The International Campaign for Tibet welcomes recent statements by the United Nations experts, governments, parliamentarians worldwide and civil society organisations in support of the Tibetan language advocate Tashi Wangchuk.
On 22 May 2018, Tibetan language rights advocate Tashi Wangchuk was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of ‘separatism’ after appearing in a New York Times video speaking of the importance of protecting Tibetans’ ‘mother tongue’.
A Tibetan who participated in the March 2008 protests in Lhasa has returned home two months after the end of a decade-long prison sentence.
In new alarming measures, the Chinese authorities have banned highly educated Tibetan monks who studied in India from teaching Buddhism when they return home to Lithang, and prohibited Tibetan schoolchildren in the Tibet Autonomous Region from engaging in traditional devotional practices during the holy Buddhist month of Saga Dawa.
A new report published on 8 May 2018 by the International Campaign for Tibet calls for a more robust international approach on Tibet, based on the principle of reciprocity and an emerging awareness that China’s increasing authoritarian influence under Xi Jinping has extended beyond the borders of the PRC.
On April 25, 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron, on his first official visit to the United States, held a town hall question and answer session with George Washington University students in the U.S. capital. One student raised a question on a possible meeting between the President and the Dalai Lama.
On 24 April 2018, the International Campaign for Tibet, together with FIDH and its French member organisation Ligue des droits de l’Homme, addressed an open letter to the Director General of Le Figaro, expressing their concern about the insertion of the supplement China Watch of the China Daily in the French newspaper every month since January 2015.
In an opinion piece published by Euractiv on 20 April 2018, ICT’s EU Policy Director Vincent Metten and FIDH’s International Advocacy Director Antoine Madelin question the rationale for an EU-China Year of Tourism at a time when Tibet remains highly restricted for European travellers and of serious concerns relating to the promotion of tourism and the human rights situation in Tibetan areas of China.
The Tibet Brief is an ICT publication for policy-makers, providing concise information and perspectives on the political, economic and human rights situation in Tibet. In this edition: ‘Europe Stands with Tibet’ rally held in Geneva; ICT’s 30 Years of Service to the Tibetan People; ICT and FIDH ask EU to urge for Access to Tibet in 2018 EU-China Tourism Year; Tibetan writer Shokjang released upon completion of prison sentence; U.S., Canadian and European governments express concerns about Tibet at UN Human Rights Council; Over 100 participants from 21 states gather for the 10th Annual Tibet Lobby Day in Washington D.C.; First self-immolation in 2018, amid intensified securitisation in March anniversary week;Chinese police circular urges public to report on loyalty to ‘evil forces’ of Dalai Lama (…)
In a joint report submitted ahead of the third Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of China, FIDH and the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) documented a dramatic deterioration of the human rights situation in Tibet. The joint FIDH-ICT report also offers a set of concrete recommendations that United Nations (UN) member states should make during the third UPR of China, which is scheduled to be held in November 2018 in Geneva, Switzerland.