COMMISION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Sixty-First session
7 April 2005
Item-12: Integration of the human rights of women and the gender perspective:(Violence Against Women)
Honorable Chairperson,
Nine years ago, the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) affirmed women’s rights as an inalienable part of all human rights and fundamental freedoms (para. 9). But violence against women still continues in its worst forms such as honor killings, genital mutilation and systematic rape of women. Some violence against women are endorsed and enforced by the state. Violence against women becomes a two-fold challenge when women are discriminated against because of their gender and race.
In Tibet, Tibetan women are subjected to gender-specific violence for expressing their political opinions. They are imprisoned and subjected to sexual and physical torture by the prison authorities. Medical attention is denied until the last stages of a prisoner’s health. Sexual violence especially by the prison authorities in China is a blatant violation of the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), both ratified by China in 1988 and 1980 respectively.
Many prisoners die in prison due to serious psychological and physical impact of torture by the prison authorities. Those who survive often come out broken mentally and physically unable to cope with the normal routines of everyday life. In 2003, Damchoe Dolma, a former nun prisoner, who managed to escape to India after 6 years in Gutsa prison said, “out of prison, I became an unwanted burden in the society…”. Dhamchoe’s story is a typical case of the mental breakdown women suffer, who are unable to get jobs due to severe restrictions by the Chinese authorities. We suspect there are more Tibetan women in prison about which the Chinese government should be made to report truthfully to the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women.
Tibetan women in Tibet also face discrimination in education and employment. Gender-specific discrimination towards Tibetan girls, generally in the form of sexual harassment, has been reported causing the withdrawal of many young girls from the school system. This has caused unemployment problems leading to increase in prostitution. In 1998, it was reported that in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, alone there were 658 brothels in operation, but knowledge about sexually transmitted disease (STDs) is low amongst Tibetans even today. Tibet Information Network (TIN) reports that there is indeed a high incidence of STDs, and health workers see a high risk of HIV/AIDS epidemic developing in the TAR.
In 2003, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, the then Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, stated in her report, “Women in Tibet continue to undergo hardship and are also subjected to gender-specific crimes, including reproductive rights violations such as forced sterilization, forced abortion and coercive birth control policies and the monitoring of menstrual cycles”. Forced family planning not only violates Tibetan women’s reproductive rights but also restricts the growth rate of the already lowered Tibetan population.
Finally, Tibet has the highest maternal and child mortality rates in China. Health care in Tibet is dismal with 1 in 40 women dying in childbirth up to eight times higher than the national rate. In September 2004, the Executive Director of UNICEF, Carol Bellamy, upon her return from a two-day trip to Tibet, has said that much work needs to be done to improve the health and education of women and children to catch up with the situation in China.
In conclusion, we urge the relevant mandates of the Commission to call upon the Chinese government to:
1. Stop all patterns of gender-based violence against Tibetan women,
2. Take prompt and effective measures to stop the sexual torture and abuse of detained Tibetan women,
3. Stop reproductive rights violations, and
4. Respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of all Tibetans, men and women alike.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman
