Tibet’s global freedom score is zero for the third year in a row, according to the Freedom in the World 2026 report released by the watchdog group Freedom House on 19 March, and Tibet remains “not free.”
In Freedom House’s 2026 profile of Tibet, which is based on conditions and data from 2025, Tibet has a political rights score of –2 out of a possible 40 and a civil liberties score of 2 out of a possible 60, combining for an overall score of 0 out of 100.
Tibet’s score of 0 ties with South Sudan for second lowest on the list of 208 areas examined. The DPRK, with a score of 3 out of 100, ranks higher on Freedom House’s index. Tibet scored a zero in the 2024 and 2025 reports, breaking an 8-year trend of scoring 1 overall and underscoring the continued worsening human rights situation within Tibet.
China’s Ethnic Unity Law
Tibet’s score reflects the codification of continuing repression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the “Ethnic Unity and Progress Law,” which remained under consideration as of December 2025 and was enacted on 12 March.
The law officially targets ethnic and religious minorities for assimilation, aiming to erase minority languages by mandating that children learn in Chinese (usually through state-run boarding schools) and promoting President Xi Jinping’s Sinicization goal throughout China.
China’s state-run boarding schools, which the US Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2025 annual report characterized as “forced assimilation” and “cultural genocide,” have rapidly expanded in recent years, separating Tibetan schoolchildren from their families and stripping them of access to their Tibetan culture, language and identity.
The PRC’s Ethnic Unity law reverses long-standing CCP domestic and international commitments to recognizing the distinct culture and tradition of minority groups. The new Law directly undermines the Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy, which enshrined the rights of Tibetans to manage their own internal affairs, and removes legal protections for translations of legal and government documents.
Dalai Lama succession
A key factor in Freedom House’s negative score for political rights in Tibet under Chinese rule is the CCP’s attempts to control Tibetan Buddhism and dictate its practice.
The report analyses China’s claim to exclusive authority over the Dalai Lama’s succession. China’s claim violates universal principles of religious freedom and has been met with opposition from the UN, the United States and the European Union.
Tibetans are currently required to denounce their religious beliefs to hold public sector jobs, Freedom House reports, and Tibetan Buddhist clergy are forced to pledge their loyalty to CCP ideology. The CCP further monitors the daily operations of temples and religious institutions, and a recent law bans minors from entering religious communities or buildings.
The Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday in 2025 marked a significant point of resistance and resilience for the Tibetan people, even as those inside Tibet faced heightened repression by the CCP. The CCP ordered heightened police and military presence in Tibetan monasteries, towns, and counties leading up to the July 6th celebrations.