Thematic Reports – Page 3

04/03/2015 News / Thematic Reports

TCHRD report documents crisis of maternal and child health in Tibet

On 4 March 2015 the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) released a special report on the right to health, entitled In the Shadow of Development: Maternal and Child Health in Crisis in Tibet. The report documents how a failing system of public healthcare has permitted extremely poor maternal and child health to persist in Tibet, despite drastic improvements in conditions in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The report reveals that rural-living Tibetan women and children bear some of the highest risks in the PRC for birth-related illness and death, and finds that maternal and child health in Tibet is the worst in the PRC by a wide margin. In the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) in 2009, maternal and infant mortality were the highest in the PRC, 8 and 2.7 times higher than the national average, respectively. Severe child malnutrition, at 3.6%, was over twice as high. Life expectancy in the TAR was 8.5 years shorter than average and the lowest in the PRC.

07/07/2014 News / Thematic Reports

TCHRD releases two new publications on ‘village democracy’ and UN human rights instruments

Cover of the special report on 'village democracy' in Tibetan — Cover of the special report on ‘village democracy’ in Tibetan

Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) proclaims that ‘all are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of law.’ Although the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has signed many UN treaties and conventions, it has consistently failed to implement and abide by them, and has resorted to its domestic laws and regulations to violate the basic and legitimate rights of its citizens.

As a member of the United Nations, the PRC is under legal obligation to educate its citizens, and implement within its territorial boundary, the laws, conventions and treaties of the UN. Instead of raising popular awareness about international human rights law, more emphasis is put on repressive domestic laws promoted and propagated under forced education campaigns such as ‘legal education’ or ‘patriotic education’.

To counter this, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), Dharamsala, has come out with two new publications titled “Nyamdrel Gyaltsog Ki Trim Yig Khag” (‘A Collection of United Nations’ Conventions) and “Sota Chen Ki Mangtso” (‘Monitored Democracy’).

20/01/2014 Thematic Reports

Gulags of Tibet

TCHRD’s special report, ‘Gulags of Tibet’ examines the history and evolution of RTL, analyzes the current RTL laws, in addition to examining how RTL violates the international prohibitions of arbitrary detention, forced labor, and torture. The report features interviews with Tibetan RTL survivors who tell their personal stories of being locked up in forced labour camps. In late December 2013,…

10/12/2013 News / Thematic Reports

Banned Expression

In his essay, Soul of Poetry, the influential Tibetan poet, Yidam Tsering (1933 – 2004), likened the poets to nightingales who sing through their poems the hopes and aspirations, pain and agony, of their people. Her further wrote, “as long as the people live a life of million years, the poet will be able to sustain a life of million…

01/09/2013 News / Thematic Reports

TCHRD’s new report on ‘Ending Impunity: Crimes Against Humanity in Tibet’

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy commemorates the 53rd anniversary of Tibetan Democracy Day, by releasing a report titled Ending Impunity: Crimes Against Humanity in Tibet. On 2 September, Tibetans all over the world celebrate the Tibetan Democracy Day. This latest report from TCHRD focuses on international criminal justice and argues that the conduct of high-level Chinese government officials in Tibet constitutes ‘crimes against humanity’.

This report demonstrates that even though the International Criminal Court (ICC) lacks jurisdiction to investigate the situation in Tibet, the Party officials of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have committed crimes against humanity in Tibet. The ICC’s lack of jurisdiction does not change the nature of crimes committed in Tibet. The inability of the ICC to investigate the situation in Tibet does not mean there is no role for international criminal justice in Tibet. Recognising that international crimes defined by the Rome Statute have been committed in Tibet gives international actors powerful legal and rhetorical tools outside of the ICC.

14/08/2013 News / Thematic Reports

Dissenting Voices: TCHRD releases English translation of Ancestors’ Tomb

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is pleased to announce the release of Ancestors’ Tomb, a book written by a Tibetan university student in Ngaba in the Tibetan province of Amdo.

Mar Jang-nyug (pseudonym) is a Tibetan writer who was born and brought up in Marong village of Ngaba in the Tibetan province of Amdo. Ancestors’ Tomb reveals the oppressive nature of Chinese rule in Tibet. With his writings, Mar Jang-nyug bears witness to the suffering and pain endured by Tibetans and exposes the authoritarian workings of the Chinese government.

Through an array of prose and poetry, the book describes the dictatorial nature of the Chinese government, its relentless marginalization of Tibetan language and culture, destruction of environment through unrestricted deforestation and mining and its ever-increasing violations of human rights.

17/07/2013 News / Thematic Reports

Universal Periodic Review: Hold China accountable for its failed Tibet promises

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) today released a new report, Universal Periodic Review and China’s Human Rights Record in Tibet. The report is available to the public and will be submitted to the United Nations Special Rapporteurs for Civil and Political rights. Universal Periodic Review and China’s Human Rights Record in Tibet is part of TCHRD’s lobbying effort leading up to China’s Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations Human Rights Council on 22 October 2013. TCHRD is calling for China to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), one of the most important human rights treaties.

The release of Universal Periodic Review and China’s Human Rights Record in Tibet coincides with China’s submission of its national report on its human rights situation on 22 July. In its report China will undoubtedly highlight economic development and other economic, social, cultural rights while ignoring civil and political rights as it did in its White Paper on Human Rights. In the past China has treated human rights as divisible and focused on economic, social, and cultural rights to the exclusion of civil and political rights.

01/07/2013 News / Thematic Reports

Resettlement is Displacement: A right-based perspective on the internally displaced in Tibet

The Tibetan people have been facing severe human rights violations at the hands of the Chinese government for over half a century. The Chinese government is now implementing policies that are displacing the Tibetan population: however they are not recognised internationally as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). This report utilises the UN Guidelines on Displacement as a methodology to analyse data…

17/01/2013 Thematic Reports

Religious Repression in Tibet – 2012

The right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is a fundamental and universal right, first enshrined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“UDHR”) in 1948. Despite its value to the international community, States continue to violate the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion across the globe. This is particularly true in Tibet, where…

01/01/2013 News / Thematic Reports

THEMATIC REPORT Ancestor’s Tomb

One of the most notable corollaries of the 2008 protests in Tibet is the unprecedented surge in artistic expression and intellectual activism among young, educated and bilingual Tibetans. Born after the 1949 occupation and the dark years of Cultural Revolution, they are equipped with the means to understand the politico-socio dynamics of one-party system in Chinese-ruled Tibet. Outraged by the…

30/10/2012 News / Thematic Reports

‘Into Thin Air’: TCHRD releases report on enforced disappearances in Tibet

“This heinous practice is not permitted under any circumstances. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever may be invoked to justify an enforced disappearance.”

Jeremy Sarkin, UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (Nov. 2011)

Imagine a close loved one being taken into custody, held incommunicado for days, weeks, or even years, without any contact or communication with you or other family members. Imagine the mental anguish and torment of not knowing where they are, if they are being tortured or have been killed. In this respect, enforced disappearances have a “doubly paralyzing impact,” not only on the victims, but also on their loved ones who live in a constant state of anxiety and fear about the fate of the disappeared person. Today, TCHRD, on the eve of the 98th session of the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, releases an introductory report and analysis on enforced disappearances in Tibet.