Contact is taking a holiday!

Photo: China Tibet Online

Around 4,000 Tibetans in Chamdo and Gonjo counties in Tibet are reported to have been made homeless as a result of the Chinese government resettlement policy. The Chinese authorities and the state media have proclaimed that such relocations are to help the residents reduce poverty. However, local sources have confirmed that these relocations were forceful and the compensations promised by the authorities have not been fulfilled.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports that Tibetans who had left their homes “only briefly to find work or educate their children” and subsequently wanting to return to their permanent homes have been refused. Some have been reported as being “chased away by force” when trying to return, leaving them in “a difficult situation”.

RFA’s report continues, saying that in a petition sent by Tibetans in 2019 to the central authorities in Tibet, they stated that they had left their homes temporarily to find work or education for their children and if they are not allowed to return home, they have nowhere to live and have never willingly migrated; the petition calls for “urgent investigation” into the matter.

Free Tibet, an independent British Tibet support organisation, states that they have learned that 400 Tibetan families have been subjected to such forceful relocations between 2018 and 2019. The promise of compensation by the authorities – which included jobs and a new happy life in a new environment – were often not fulfilled. Due to lack of modern education and language barriers, Tibetans struggle in the new cities to find jobs. A Tibetan man speaking to RFA said, “We were forced to resettle in Toelung. Our ancestral land and everything we had has been taken by the government in Markham, and nothing is left for us now where we were born.” He added, “It is hard for us to find jobs, even jobs working as servers in restaurants, which our daughters found out when they were turned away because they can’t speak Chinese. We have asked the government to allow us to return to our old homes, but they won’t let us do it.” He also added that they are not even able to send their children to school.