News
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy joins the international community in observing World Press Freedom Day, as proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 to remind governments to honor their commitments to press freedom and its core principles. However, in Tibet, China’s stringent control over information severely curtails press freedom and suppresses expression. Through strict regulations on both foreign and domestic journalists, often resulting in imprisonment and torture, China obstructs international efforts to accurately understand the reality in Tibet. This suppression not only denies Tibetan voices agency but also forcefully suppresses independent publications through bans or extensive censorship.
Chinese authorities have detained incommunicado a Tibetan monk, Pema, from the local Kirti Monastery in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province in the Tibetan province of Amdo for staging a peaceful solo protest against repressive policies while holding a portrait of the Dalai Lama on the stretch of a road known to the local Tibetans as ‘martyrs road’.
Local police arbitrarily detained Tibetan singer Gegjom in Khyungchu (Ch: Hongyuan) County, Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo after the Tibetan singer performed ‘Tearful Deluge of a Sorrowful Song’ at an evening gathering during the Tibetan New Year.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy released its annual report underscoring continued human rights violations in Tibet. Tibetans continue to face restrictions on their freedom of expression, assembly, and education, both in digital and physical spheres. Chinese authorities exert stringent control over religious activities, impeding the rights and pilgrimage practices of Tibetan Buddhists. Arbitrary detention, unjust sentencing, and instances of torture persist, resulting in custodial fatalities and enduring health complications among political detainees.
In furtherance of the signature petition to safeguard Tibetan refugee rights in Nepal, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), in conjunction with the Asian Dignity Initiative (ADI), hereby declares the culmination and closing of the signature petition campaign. The meticulously drafted letters have been duly dispatched via postal mail and electronic correspondence to the relevant entities, namely the Chinese government, the Nepalese government, and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner.
The Chinese authorities are forcibly constructing hydropower dams in the upper reaches of the Drichu (Ch: Jinsha) river, leading to the involuntary relocation and displacement of local Tibetans from their ancestral villages and centuries-old Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. These large-scale dams are constructed in alignment with the objectives of the ‘West-East Electricity Transmission’ project. The electricity these dams produce will ultimately supply power to industrial cities in eastern China.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) recently concluded a comprehensive series of workshops on “Bystander Intervention against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence.” These workshops were conducted for over 460 Tibetan youths across various educational institutions, schools and colleges based in India, including the Sambhota Tibetan School in Kalimpong and Darjeeling, the College for Higher Tibetan Studies-Sarah, the Dalai Lama Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies in Bangalore, and the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Varanasi, India.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has published a special report titled ‘Chinese Transnational Repression of Tibetan Diaspora Communities’ today, on 6 February 2023, at the Press Club of India, New Delhi. While earlier reports from various organisations have addressed transnational repression impacting diverse ethnic groups, this report is the first comprehensive examination dedicated explicitly to the transnational repression experienced by the Tibetan diaspora communities.
Tibetan human rights defender Tsering Tso was arbitrarily detained for the second time in three years due to her outspoken social media posts condemning Chinese authorities for engaging in racially discriminatory practices and human rights violations against Tibetans in Kyegudo (Ch: Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in the Tibetan province of Kham.
The Yushu Public Security Bureau (PSB) sentenced Tso to 15 days of “administrative detention,” imprisoning her in the Yushu city detention centre from 26 October to 10 November 2023.