On 11 June 2024, the UN made available the Chinese government’s announcement to accept or reject recommendations from the latest Universal Periodical Review (UPR) in January 2024, a process through which all UN member states’ human rights records are examined. In a disingenuous effort to paper over its refusal to engage to improve its appalling record, the Chinese government said it would accept 290 of the 428 recommendations, partially accept 8, note 32, and reject 98 of the recommendations made. The 290 accepted ones include those the government said it “accepted and being implemented” and those “accepted and already implemented.” 

A notice issued by the Golok Prefecture Nyenbo Yurtse Nature Reserve Protection Management Bureau prohibits individuals and organisations from entering the sacred Nyenpo Yurtse in Sogru town, Chikdril (Ch: Jiuzhi) county, Golok (Ch: Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The five-point directive issued on 17 June bars both individuals and organisations from entering or conducting activities such as ecological experiences and natural education in the Nyenbo Yurtse area in Golok Prefecture without prior permission, emphasising that the authorities will strictly punish violators according to relevant laws if found guilty of not abiding by the directive. Additionally, the directive requires individuals to stop and report 'unauthorised activities.'

On the 29th anniversary of Tibetan spiritual leader Gedhun Choekyi Nyima's enforced disappearance, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy strongly condemns the Chinese government's continued failure to provide information on his whereabouts and reiterates our calls for the authorities to reveal the truth. Despite extensive efforts and calls from the global Tibetan community, international governments and the United Nations for more than two decades, the Chinese government has continued to ignore their calls leaving a deep void in the hearts of the Tibetans inside and outside Tibet. 

In an interview with TCHRD, Namkyi, a 24-year-old former political prisoner, describes making the difficult decision to leave her family, and her daring escape across the border with her childhood friend Tsering Kyi, both of whom arrived in India last summer. Despite the punitive measures imposed by Chinese authorities, it was the suffering of her loved ones that weighed heaviest on her conscience. Namkyi detailed the prevailing culture of fear and oppression, where dissent was stifled and discouraged, leaving individuals like herself isolated in the struggle for justice.

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.