In the recent few months after the outbreak of the major protests across the Tibetan plateau since March 10, 2008, a few more cases of, particularly, the enforced and involuntary disappearance of Tibetans are beginning to surface. According to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), there are at least more than a thousand Tibetans whose current whereabouts and well being remains completely unknown to their family members and their affiliated monasteries.
On the eve of China’s first Olympics, as the world prepares to gaze more intently than ever on the grand spectacle of the 29th Olympics, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) deplores and expresses its deepest dismay on China’s failure to uphold the Olympic principles particularly with regard to continual of repression in Tibet. The communist regime continues to cling on to its old authoritarian ways and still ruthlessly suppresses peaceful dissent. Over the recent past the Chinese authorities under the pretext of security measures has intensified clampdown on the fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people.
Spontaneous pan-Tibet protests since 10 March 2008 are sincere manifestation of brutality and oppression suffered by the Tibetans at the hands of the Communist party for more than half a century. This goes in contrast to the authorities’ projection of the image of “harmonious society” and failure of Beijing long held Tibet Policies.
Today, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) commemorates the eleventh anniversary of the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture to recognize the pain and suffering that victims and survivors of torture throughout the world has gone through.
In 1984, the General Assembly adopted the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), which entered into force on 26 June 1987. It was an important step in the much-needed process of globalising human rights and acknowledging that torture, and all forms of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, are absolutely and universally illegal and should not be condoned. There can be zero tolerance for torture. In 1997, the United Nations General Assembly decided to mark this historic date and designated 26 June each year as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The Convention obliges States to make torture a crime and to prosecute and punish those guilty of it. It notes explicitly that neither higher orders nor exceptional circumstances can justify torture.