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.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy is pleased to announce the release of 2019 Annual Report: Human Rights Situation in Tibet earlier today in Dharamsala, India. The report documents China’s ruthless suppression of any political dissent while steadily using policies and legislation to chip away at the pillars of Tibetan political and cultural identity. The PRC demonstrated no…
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) released today the 2017 Annual Report on Human Rights situation in Tibet at a press conference held at the conference hall of Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA). The 2017 Annual Report on the human rights situation in Tibet presents an analysis of major human rights abuses committed by Chinese…
The party-state of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) continued its egregious human rights violations and abuses in Tibet by criminalizing basic human rights and freedoms, and engaging in arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearance, collective punishment and environmental destruction to name a few, according to the 2016 Annual Report on human rights situation in Tibet released by the Tibetan Centre…
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) released today the 2015 Annual Report on human rights situation in Tibet in Dharamshala, India. The annual report is available in Tibetan, English and Chinese. In 2015, the human rights situation in Tibet did not improve and China continued to violate international law. At the same time, more and more issues…
The year 2009 was no different when it comes to violation of human rights of the Tibetan people inside Tibet by the Chinese authorities. For Tibetans inside Tibet it’s been yet another year of heightened security, repression, isolation and suppression. The year encapsulated with numbers of highly sensitive anniversaries in Chinese calendar was dealt with an iron fist. The year 2009 marked 50 years of exile for the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people. In five decades the Tibetan people have suffered enormous hardships and systematic human rights abuses by the government of People’s Republic of China (PRC). Human rights violations continue unabated with impunity and there is no sign of let up by the government.
Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy’s 2007 annual report finds cases of arbitrary arrests and detentions inside Tibet increased almost threefold compared to 2006 indicating a worsening of human rights situation in Tibet ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics
Year 2007 saw repression worsen in Tibet signaling a hardening attitude of China despite holding sixth round of talks between the envoys of the Dalai Lama envoys and Beijing, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy” target (TCHRD) stated in its 2007 annual report released here today.
The report titled- Human Rights Situation in Tibet: Annual Report 2007 notes “Through out the year, the Chinese authorities in occupied Tibet unleashed spate after spate of policy campaigns, regulations and decrees to subject Tibetans to intensified state controls over their human rights and fundamental freedoms,” The year round assessment of the human rights situation in Tibet finds Communist Chinese authorities committing severe violations of human rights in Tibet as a result of placing heightened security measures and cracking down heavily on incidences of peaceful protests by Tibetan people.
Not surprisingly, the report finds “cases of arbitrary arrest and detentions” increased almost threefold compared to previous year (2006), “suggesting a clear indication of the human rights situation worsening in Tibet”. The report documents 65 known cases of arbitrary arrests in 2007 alone out of the total 119 known Tibetan political prisoners, of which 43 are serving terms of more than ten years.
“The actual number could be even much higher,” TCHRD’s Director Mr Urgen Tenzin speculates, pointing at the lack of freedom as the key factor hindering more accurate monitoring of the situation inside Tibet. According to the report, “Chinese authorities routinely resorted to arbitrary arrests, imprisonment and torture in dealing with peaceful protests by Tibetans, which normally included displaying Tibetan flags, staging non-violent demonstrations, possessing pictures of the Dalai Lama, and posters calling for freedom of Tibet.” Although the so called Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) is considered politically more sensitive region, interestingly TCHRD finds Kardze region outside of the TAR as “the most volatile Tibetan area in terms of political developments, for several successive years now”.
The report shows that half of the total 65 known cases of arbitrary arrests during 2007 were recorded from the Kardze region alone. The centre’s report puts peculiar note of the intensified repression placed upon the Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and nunneries, which have long been identified by Chinese authorities as the “hot bed of dissents” in Tibet. Accordingly, the report finds that 70% (80 out of the 119) of the known political prisoners are monks and nuns. The report says that “during 2007, religious freedom in Tibet took a major set back” after the Chinese authorities introduced two new religious regulations. “Tibet Autonomous Region Implementing Measures for the Regulation of Religious Affairs” and “Measures on the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism”, the report says, were primarily aimed at subjecting “Tibetan Buddhism and its spiritual masters under intensified state control through legal conundrums”. Further, the report alleges that the Communist authorities regularly conducted ‘patriotic re-education’ and ‘love your country, love your religion’ political campaigns in the monastic institutions” and reinvigorated the ‘Patriotic education’ in various Tibetan areas during the year as a measure toward bringing the monastic communities under a tight official grip”.One of the major concerns raised in the report remains to be continuing arrival of new Tibet refugees after fleeing across the harsh Himalayan terrains, very often putting their lives into extreme risks.
In 2007, some 2,338 Tibetans managed to safely reach the Tibetan Reception Centre in Dharamshala, the seat of the Dalai Lama and the base of the Tibetan Government-in Exile. Of the total number of refugees, the report shows, around half of them were below the age of 18 seeking educational opportunities as a result of poor educational facilities in the rural areas of Tibet where about 75% of the Tibetan population reside. And where schools do exist, they have “biased (Chinese) curriculum”, the report exposes.
Persecution of several Tibetans in the eastern Tibet region following an open pro-independence and pro-Dalai Lama outcry in Lithang by a Tibetan nomad, Rongye Adrak that escalated into a mass Tibetan protests against Chinese authorities; closing down of Tibetans sites, online blogs and restrictions on internet and other media; destruction of statues of religious significance, especially those of Guru Rinpoche by Communist authorities; heightened security measures restricting Tibetans from taking part in religious activities and public celebrations; detaining and torturing school students by authorities in Amchok Bora Village in Labrang County; another shooting incident on the Nangpa La Pass; mass relocation of Tibetan herders affecting their traditional livelihood and further marginalization of Tibetans as a result of the new railway accelerating the Chinese population transfer into Tibet are some of the major cases extensively highlighted in the report categorised into Civil and Political Liberties, Religion, Education in Tibet and Development chapters. With the Beijing Olympic Games only a few months away in August 2008, TCHRD’s report seeks to “build up pressure and expose China’s human rights farce to the world”.
The latest Annual Report by Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has been released today. Enforcing Loyalty is a comprehensive documentation of the deteriorating human rights situation throughout Tibet in the year 2000. In a year where Beijing made overt attempts to enhance its international image, with the release of their high profile propaganda piece – the White Paper – and their signing of the Memorandum of Understanding – an agreement with the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights relating to human rights standards – China still remains one of the few nations of the world that institutionalises human rights abuses.
The past year saw an increase in almost every area of repression and violations of fundamental freedoms by the Chinese authorities. Beijing’s obsession with stability and control saw the reinforcement of older policies and the imposition of new, restrictive measures. Political and religious freedoms faced heightened methods of control; Tibetans endured continued arbitrary arrests and detentions, along with unabated torture; women suffered an increase of physical violations; and children still face bleak and limited futures due to the highly discriminatory education and employment policies currently in practice.