Tag: tchrd

China has once again objected to the accreditation of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) to a world conference. TCHRD has applied for accreditation to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) to be held in Johannesburg in August-September, 2002. The application will be considered by the preparatory committee for the WSSD which is meeting in Bali, Indonesia, from May 27-June 7, 2002.

In a letter dated 14 May 2002 entitled “No accreditation of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy” addressed to the UN Secretary General, the Chinese Permanent Representative to the UN, has alleged that members of the TCHRD are mainly “separatists” who support the independence of Tibet. However in fact, TCHRD is an organisation solely concerned with the human rights situation in Tibet, and hence does not take any political stand on the issue of Tibet.

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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.

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The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) today released its annual report entitled “Tibet: Tightening of Control” on the human rights situation in Tibet for the year 1999. The 140-page report documents the continuing systematic denial and violations of the freedom of religion and expression; the exercise of arbitrary detention and torture; the violation of the right to be free from racial discrimination; the abuse of women and children’s rights in Tibet throughout the year 1999. The report highlights the repeated failure of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to promote and protect the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the Tibetan people.

The past year was marked by the official celebration of several politically significant anniversaries, including fifty years of the founding of the PRC and forty years of the annexation of Tibet. The symbolic importance of these events was characterised by various attempts by the Chinese government to display its authority and legitimacy, resulting in further violation of the human rights of the Tibetan people. Within China and in Tibet there was a tightening of the state’s control over every sphere to consolidate its power. Throughout the year, Chinese authorities tightened its security and surveillance in all major cities and towns to prevent incidents of nationalist dissent. Any attempt at questioning the legitimacy of the state was ruthlessly crushed. And yet as the state tightened its iron grip, there were various reports of Tibetans resisting against the repressive policies of the Chinese government.

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In its recently released report entitled “Closing the Doors: Religious Repression in Tibet”, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) reported the expulsion of over 3,993 monks and nuns from their monasteries and nunneries under China’s “Strike Hard” Campaign. The report documents widespread repression of freedom of religion in Tibet ever since the launching of the “Strike Hard” campaign in Tibet in April 1996.

The principal part of the report is based on testimonials gathered in interviews with Tibetan refugees who have arrived in exile since 1997. The core of China’s “Strike Hard” and “re-education” campaigns is to force the monks and nuns to oppose notions of Tibetan nationalism and to denounce the Dalai Lama. Those who refuse risk severe repercussions. As of February 1998, 3,993 monks and nuns were expelled from their monasteries or nunneries, 294 were arrested and 14 deaths have been reported. Six monasteries and nunneries were completely closed down.

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A report released by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) today describes wide-spread and systematic violations by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) of Tibetan children’s rights to education. “The Next Generation: The State of Education in Tibet Today”, a 100 page report based on interviews conducted in Spring 1997 with 50 Tibetan children who have fled from Tibet in the previous two or three years, reveals the imposition of prohibitively high school fees, the phasing out of Tibetan language and culture, discrimination, indoctrination lessons and excessively cruel punishments.

The children interviewed by TCHRD ranged in age from 9 to 21 years and represented all three provinces of Tibet. Ninety-six percent of them had fled Tibet for reasons of education, generally under the most hazardous conditions and at great financial and personal cost to their family.

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