Dissenting Hero Tashi Lhamo for #WhyProtest Campaign

“I protest because it’s not only my right, it’s my duty to speak out in every way that I can when Tibetans inside Tibet do not enjoy even basic human rights.”

Our dissenting hero of this week, Mrs Tashi Lhamo, is a veteran protester and is currently the vice president of National Tibetan Freedom Movement, Delhi. She is also working as an outstation executive member of the Tibetan Women’s Association Centrex.

“Tibetans inside Tibet do not enjoy even basic rights under the oppressive rule of the Chinese government. They are not even allowed to keep portraits of His Holiness the Dalai Lama at their homes. I believe that Tibetans in exile are the representatives of those inside Tibet and have a moral responsibility to protest against the Chinese government.”

Tashi Lhamo joins the #whyprotest campaign to call on China to immediately

  • End policies and practices that are incompatible with international human rights standards on the right to peaceful assembly;

  • Repeal policy of resorting to lethal force to suppress and detain peaceful protesters;

  • Punish government officers responsible for arbitrary detention and torture of peaceful protesters;

  • Ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Convention on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearance;

  • Invite UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association to assess the current state of freedom of peaceful assembly in Tibet

The #WhyProtest campaign, launched by TCHRD on 3 May to highlight freedom of expression, shines light on the brave and inspiring stories of peaceful Tibetan protesters that will tear through the cloak of coronavirus pandemic used by China to hide escalating repression and persecution of peaceful dissent in Tibet.

During the months leading up to this year’s International Human Rights Day on 10 December, the campaign will feature messages of hope, inspiration, and defiance from 30 activists and human rights defenders.

Join the #WhyProtest Campaign by sharing our digital campaign messages on your timeline or your stories of defending the right to protest and why the freedom to dissent matters to you. If interested, write to Ms Tenzin Dawa for further information: tenzin.dawa@tchrd.org.

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