2024 Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in Tibet
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) presents the “2024 Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in Tibet” in three languages including Tibetan, English, and Chinese-highlighting the grave state of human rights in Tibet under Chinese occupation in 2024. Despite growing international attention to the human rights situation in Tibet, the struggle for fundamental rights and freedoms of Tibetans persists with conditions worsening daily.
In 2024, Tibet received a Global Freedom Score of 0 out of 100 from Freedom House, with a political rights score of -2/40. This alarming rating reflects the extensive atrocities documented in the report. The year has been marked by severe violation of rights, ranging from suppression of religious and cultural identity, forced assimilation of Tibetan children undermining children’s rights, and environmental degradation. In the past year alone the People’s Republic of China forcibly relocated numerous villages, depriving Tibetans of the traditional agrarian way of life and even razed monasteries to make way for hydropower projects to meet China’s energy demands.
Countless Tibetans were detained and held incommunicado for broad and vague reasons, such as for peaceful protests, possession of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s portrait, promoting Tibetan language, and the list goes on. On 23 February, over 1,000 Tibetans were arrested for peacefully protesting the construction of a new Kamtok dam. Those in detention are subjected to severe physical and mental abuse, including use of brutal torture, forced labour, and deprivation of basic needs, which has led to the death of individuals. Peaceful activists endure such inhumane treatment simply for defending their fundamental rights, revealing a broader effort to silence calls for justice and freedom.
The Chinese Communist Party, led by Xi Jinping, continues to undermine the rights of Tibetans to receive education in their native language, systematically erasing the cultural identity of minorities under its occupation. Nearly a million Tibetan children, as young as four years old, are being separated from their homes and forced into state-run boarding schools that are designed to indoctrinate them, causing the eradication of Tibetan identity. The future of Tibet is being reshaped through such cruel and suppressive measures.
Herein the report delves into various aspects of China’s violation of international human rights standards, including Freedom of Religion and Cultural Repression, Arbitrary Detention, Freedom of Expression, Education and Language Suppression, Environmental Exploitation and Forced Relocation, and China’s Transnational Repression and Propaganda Efforts.
The report brings into light the dire situation in Tibet, where the restrictions on information flow are even stricter than ever before and China’s repression now extends far beyond its borders. TCHRD calls on the international community to stand in solidarity with and support Tibetans in our struggle for a better, freer and an equal society. A society where Tibetans can study their language, practice their beliefs, and worship who they want without any fear of being persecuted.
