A first-hand account written by a former detainee reveals the horror that goes on in the name of ‘legal education’ inside the secretive walls of ‘re-education centres’ established by Chinese authorities in Tibet. Written by a monk whose identity is kept anonymous for security reasons, the account validates anecdotal evidence collected by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy…
Two Tibetan men, Woeden and Lobsang Gyatso, were released after serving prison for their participation in 2008 uprising in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, according to information received by Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).
In March 2008, a series of protests rocked many parts of the Tibetan plateau with a large chunk of protests concentrated in Ngaba area. Among them was A’khyam Township located in the lower part of Ngaba County (Tib: Ngamey), where local Tibetans staged a major protest on 22 March 2008.
Woeden and Lobsang Gyatso, both of whom belonged to A’khyam Township, took part in the protest and were detained the same day by local police. Both men were sentenced on 24 June 2008 by the Intermediate People’s Court in Barkham, capital of Ngaba Prefecture, and imprisoned at Mianyang Prison, located in Wujia Township in Mianyang Prefecture near Chengdu.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is pleased to announce the release of the 2013 Annual Report on the human rights situation in Tibet and ‘Gulags of Tibet’, a special report on Re-education Through Labour (Ch: laojiao) system in Tibet.
The 2013 Annual Report, available in Tibetan and English, focuses on Civil and Political Rights, Religious Repression, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Religious Repression, the China’s development strategy, and self-immolations. The theme of the 2013 Annual Report is the continued implementation of nomad resettlement and relocation policy. Tibetan nomads have been forced from their ancestral lands and resettled/relocated in urban areas, mostly against their wishes and without adequate compensation. The newly built urban areas where they are forced to resettle cannot sustain their centuries-old way of life, and compared to Chinese migrant workers, nomads receive less state support in terms of finding employment and other sources of livelihood. It was widely estimated that 90% of all Tibetan nomads in Qinghai Province would be resettled at the end of 2013. Despite claims to the contrary, the primary reason for the forced relocation of the nomads is to exploit rich mineral resources from the nomadic lands. State-owned mining companies have already begun the massive extraction of precious minerals such as lithium, copper, chrome, gold and oil.
When the National People’s Congress Standing Committee announced the abolition of RTL, it stated that it was because changes made to Chinese laws had made RTL redundant and it had fulfilled its historic mission. This justification fails to recognize the fundamental problems inherent in RTL. It ignores the substantial criticism of RTL for being an illegal system of arbitrary detention, forced labor, and torture. Internationally, numerous States, NGOs, and international organizations, including the United Nations criticized RTL for violating international human rights law.
Four Tibetan monks have been released following their incarceration in a Re-education Through Labour (Ch: Laojiao) camp in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province.
According to information received by TCHRD, four monks from Nyatso Zilkar Monastery: Sonam Gewa, Lobsang Samten, Lobsang Nyima and Tenzin Sherab were released last month from an RTL prison a few months before the completion of their sentence.
Tenzin Sherab was released on 15 July 2013. He was arrested on 1 October 2012 and later sentenced to one year for distributing a newspaper called Mar-jen (Raw Red) that apparently carried contents related to self-immolation protest. Sources say he suffered beatings and torture during detention and in RTL prison, he was forced to work for 16 hours with a brief lunch break making copper wires and gloves in the prison factory.
Tashi Gyaltsen was born in 1964 in Yagel Hrongbu Village. He studied Tibetan grammar, history and poetry during his early ages.
In 1986, he joined the Drakar Trezong Monastery where he was ordained as a monk by his teacher, Kelsang Tsultrim Woeser Rinpoche. Over the years, Tashi mastered in all the Buddhist text and successfully completed the five annals of Tibetan Buddhism.
In 1993, he was acclaimed as a candidate for the reincarnation of Kyabje Arol Dorjee Chang.
Tashi was on the editorial team of the monastery’s journal “Great Rays of the Sun and Moon” (Tib translit: nyi dai’ gzi byin). The Chinese authorities deemed the content of the journal to be politically sensitive and on 14 January 2005, “PSB” officials from Tsegorthang County and Tsolho “Tibet Autonomous Region” (“TAP”) arrived in the monastery. Tashi Gyaltsen along with four other monks on the editorial team were arrested and led to the local “PSB” Detention Centre.
A new “Re-education-through-Labour” (Ch:laojiao) camp has been established in Senge Township, Ngari County, Tibet Autonomous Region (“TAR”). The camp which will accommodate about two hundred inmates became functional in July 2004 when the construction work was completed.
According to Tibet Daily on 21 July 2004, “The “Re-education-through-Labour” camp located on the Fren Xin Highway on the 4300 Meter high Senge Township in Ngari County has now become functional. The Development Department invested eight million Yuan in building the new camp. The camp can hold two hundred inmates and is 40 thousand square feet in size. The 1760 Km distance between Lhasa City and Ngari is very long and is not secure in transporting people to the “Re-education-through-Labour” camp. The Tibet Autonomous Region (“TAR”) Law Enforcement Department, in an attempt to establish social stability in Ngari Prefecture and to improve the economic status of the Tibetans, have communicated to the concerned national department and in June 2003, the State Development Authority sanctioned eight million Yuan and work formally began on the “Re-education-through-Labour” camp in Ngari region. The newly established “Re-education-through-Labour” Camp will bring social stability in Ngari Prefecture.”