Dharamshala: The UN, EU & Human Rights Desk of Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR), Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) released a 6-minutes video titled “Five Pressing Human Rights Violation in Tibet, A Year in Review: 2019”.
The short video reviews the most pressing human rights violations in Tibet in the year 2019. It highlights self-immolations in Tibet, arbitrary arrest, detention, torture and sentenced, freedom of speech and expression, freedom of religion and belief and discriminatory practices against Tibetans.
By the end of 2019, at least 154 Tibetans in Tibet have ablaze their bodies since 2009 as a sign of peaceful protest against the Chinese authoritarian regime. The Chinese authorities continue to arbitrarily arrest, detain, torture and unjustly sentence Tibetans under the opaque Chinese legal system. In the year 2019 at least 16 Tibetans including activists, community leaders, students have been falsely sentenced to varying prison terms.
Freedom of speech and expression is “systematically violated” in Tibet. With the presence of the most intrusive system of surveillance in Tibet, the Tibetan people’s right to freedom of speech was continuously undermined in 2019. Civic groups were shut down and online conversation was strongly curtailed. Many Tibetans were arrested for posting online comments and for acts as small as sharing pictures of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Tibetans in Tibet continue to face severe religious repression under the Chinese policies. The Chinese government has taken immense control over administrative functions of Tibetan Buddhist centres. The Chinese authorities target not only religious institutions but even the lay Tibetan community cannot escape from state suppression of religion. From May to June 2019 around 3,600 residents were forcefully evicted from Yachen Gar. Many were enrolled in detention centres for “political re-education” where they suffered from mental and physical hardship.
Even to this day, institutional discriminations continue to exist in China’s occupied Tibet. Lack of access to the Tibetan language in schools, limited access to judicial remedies and unequal job opportunities for Tibetans in Tibet evidently persist. Despite repeated calls from the international community, China continues to violate human rights in Tibet.
“The human rights violations in Tibet continues to worsen with each passing year. The Chinese authorities keep on using methods and excuses to suppress Tibetan people with the ultimate aim of obliterating the cultural and ethnic identity of the Tibetan people into oblivion. It is high time that the International community muster enough courage and commitment to substantively register their protest against high handed Chinese atrocities against the Tibetans and other oppressed people under the Chinese rule such as Uyghurs, Southern Mongolians and Hongkongers,” said International Relations Secretary Karma Choeying, DIIR, CTA.
“China sees human rights as an existential threat to the very survival of its power. China depends on repression to further strengthen its power. Now is the time that government should band together and stand up to challenge against China’s repression and assaults on the international human rights system,” said Ms Tenzin Dhadon of Human Rights Desk, DIIR.
This video presents a comprehensive review of the prevailing dire human rights situation in Tibet in the year 2019.
-Filed by UN, EU & Human Rights Desk, DIIR
