Annual Report English CoverOn 7 February 2015 the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) released its 2014 Annual Report on human rights situation in Tibet. The report is available in English, Tibetan, and, for the first time, Chinese.

The Annual Report demonstrates that despite the promised reforms, the human rights situation in Tibet is continuing to deteriorate. In particular, the Annual Report highlights death in detention, collective punishment, and restrictions on the right to freedom of assembly and association. In all three areas the treatment of Tibetans has deteriorated substantially.

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Tsering Tsomo addresses a protest rally in front the UN to focus attention on the recent self-immolation of Lhamo Tashi.

The director of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), Ms. Tsering Tsomo, attended the 27th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) at the United Nations in Geneva from 14 to 24 September 2014, to draw the Council’s attention to the pressing human rights issues inside Tibet. On the sidelines of the session, Ms. Tsomo met and briefed various UN Special Procedures mandate holders, diplomats and NGO representatives on the current situation in Tibet and strongly appealed for their support.

In addition to delivering an oral statement (a video of the statement is available here starting at 49:27) on behalf of the Society for Threatened Peoples at the HRC session, Ms. Tsomo held an hour-long briefing for assistants to seven UN Special Procedure mandate holders. On 23 September 2014, Ms. Tsomo met with assistants to Special Rapporteur on religious freedom or belief; Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion; Special Rapporteur on Torture; Special Rapporteur on right to education; Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; and Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

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Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) will be hosting the Annual Human Rights Symposium on Tibet at the Tibetan Youth Hostel in Bangalore, South India from 21 to 23 February 2014. The symposium will be attended by twenty-five Tibetan graduate students studying political science, international relations, human rights, law, literature, and history in Indian colleges and universities. The…

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Former political prisoner Lhamo Kyab and TCHRD director Tsering Tsomo during the launch of the documentary at TCHRD office
Former political prisoner Lhamo Kyab and TCHRD director Tsering Tsomo during the launch of the documentary at TCHRD office

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is pleased to announce the release of a new documentary movie titled ‘A Sacrifice’, shot and directed by Theo Hessing, a filmmaker based in London, UK.

The 26-minute long film depicts the life of Lhamo Kyab, a former political prisoner and now a political activist in exile. After his brief stay in exile,  Lhamo returned to Tibet in 2006 with a mission to free his homeland from the Chinese occupation. He was subsequently arrested, imprisoned and tortured for three years in the dreaded Chushur Prison located in the outskirts of Lhasa city.

Apart from documenting the ordeals of a Tibetan political prisoner, the film captures the harrowing tale of self-immolation protests in Tibet and its impact on the Tibetan struggle for freedom.

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Today is the 64th International Human Rights Day, the day the United Nations proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) the highest form of human aspirations for freedom and human rights.

This year’s theme for Human Rights Day celebrates the rights of all people to freedom of opinion and expression, to peaceful assembly and association, and to participate in official decision-making process.

These rights have been denied to people in Tibet for over six decades. Peaceful protests have been suppressed by force by the law enforcement agencies of the Chinese government as it happened in January 2012 when armed police fired upon unarmed Tibetan protesters in Drango, Serthar and Dzamthang counties in Sichuan Province, killing five known Tibetans and injuring scores of others.

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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.

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The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) commemorates the 12th anniversary of the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture to recognise the pain and suffering that victims and survivors of torture throughout the world has gone through. The day reminds us that torture is a crime and provides us with an opportunity to stand united and voice our opinion against torture, a cruel violation of human rights. International law states that torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment can never be justified under any circumstances.

Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1984, the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) 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. 

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The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has been closely monitoring the situation inside Tibet particularly since 10 March 2008 when the first peaceful protest led by Tibetan Buddhist monks broke up in Lhasa on the 49th anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day.

For the past more than two weeks, the exact figures on the number of arrest, death, injury or disappeared from the violent crackdowns during protests in various parts of Tibet is difficult to ascertain due to various circumstances such as censorship of information, lack of immediate and on the ground assessment, absence of third party fact finding mission and free media reporting in Chinese administered Tibet. However, TCHRD has been able to filter considerable information based on eyewitnesses accounts, evidences and information given to the Centre by brave and conscious Tibetans inside Tibet. The information available to TCHRD has been reported to various human rights monitoring organisations, media and concerned UN bodies after our meticulous research and verification.

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On 22 March 2008, three members of Tibetan Parliament in exile, Mr. Karma Yeshi, Mr. Sertha Tsultrim and Mr. Dawa Tsering joined TCHRD’s Solidarity Movement launched to end killings, arbitrary arrests, inhumane torture and enforced disappearances in Tibet.

Later, hundreds of other Tibetans joined our movement by voluntarily tonsuring their heads in front of Main Temple gate, Mcleod Ganj, Dharamsala. Our movement is now gaining a huge momentum as many more Tibetans and Tibet supporters in all parts of the world are tonsuring their heads to express their solidarity to those Tibetans who were killed, arbitrarily arrested and disappeared without traces since 10 March 2008 when the Tibetan people rose up against the Chinese rule in Tibet.

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