Dhondup Wangchen, a former Tibetan political prisoner and a filmmaker, has been awarded the prestigious 2019 international human rights awards from the Geneva Summit on March 26, 2019. The announcement was made by a coalition of 25 global human rights organisations.
Just before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Wangchen exposed life under Chinese rule through a documentary Leaving Fear Behind, following which he had to serve a six year arbitrary sentence in a Chinese prison where he was subject to torture, forced labour, systematic discrimination and denied health services or family visits.
Wangchen received Geneva Summit’s Courage Award at a ceremony where he addressed a crowd of over 800 including UN diplomats, human right activists and journalists from around the world who were attending the 11th annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.
“Tibet is a prison,” said Wangchen addressing the crowd, “Every year, the conditions get worse. More restrictions on travelling, practicing religion and culture and severe limits on freedom of the press” .
“It is because of your support that I am here today. I never imagined that a day like this will come when I’m finally able to speak freely, breathe the air of freedom in this free world. It feels surreal that I’m standing in front of you here, accepting this honour and sharing my experiences with you all,” said Wangchen in his acceptance speech.
Previous Courage Award recipients included jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, Venezuelan opposition leader Antonio Ledezma, Vladimir Kara-Murza, a leading dissident against Russia’s Putin regime and Chinese dissident Chen Guangchen.
In 2007 and 2008, Wangchen and his assistant Golog Jigme interviewed over 108 Tibetans from various part of Tibet discussing the situation of Tibetans under the Chinese Communist rule and their ideas on the then upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympic. A documentary film, Leaving Fear Behind, was released out of those raw footages by Zurich based Filming for Tibet and Wangchen’s cousin, Gyaljong Tsetrin.
Wangchen and Jigme were detained by the Chinese authorities in March 2008 for making the documentary. In 2009, after a year being held incommunicado, Wangchen was sentenced to six years for “inciting subversion”. His assistant monk, Golog Jigme was also detained and subjected to torture.
Dhondup Wangchen was released from prison on June 5, 2014 and is currently living with his family in the United States.
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