The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) released its 2020 Annual Report on the human rights situation in Tibet on April 26. The report, says TCHRD, presents a disturbing picture of deprivation and abuses, marked by persistent and grave human rights violations, including the absence of an independent space for free speech owing to the widespread and systematic crackdown on any sign of peaceful dissent.
The report summary continues: events documented in the report provide evidence of a surge in arbitrary arrests and detention, extrajudicial killings enabling the culture of endemic and systematic torture. Secret and incommunicado detention remains rampant as more Tibetans are arbitrarily detained for so-called criminal acts of possessing the Dalai Lama’s photos or advocating for environmental, cultural and language rights.
Current Chinese policies for Tibet continue to be oppressive, with practices such as continued state patronage heavily guided by the Chinese state’s political goals, security agenda, and economic interests rather than genuine efforts to improve Tibetans’ quality of life. Forced assimilation and ill-advised development occur, all in the name of “stability maintenance”. There are grave violations of political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights and Tibetan Tibetan identity and culture are undermined.
China is a member of the United Nations and the Human Rights Council but China’s laws, policies and practices on a range of issues directly related to human rights are evidenced to be in breach of International Law and other human rights instruments. TCHRD is calling for this contradictory position to be addressed and China held to account.
Print
Email