In December 2024, the acting head and scriptural teacher of Hor Tsang Kirti Monastery was forcibly detained by Chinese authorities in Sangchu (Ch: Xiahe) County, Kanlho (Gannan) Prefecture in Tibet’s traditional province of Amdo, incorporated into China’s Gansu Province. According to a reliable source, Chinese authorities also conducted a search of his residence and confiscated numerous documents and materials linked to the Kirti Monasteries General Buddhist Education Supervisory Group.
Despite more than eight months having passed since Geshe Kunchok Choedak’s detention, the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has provided no statement regarding his well-being and whereabouts, raising serious concerns regarding his health.
In Tibet, the PRC government has intensified human rights violations by using surveillance, detention, and arbitrary imprisonment—classifying peaceful religious and civic activities as illegal under a broad application of “National Security Law”—to persecute religious leaders, lamas, teachers, singers, environmental activists, educators, and community leaders.
The arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention of Kunchok Choedak constitute a systematic violation of the rights of the Tibetan people inside Tibet. This includes breaches of fundamental rights such as protection against arbitrary detention, the right to religious freedom, freedom of expression, access to information, and family rights.
Enforced disappearances, holding individuals in custody without any information, of Tibetans, especially political prisoners, in the past have frequently resulted in a high risk of torture or other inhuman treatment, resulting in them suffering inhuman ordeals and in the most severe cases, death. It is therefore imminent that Kunchok Choedak be released immediately, without preconditions, and provided with evidence of his charges, in a free and fair trial, as required by international law and China’s own Constitution and laws. His family and close relatives must be informed immediately of his condition and whereabouts.
Kunchok Choedak was born in Do Chok (རྡོ་མཆོག) village, Brengba (འབྲེང་བ།) Township, Dzoge (མཛོད་དགེ) County in Ngaba Prefecture. His father, named Alo, and mother, named Machik Kyi, are both deceased. From childhood, he entered religious life at Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery, receiving the degree of Geshe Lharampa in 2019. In 2021, he was appointed as Acting Abbot of Hor Tsang Kirti Monastery. The successive abbots of Hor Tsang Kirti Monastery have traditionally been appointed by Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery.
Hor Tsang Kirti Monastery, a Gelug Buddhist monastery, was established in 1764. The monastery was founded through the efforts of successive Kirti incarnations (5th through 11th), who made multiple visits to develop the institution by building facilities, establishing study programs, and creating organisational structures. The monastery expanded significantly in the 19th century with the addition of tantric colleges, prayer festivals, and classes in philosophical studies. As of 2020, the monastery operates under the administration of the Sengdong incarnation lineage (who administered till 2024) and houses over 100 monks in two colleges.
– Filed by UN, EU, and the Human Rights Desk, Tibet Advocacy Section, DIIR
Geshe Lharampa Kunchok Choedak.
Hor Tsang Kriti Monastery.
Hor Tsang Kriti Monastery.
