China’s strict enforcement of its zero-Covid policy in central parts of Tibet has so far forced five Tibetans to commit suicide. Five people who died of suicide on 23, 24 and 25 September were from Lhasa Comprehensive Protective Tariff Zone no. 2(West Lhasa), the Bayi community (southwest Norbulingka), Lanting apartment (near Tibet University), and Gakyiling neighbourhood 3 (east of Lhasa).
TCHRD calls on the Chinese authorities to ensure that the efforts to control the pandemic must be guided by the principles of transparency, integrity, and accountability, in addition to providing timely and proper assistance and support to the affected individuals and families in overcoming one of the greatest public health challenges of our time.
Intern, reporters, photojournalists, and editors from tibet.net, Phayul, Tibet Times, Tibet Express, Bangchen, Voice of Tibet (VoT), Radio Free Asia (RFA), Voice of America (VOA), Tibet Post International (TPI), took turns discussing their role, the media organization they represent, their digital presence, coverage topics, and medium.
China’s widespread and intrusive practices of mass surveillance and censorship have served as a perfect foil to continue perpetrating human rights violations with impunity in Tibet. Since 2008 when Tibetans held widespread protests calling for freedom and return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Chinese authorities have tightened control to ensure that such an event will never happen again. For years now, the Chinese Communist Party (‘Party’) authorities have enforced a model of social control that has proved highly successful in silencing Tibet and encouraging the rapid forced assimilation of Tibetans.
Chinese authorities in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) issued a notice announcing cash prizes upto 300,000 yuan (approx. USD 44,000) in return for reporting illegal online contents as part of its “social supervision strategy to mobilise the general public to effectively prevent and combat illegal and criminal online contents.”
This report reveals the general situation of Tibetan literature under Chinese occupation and the censorship and discriminatory policies and practices imposed on wide ranging areas of literary works in Tibet. This report is evidence of the manner in which the Chinese authorities censor and repress Tibetan literary works that represent the history of Tibetan literature and the fate of Tibet…
Censorship rules issued by Machu County Internet Police
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has obtained a copy of a Chinese government document that announces the implementation of vague and broadly defined rules on internet censorship in Tibet.
Issued for public notice by the Machu (Ch: Maqu) County Public Security Bureau (PSB) located in Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, the document in Tibetan contains a list of instructions to online chat group administrators and owners of public online accounts on how to conduct self-censorship.
The notice, that took effect on 8 October, contains rules that are local version of two new regulations released on 7 September by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). Both the “ManagementRegulations on Online Public Accounts” and “ManagementRegulations on Internet Groups” provide that the regulations were passed to “promote the healthy and orderly development of online community” and “uphold the socialist core values.”
To be implemented by the Machu County Internet Police, the notice orders all online chat group administrators and owners of public online accounts to be responsible for “strictly regulating” their group members and the information they post. They are also made responsible for strictly preventing the spread of ‘illegal’ contents on the internet. The notice covers all online groups such as those that provide information including text, picture, audio and video to the public through any registered online platform as well as online chat groups, social media, and instant messaging apps.
‘Fight the Blackout’ campaign aims to highlight and end the extreme restrictions put on independent journalists and human rights monitors to visit and assess the ground situation in Tibet as Tibetans continue to self-immolate in protest and become victims of human rights abuses.
An initiative of Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), ‘Fight the Blackout’ campaign has been active online mobilizing support from the civil society including individuals and groups and reminding the larger humanity about the significance of the World Press Freedom Day, observed globally every year on 3 May, a day for governments to remember their duty to uphold the right to freedom of expression, a fundamental human right; a day to assess the state of press freedom throughout the world and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty; and a day to remember the restrictions imposed upon press freedom throughout the world, including in Tibet.