• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to footer
  • FR
  • Offices
    • Amsterdam
    • Berlin
    • Washington DC

International Campaign for Tibet - Brussels Office

  • About us
    • About International Campaign for Tibet
    • The Brussels Office
    • Contact us
  • About Tibet
    • Overview
    • Religious freedom
    • Environment
    • Suppression of dissent
    • Access to Tibet
  • The EU and Tibet
    • EU-China Relations
    • European Parliament
      • Resolutions
      • Intergroup
    • EU Council / EU Presidency
    • European External Action Service
    • Recommendations
  • News & Resources
  • Our Work
    • At the United Nations
    • Publications

“A policy alienating Tibetans” – the denial of passports to Tibetans as China intensifies control

July 22, 2015 ・ International Campaign for TibetResearch

A Policy Alienating Tibetans - The denial of passport to Tibetans as China intensifies control - July 2015A new report by ICT shows how the Chinese authorities have intensified control over Tibetans’ movements by denying and recalling passports, in contravention of Chinese law, and connected to the Chinese authorities’ political agenda of undermining the Dalai Lama and seeking to assert their control over Tibetan people.

Very few Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and in many other Tibetan areas have been issued passports in the past three years, and many people had their passports confiscated. Restrictions have been tight in areas outside the TAR where there has been unrest, such as Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) in Sichuan, where the wave of self-immolations began. In contrast, more and more Chinese are travelling both abroad and freely in Tibetan areas.

Denial of the ability to travel outside Tibet legally is used as a form of collective punishment; the family and friends of certain individuals such as former political prisoners, or people associated with Tibetans who have self-immolated or participated in protest, can also have passports denied or recalled. The denial of passports is accompanied by restrictions on movement in Tibetan areas linked to intensified militarization and security particularly in areas where there has been protest or self-immolations. Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region have been particularly impacted.

The Chinese authorities have imposed sweeping new measures in order to prevent Tibetans travelling to teachings by the Dalai Lama outside Tibet, and to punish those who do. For the first time at a major Buddhist teaching by the Dalai Lama in 2014, the Kalachakra in Ladakh, there were more Chinese Buddhists present than Tibetans from inside Tibet. The restrictions threaten the survival of Tibetan Buddhist teachings in Tibet by making it nearly impossible for monks and nuns who wish to travel outside the PRC to receive instruction from teachers who are in exile, and difficult for exiled teachers to get permission to travel within Tibet to give teachings.

Footer

The Tibet Brief

A newsletter providing concise information and perspectives on the political, economic and human rights situation in Tibet

About us

The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) is an international NGO working to promote democratic freedoms for Tibetans, ensure their human rights and protect the Tibetan culture and environment.

Read more

  • FR
  • Offices
    • Amsterdam
    • Berlin
    • Washington DC

Copyright ©2025 · International Campaign for Tibet - All Rights Reserved

By continuing to browse this site, you agree to our use of cookies.