared in hell, every one of those people is considered a criminal and imprisoned with both hands and legs shackled, the name of their crime is the love for freedom”, writes Theurang, a former imprisoned Tibetan writer in his poem titled Prisoner in Hell. On this year’s Day of Imprisoned Writers that is observed on 15 November, the Tibetan…

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  The expanding tentacles of the security state accompanied by increased government repression  in Tibet has claimed the life of yet another Tibetan in a self-immolation witnessed in Ngaba County, Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo. On 4 November 2018, Tibetan man named Dopo, 23, died after staging a self-immolation…

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We, the undersigned, express deep concern over the removal of valuable stakeholder information by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for consideration by UN members states ahead of the 3rd Cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the People’s Republic of China.

The UPR process, undertaken through the UN Human Rights Council, explicitly welcomes constructive contributions from civil society to address human rights challenges and promote universal human rights norms. All of the undersigned groups submitted reports through the OHCHR’s online platform before the deadline of March 29, 2018 as individual organizations or as joint submissions to be considered by states in the preparation of their recommendations, and by the OHCHR in its official summary of information from civil society.

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