News & Resources

In this edition: New ICT report spotlights persecution of Tibetan environmental defenders; UN Human Rights chief’s visit is China’s political victory; Octogenarian Tibetan sets himself on fire in protest against Chinese rule; Czech Republic must show leadership on Tibetan human rights during EU Presidency (…)

In a public notice just ahead of the Dalai Lama’s birthday on 6 July 2022, the Lhasa Municipality Public Security Bureau has offered rewards for Tibetans reporting on crimes against “state security” in order to “build an iron wall of stability.”

World leaders, Nobel laureates, spiritual teachers, professional athletes, human rights advocates, Tibetans and countless others celebrated across the globe on 6 July as the Dalai Lama turned 87.

Jigme Gyatso, a prominent former political prisoner, has died on 2 July 2022. He had been unrecoverably ill since his release in October 2016 after serving five years in prison on a conviction for “inciting separatism.”

More than 17,000 Tibetans from Tsonyi county, Nagchu prefecture are to leave their homes to settle about 400km away in Lhoka prefecture of the “Tibet Autonomous Region,” Chinese state media are reporting. The Tibetans will join the 4,000 farmers and herdsmen that were already relocated in the first phase of relocation in 2019.

In recent weeks, the detentions of six Tibetans have come to light, among them writers and intellectuals. Of these, four are known to be either in detention or sentenced to prison terms for freely expressing their opinions and thoughts on Tibetan national identity and culture. Two are in detention after Chinese security personnel searched their phones.

On the occasion of the Czech Republic Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which starts on 1 July , the International Campaign for Tibet and Czechs Support Tibet have called on the Czech government to promote a new EU China policy with human rights at its center.

At the 50th session of the UN Human Rights Council currently underway, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet’s May visit to China—and the subsequent NGO and diplomatic criticism—has featured prominently. During the session, the International Campaign for Tibet’s UN Advocacy Team also delivered three statements on Tibet.

Forty-two UN experts have renewed their call for China to address specific and systematic human rights violations and to cooperate fully with the UN human rights system and grant unhindered access for independent experts who have received and addressed allegations of significant human rights violations and repression of fundamental freedoms in the country.

Wang Yang, one of the seven Politburo standing committee members of the Chinese Communist Party and chairperson of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, visited Tibetan areas incorporated in Kansu (Gansu) province from 25-28 May 2022.