Nepalese police break up Dalai Lama birthday celebrations, detain 28
July 11, 2016
International Campaign for Tibet, July 7, 2016 – Nepalese police arrived in force at the Dalai Lama’s birthday celebration held at a school in Boudhanath, Kathmandu yesterday (July 6), even though official permission had been granted by the authorities for the event. Police told Tibetans to leave or risk detention, and detained 28 people including the Tibetan settlement officer Kalsang Dondrub in the nearby police station. A photograph posted online shows a Tibetan being led away by Nepalese police in riot gear from the event. Radio Free Asia reported that police also pulled down large portraits of the Dalai Lama that had been placed in positions of honor on a stage in the school’s courtyard, scattering banners, flowers, and other offerings that had been arranged at the site.
A Tibetan present at the event said: “It was very emotional, some people were crying. This showed a very ugly face of the Nepalese authorities; diplomats who had attended from the international community observed at close quarters how peacefully the Tibetans were celebrating this important religious and cultural occasion, and the outcome.” One of the Tibetan community leaders, Lhalung, was cited by RFA as saying: “The Tibetan representative and other welfare officers sought permission from Nepalese authorities to hold the event, and permission was granted yesterday. But today, they changed their minds and stopped us. This could be a result of pressure from China.”
Following intervention from Nepalese human rights advocates, the 28 people detained were released at around 5 pm. The Nepalese organisation Inhured, the International Institute for Human Rights, Environment and Development, issued a press release condemning the “unconstitutional and anti-human rights” actions of the police.).
A young Tibetan living in the Boudha area was cited by Tibetan media as saying: “Anyone who is wearing Tibetan dress or monastic robes is being detained in the vicinity. We were merely celebrating the birthday of our beloved leader, it is not political. Besides, the same police were smiling and accepting our help and donations during the earth quake last year when Tibetans and Nepalese people were working together for relief efforts in the aftermath. What was supposed to be a joyous occasion has turned into a sad one.”
In the context of a close relationship with the Chinese authorities, Nepalese police have varied in their tolerance of celebrations of the Dalai Lama’s birthday, an important and symbolic occasion for Tibetans. While last year a quiet celebration was allowed to take place, in 2011, several hundred Nepalese police in riot gear were deployed in various areas of Kathmandu on July 6 to prevent Tibetans from celebrating the Dalai Lama’s birthday, and they also confiscated pictures of the Dalai Lama and a Happy Birthday’ banner hanging inside a walled courtyard at Samten Ling monastery in the Boudha area of Kathmandu. The year before, in 2010, police set up checkpoints at different locations stopping Tibetans heading for the birthday celebrations.

European parliamentary group calls on EU leaders to raise Tibet during 18th EU-China Summit
July 11, 2016
Office of Tibet, Brussels, July 8, 2016 – In a letter addressed to the EU leaders, Mr. Thomas Mann, a German MEP and Chair of the cross-party Tibet Interest Group (TIG) in the European Parliament, thanked the EU for raising the issue of Tibet with her Chinese counter-part during the previous EU-China Summit on 29 June 2015 in Brussels.
“We are writing to draw the attention of the EU leaders on two important issues that are of immediate concern to us, which we would hope the EU leaders can address during the forthcoming 18th EU-China Summit on 12-13 July in Beijing, China”, said Mr. Mann on behalf of his group.
He highlighted the ongoing mining activities at Gong-ngon Lari, a Tibetan holy mountain site in Amchok in Eastern Tibet where local Tibetans have staged numerous peaceful protests calling for the cessation of the mining that were brutally suppressed by the Chinese authorities.
The second point raised in the letter was the demolition of Larung Gar Academy, the world’s largest monastic institution which consists of a population of at least 10,000 monks and laypeople, that the Chinese government plans to eliminate quarters for all but 5000 monks, nuns and laypeople by September 2017.
He requested the EU leaders’ immediate action to resolve the unsettling situation in the region and to raise these issues with the Chinese counter-part during the summit. And urged them to call on the Chinese leaders to observe it’s environmental laws, universal human rights and respect Tibetan people’s religious and cultural considerations in undertaking development projects in Tibet.
The EU-China Summit is held on an annual basis, alternating between Brussels and Beijing. The EU is represented by the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and China is represented by her Premier.

One Tibetan Killed, Another Presumed Dead in Sichuan’s Kardze
2016-07-01
A Tibetan man living in southwest China’s Sichuan province was beaten to death by police last month, as fears mount that a Tibetan nun missing for eight years after taking part in protests challenging Chinese rule may also have died in custody, Tibetan sources said.
Yudruk Nyima, aged about 40 and a resident of Dzakhok township in Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture’s Dege (Dege) county, was detained by police after returning from a trip to collect cordyceps, a valuable medicinal fungus, a Tibetan living in India told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
“He was detained on suspicion of possessing a gun at his home in Dzakhok,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity and citing contacts in his native Dege.
After being taken to a nearby village, Nyima was severely beaten by police who then tried to move him to the Dege county seat, the source said.
“However, he died on the way while still in police custody,” he said.
News of Nyima’s death was briefly delayed in reaching outside sources due to communications clampdowns imposed by Chinese authorities in the area.
Relatives rejected allegations that Nyima had owned a gun and have filed a complaint with local authorities over his death, the source said, adding that the case “has become a cause of tensions in the area.”
Losing hope
Family members of a young Tibetan nun detained in 2008 are meanwhile losing hope she may still be alive after receiving no word of her whereabouts since she was taken into custody, an India-based Tibetan rights group said this week.
Yeshe Lhakdron, a 25-year-old nun from Drakkar nunnery in Kardze prefecture’s Kardze county, was detained with two companions eight years ago after they called out in public for Tibetan freedom from Beijing’s rule, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) said on Thursday.
“Following their interrogation in police custody during which they were subjected to beatings and torture, the nuns were sent to a government hospital in Kardze County,” TCHRD said, adding that family members were not allowed to visit the nuns during their treatment in hospital.
Nurses at the hospital later said that one of the nuns had died there, and the other two—named Sangye Lhamo and Tsewang Khandro—were eventually released after serving two-year terms in prison, TCHRD said.
“But [Yeshe] Lhakdron never returned home,” the rights group said.
Lacking firm evidence of Lhakdron’s death, family members “are still struggling” to come to a conclusion regarding her fate, but have now conducted funeral rites for her at various monasteries, TCHRD said.
Government controls
Tibetans living in Kardze prefecture are known for their strong sense of Tibetan national identity and frequently stage protests alone or in groups opposing rule by Beijing.
Monasteries and nunneries in Kardze now operate under strict government controls and have been threatened with closure if they permit monks and nuns living there to engage in political activities, including unauthorized promotion of the study of the Tibetan language, a Tibetan resident of the area told RFA.
“[Also], if any monk or nun comes from other places to protest, they will not be allowed to return to their own institutions, and those monasteries must not accept them back,” the source said.
“These rules may be aimed at containing expressions of solidarity and support among monks and nuns in monasteries in different parts of Tibet,” he said.
Reported by Pema Ngodup and Sonam Wangdu for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.

County Officials in Tibet Seize Land, Sell at a Profit to Developers
2016-07-07
Officials in an eastern county of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region are confiscating land at a low price from local Tibetans for re-sale at a profit to Chinese developers, meanwhile threatening to jail all those who refuse to sell, according to a local source.
The move by authorities in Riwoche (in Chinese, Leiwuqi) county in the TAR’s Chamdo (Changdu) prefecture is being made with the excuse that the land belongs to local government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party, a resident of the area told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
“They offer compensation at a nominal rate of 25 yuan [$ U.S. 3.74] per square meter of land, with anyone refusing to sign on these terms threatened with jail time,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The same piece of land could easily bring from 1,500 to 2,000 yuan [$ U.S. 224.57 to 299.42] in the current market,” the source said.
Land taken from Tibetans at the low rate is then sold to Chinese developers at a profit, the source said, adding that newly built apartments are being sold back at high prices to the Tibetans from whom the land was first taken.
“These officials are secretly colluding with the builders to make profits at the common people’s expense,” he said.
Few were told
Word of the development project was first given two months ago at a time when few members of the public would hear of the scheme and object to it, the source said.
“Riwoche county officials called a meeting of local Tibetans at the end of May and announced their intention to take over the land for development,” he said.
“But they held the meeting at a time when most of the area’s Tibetan residents were away in the hills collecting cordyceps,” a valuable medicinal fungus, he said.
Officials told Tibetans that anyone refusing to accept the offered compensation would be jailed, warning further that anyone going to Beijing to plead their case with central government authorities would also be jailed on their return.
Calls seeking comment from Riwoche county offices rang unanswered on Thursday.
Chinese development projects in Tibetan areas have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms and local officials of improperly seizing land and disrupting the lives of local people.
Many result in violent suppression, the detention of protest organizers, and intense pressure on the local population to comply with the government’s wishes.
Reported by RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Tibetan nun disappeared since 2008 presumed dead of torture
July 4, 2016
Tibetan Centre for Human Rights & Democracy, June 30, 2016 – A 25 year old Tibetan nun disappeared after her arbitrary detention by Chinese security forces during the 2008 uprising in Tibet.
Yeshi Lhakdron, a nun from Dragkar Nunnery went missing after her detention along with two other nuns eight years ago in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) County in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in Tibetan province of Kham. The two other nuns are identified as Sangay Lhamo and Tsewang Khando from the same nunnery. Both nuns were sentenced to two years each and were released after completing their prison terms.
Nothing had been heard about the fate of Yeshi Lhakdron despite her family’s persistent efforts. After enquiring about her for a long time, her family members were forced to conclude that she had succumbed to torture in police custody.
According to information provided to TCHRD by Pema Wangyal, a monk from Drepung Monastery in south India who is a relative of the nun, the three nuns protested peacefully in Kardze County in 2008 shouting slogans such as “Tibet belongs to Tibetans!” “Tibetans want Human Rights!” They also threw leaflets that bore slogans calling for the long life of the Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama and for freedom in Tibet. Chinese police detained them immediately. Following their interrogation in police custody during which they were subjected to beatings and torture, the nuns were sent to a government hospital in Kardze County. Family members were not allowed to visit them during their treatment in hospital. Word leaked through nurses in the hospital that one of the three nuns had died in the hospital. The other two nuns Sangay Lhamo and Tsewang Khando were released after two years. But Yeshi Lhakdron never returned home. When asked about Yeshi, the two nuns told Yeshi’s family members that they were detained separately and not able to see each other because their heads were covered with black hoods during interrogations. Later, the two nuns were each sentenced to two years without any information on each other’s wellbeing.
In the absence of any evidence such as Yeshi’s body, family members are still struggling to make a definite conclusion on Yeshi’s fate. Yeshi’s family members spent about 40,000 yuan to contact authorities in various counties including Kardze, Drango (Ch: Luhuo), Serthar (Ch: Seda), Lithang (Ch: Litang), Nyagrong (Ch: Xinlong) and Tawu (Ch: Daofu) in Sichuan Province. They also asked other political prisoners who had been released. Nothing came of their efforts and family members were forced to believe that Yeshi was no more. In keeping with Tibetan religious practice, family members conducted funeral rituals for Yeshi various monasteries.
Yeshi Lhakdron was born and raised in Tsochu Village in Sershiuting (Ch: Sexidi) Township in Kardze County. She was 25 at the time of her detention. Her uncle Ngodup Phunstok or Ngoega is a former political prisoner who had been imprisoned twice for holding peaceful protest against Chinese rule. In 2000, Ngodup was sentenced to three years for ‘political crimes’ in Drapchi Prison in Lhasa. Again on 18 March 2008, Ngodup led a public protest in Kardze County during which he sustained severe gunshot injuries. He was later sentenced to eight years in Tekyang prison in Sichuan and released on 20 March 2016.
In 2009 and 2010, TCHRD reported 16 and 29 known cases of enforced disappearance in Tibet respectively. In September 2008, TCHRD reported a surge in cases of enforced and involuntary disappearances following the outbreak of major protests across the Tibetan plateau beginning March 2008. In 2008, following widespread arrests in Tibet, TCHRD reported that the enforced disappearance of at least one thousand known Tibetans.
On 9 December 2015, in its Concluding Observations on the fifth periodic review of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the UN Committee Against Torture reiterated its call for accountability for the events during the 2008 protests in Tibet and criticised the PRC for failing to provide information about 24 of 26 Tibetan cases that the Committee had specifically asked about during the previous review in 2008. In 2008, during the widespread protests throughout Tibet the PRC had its fourth periodic review before the Committee Against Torture. Similar to its fifth periodic review in 2015, the PRC dismissed claims of torture in Tibet as “groundless” and failed to provide practical or statistical information about the implementation of the Convention Against Torture.
Arbitrary detention, torture, and enforced disappearances are some of the tools used by the Chinese authorities to silence peaceful expressions of political opposition and other grievances in Tibet. Chinese security officers in Tibet, particularly the Public Security Bureau, the People’s Armed Police and the state security agents, use enforced disappearance to terrorise and intimidate the disappeared person, his or her family members, as well as the entire community. In 2013, the PRC introduced amendments to its Criminal Procedure Law that legalised enforced disappearances. Since then, a series of new laws such as National Security Law has been introduced to give a semblance of legality to states-sponsored human rights abuses such as enforced disappearance, torture and extrajudicial killings.

Communications clampdown after Tibetan beaten to death by police
July 4, 2016
Radio Free Asia, July 1, 2016 – A Tibetan man living in southwest China’s Sichuan province was beaten to death by police last month, as fears mount that a Tibetan nun missing for eight years after taking part in protests challenging Chinese rule may also have died in custody, Tibetan sources said.
Yudruk Nyima, aged about 40 and a resident of Dzakhok township in Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture’s Dege (Dege) county, was detained by police after returning from a trip to collect cordyceps, a valuable medicinal fungus, a Tibetan living in India told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
“He was detained on suspicion of possessing a gun at his home in Dzakhok,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity and citing contacts in his native Dege.
After being taken to a nearby village, Nyima was severely beaten by police who then tried to move him to the Dege county seat, the source said.
“However, he died on the way while still in police custody,” he said.
News of Nyima’s death was briefly delayed in reaching outside sources due to communications clampdowns imposed by Chinese authorities in the area.
Relatives rejected allegations that Nyima had owned a gun and have filed a complaint with local authorities over his death, the source said, adding that the case “has become a cause of tensions in the area.”
Losing hope
Family members of a young Tibetan nun detained in 2008 are meanwhile losing hope she may still be alive after receiving no word of her whereabouts since she was taken into custody, an India-based Tibetan rights group said this week.
Yeshe Lhakdron, a 25-year-old nun from Drakkar nunnery in Kardze prefecture’s Kardze county, was detained with two companions eight years ago after they called out in public for Tibetan freedom from Beijing’s rule, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) said on Thursday.
“Following their interrogation in police custody during which they were subjected to beatings and torture, the nuns were sent to a government hospital in Kardze County,” TCHRD said, adding that family members were not allowed to visit the nuns during their treatment in hospital.
Nurses at the hospital later said that one of the nuns had died there, and the other two—named Sangye Lhamo and Tsewang Khandro—were eventually released after serving two-year terms in prison, TCHRD said.
“But [Yeshe] Lhakdron never returned home,” the rights group said.
Lacking firm evidence of Lhakdron’s death, family members “are still struggling” to come to a conclusion regarding her fate, but have now conducted funeral rites for her at various monasteries, TCHRD said.
Government controls

Tibetans living in Kardze prefecture are known for their strong sense of Tibetan national identity and frequently stage protests alone or in groups opposing rule by Beijing.
Monasteries and nunneries in Kardze now operate under strict government controls and have been threatened with closure if they permit monks and nuns living there to engage in political activities, including unauthorized promotion of the study of the Tibetan language, a Tibetan resident of the area told RFA.
“[Also], if any monk or nun comes from other places to protest, they will not be allowed to return to their own institutions, and those monasteries must not accept them back,” the source said.
“These rules may be aimed at containing expressions of solidarity and support among monks and nuns in monasteries in different parts of Tibet,” he said.
Reported by Pema Ngodup and Sonam Wangdu for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Five Tibetan protesters detained in Chinese ‘show of force’ at Qinghai Lake
June 27, 2016
Radio Free Asia, June 23, 2016 – Chinese police descended in force on Friday at a Tibetan protest site near Qinghai Lake, detaining five protesters a day after an assault by authorities on Tibetan villagers left eight seriously injured, sources in the region said.
The five were taken into custody without explanation at around 8:00 a.m. local time on June 24, a Tibetan resident of the area told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
“A large Chinese security force arrived in three large vehicles packed with police and another 20 vehicles carrying unidentified officials,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Five protesters were immediately detained, the source said, naming four of those taken into custody as Lhachen Kyab, Jigje Delek Gyatso, Rinchen Bum, and a woman named Tashi Drolma.
All five were residents of Trelnak township’s Karla and Dose villages in Qinghai province’s Chabcha (in Chinese, Gonghe) county, the source said.
“They were taken away without any reason being given or court document being shown,” he said.
“It was a sheer display of force and intimidation.”
Others held over photos

Following a police assault on protesters the day before in which eight were badly beaten, an unknown number of Tibetans were also detained “on suspicion of taking photos of the Chinese crackdown,” the source said.
The attack followed a demand by authorities on June 21 that Tibetans running small businesses near Qinghai Lake demolish their shops, guest houses, and personal dwellings and leave the area, sources said in earlier reports.
The structures, deemed ‘illegal’ by authorities, had been built to cater to tourists visiting a scenic stretch of the lake, sources said.
Several hundred business owners then marched in protest along a road that circles the lake, “but authorities did not listen to them,” one source said.
“Instead, security forces attacked the Tibetans, injuring several of them.”
“Land grabs, destruction of property and environmental exploitation have become increasingly common sources of dispute between Tibetans and local authorities in the last few years,” Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren, director of the London-based rights group Free Tibet, said in a June 23 statement.
“Tibetans continue to stand up for their rights, while their sense of grievance about Chinese rule grows ever deeper,” Byrne-Rosengren said.
Reported by Kunsang Tenzin for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney

Open for signatures: Parliamentary e-Petition for the Panchen Lama
June 27, 2016
Ottawa, June 27, 2016 – An e-petition requesting the Government of Canada to seek the immediate release of Tibet’s Panchen Lama, Gendhun Choekyi Nyima, and information about his whereabouts and safety, has been launched in the Parliament of Canada.
The e-petition is an initiative of the Canadian Parliamentary Friends of Tibet and was submitted by MP Randall Garrison.
Residents of Canada are asked to sign the e-petition at https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-431
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will visit China in September this year and is expected to raise human rights issues while he is there.

China faces criticism at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva
June 27, 2016
Tibet Bureau, Geneva, June 22, 2016 – At the 32nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council which took place in Geneva last week, China once again faced severe criticism for failing to meet international human rights standards and for narrowing the space for civil society by adopting new laws on foreign NGOs and national security.
In delivering his “Item 4” (opening) statement to the UNHRC, Mr. Keith Harpar, Ambassador and US Permanent Representative to Human Rights Council said “We are also deeply concerned that China’s new Law on the Management of Foreign NGO Activities will further narrow space for civil society and about excessive government controls on religious practices, especially those affecting Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, and Christians.
The European Union also expressed concern about China’s human rights record saying that “In China, ongoing detention and harassment of human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, labour rights defenders and their families remains a major concern…… The recent adoption of the national security packages including the counter terrorist law further raises serious questions about China’s respect for its international human rights obligations.”
The statement further says that the EU expects China to implement the UPR recommendations it accepted including ensuring an enabling environment for civil society including foreign NGOs. The EU also urged China to respect cultural diversity and freedom of religion or belief especially in Tibet and Xinjiang.
Germany aligned itself with the EU statement saying “Germany remains deeply concerned about the ongoing human rights violation throughout China in particularly in Xinjiang and Tibet.”
Switzerland stated its concern about restrictions on freedom of religion, expression and freedom of movement for national minorities particularly Tibetans and Uyghurs and it called upon China to guarantee fundamental rights of all individual including members of ethnic minorities.
France reiterated similar concerns and called upon China to undertake dialogue with officials in order to resolve the deep underlying causes of tension in Tibet and in Xinjiang.
Canada stated that it remains concerned about the regulation of foreign NGOs in China which undermines the intrinsic value of civil society in driving innovation, promoting stability and advancing human rights. Canada called upon China to bring its legal framework into compliance with international human rights norms and standards in order to ensure an enabling environment for civil society to flourish.
The Tibet Bureau representative, Dawa Tsultrim, delivered an oral statement on June 23 on behalf of the Society for Threatened People (NGO under consultative status with ECOSOC).

(edited by WTN editors)

President Obama meets with His Holiness the X1V Dalai Lama
June 20, 2016
The White House, June 15, 2016 – The President met today with His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama.
The President accepted the Dalai Lama’s condolences for the shooting in Orlando, Florida on June 12 and commended the Dalai Lama for his efforts to promote compassion, empathy, and respect for others. The President and the Dalai Lama discussed the situation for Tibetans in the People’s Republic of China, and the President emphasized his strong support for the preservation of Tibet’s unique religious, cultural, and linguistic traditions and the equal protection of human rights of Tibetans in China. The President lauded the Dalai Lama’s commitment to peace and nonviolence and expressed support for the Dalai Lama’s “Middle Way” approach.
The President encouraged meaningful and direct dialogue between the Dalai Lama and his representatives with Chinese authorities to lower tensions and resolve differences. In this context, the President reiterated the longstanding U.S. position that Tibet is a part of the People’s Republic of China, and the United States does not support Tibetan independence. The Dalai Lama stated that he is not seeking independence for Tibet and hopes that dialogue between his representatives and the Chinese government will resume. The President and the Dalai Lama agreed on the importance of a constructive and productive relationship between the United States and China.
The President welcomed the Dalai Lama’s leadership on climate change issues, and expressed support for the Dalai Lama’s efforts to raise awareness of the importance of limiting global warming, including to protect the Himalayan glaciers and the environment on the Tibetan plateau.