By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala, Jan 22: The year 2009 had been a year of arbitrary convictions and heightened repression in Tibet following the massive 2008 unrest across the region, the Dharamsala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) said in its annual report released here today.
“For Tibetans inside Tibet it’s been yet another year of heightened security, repression, isolation and suppression,” the report said.
During the year, the centre said, it has documented at least 334 known cases of Tibetans who have been sentenced by courts at various levels to varying prison terms ranging from few months to death penalty.
“In almost all the known cases the defendants had no independent legal counsel and in a few cases where the defendants were being represented by a lawyer of choice, the authorities ensured that these representations were blocked either through intimidation or through procedural tactics,” the report said.
Despite the denial of use of torture by the Chinese authorities and the claim of restraint in dealing with the Tibetan protesters, the report said, use of systematic torture remained “endemic” in the police stations, detention centres and prisons across the Chinese administered Tibet.
The report, which has an entire chapter devoted to religious freedom in Tibet, said in order to achieve “stability”, the authorities continued to place intensified repression upon the Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and nunneries, which have long been identified by Chinese authorities as the “hot bed of dissents” in Tibet. The report observed that the religious persecution in Tibet’s religious institutions is evident from the fact that suicides of monks and nuns in Buddhist Tibet has been on rise since spring 2008 protests in Tibet.
While welcoming “The First Working Action Plan on Human Rights Protection 2009-2010” released by the Information Office of the China’s State Council on 13 April 2009 as a welcome initiative, the report said, the document only symbolised “the theoretical improvements” in the face of “China’s failure to implement the protection enshrined in its law especially in the light of the summary executions carried out in Tibet and East Turkestan”.
The report maintained that the year, which was marked by a number of highly sensitive anniversaries for China, including 50 years of exile for the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people, was dealt with an iron fist by the Communist government.
“The uprising of 2008 by the Tibetans in Tibet was a thunderous call for reform an solution to the Tibetan issue, yet the government continues to callously dismiss the legitimate voice of the people,” the report said.
A year after the massive uprising, the report said, there were hundreds of Tibetans who are still held without any charges. The report further documents 149 known Tibetans arrested and detained in Tibet in 2009 alone.
“The actual number could be even much higher,” said TCHRD’s Executive Director Mr Urgen Tenzin, pointing at the lack of freedom as the key factor hindering more accurate monitoring of the situation inside Tibet.
Sentencing and executing Tibetans over the 2008 protests on one hand and announcing Tibetan “self- emancipation Day” celebration on the other hand, Mr Tenzin said, the Chinese authorities in Tibet “wangled law to drive home the point that the communist party is above law”.
In doing so, the report said, the Chinese government risked further provoking the sentiments of the Tibetans manifested in the 2008 protests.
According to Mr Tenzin, farming boycotts by Tibetan farmers and, skipping Losar (Tibetan New Year) and other celebrations in Tibet last year were further signs of protests.
During the year, the report said, the Chinese authorities also targeted, detained and sentenced a number of Tibetan writers, artistes, internet bloggers and publishers who sought to explore and express Tibetan views on issues that affect Tibetan people’s rights, culture, religion and Tibet’s fragile environment. They were mostly charged for “leaking state secret” and for activities which are otherwise a standard practice of expression of opinion or belief, the report said.
Another major concerns raised in the report is the dramatic fall in the number of Tibetan refugees arriving in India following the 2008 March uprising.
The centre’s 2007 annual report said more than 2300 Tibetans had managed to safely reach the Tibetan Reception Centre in Dharamsala that year.
While in 2009 only 691 Tibetans managed to escape and reached Dharamsala, in 2008 only 627 Tibetan refugees had entered India, majority of them reached India prior to the March Uprising.
“Such dramatic fall in the outflow of refugees over the last two years can be directly attributed to the Chinese government’s stringent restriction placed on the movement of Tibetans inside Tibet and tightening control of the border area, and the enormous risk involved for Tibetans attempting to flee Tibet as a result of these stringent measures,” Mr Tenzin said.
“Human rights violations continue unabated with impunity and there is no sign of let up by the (Chinese) government,” the centre said in the report.
The report said western government’s overly appeasement strategy over the year had emboldened the Chinese government to pursue politically-motivated attacks against Tibetans and Uighurs following their protests in their respective regions.
The annual report in Tibetan and English version are available on the centre’s website.
