TCHRD 1996-2006: A decade of human rights research

2006 marks the 10th anniversary of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), which was established in 1996. Over the past ten years, TCHRD has endeavored to uncover human rights violations in Tibet and reveal its findings to the rest of the world. The Centre’s location in Dharamsala in northern India allows it direct access to Tibetan refugees in exile, from whom it gathers firsthand information. This has enabled the Centre to publish timely reports, press releases, and news updates regarding the human rights situation in Tibet under Chinese rule. As TCHRD prepares to embark upon another decade of human rights research, it remains firmly committed to realising the goals set out in its ‘mission’:

• To educate the Tibetan community in exile on the principles and concepts of human rights and democracy.
• To promote and protect the human rights of the Tibetan people in Tibet through letter writing and signature appeals and to submit memoranda to visiting delegations and the media providing factual data challenging the Chinese authorities over their human rights record in Tibet.

TCHRD firmly believes that we must engender a culture of human rights and democracy within the Tibetan community in exile to ensure that these ideals are realised in a future Tibet. The Centre, therefore, organises annual collaborative workshops with international NGOs to educate the exile community on the concepts and ideas of human rights and democracy. The Centre has so far organized fourteen large-scale human rights workshops giving human rights skill training to Tibetan school and university students as well as governmental and non-governmental staff. The staff of the Centre visit schools, institutions, and settlements to give talks, which aim to deepen the exile community’s understanding of these concepts. TCHRD also engages in public campaign activities as well as organising in-depth awareness programs. The Center produces a range of educational materials on human rights and democracy for free distribution.

TCHRD uses three methods to fulfill its goals: investigations, research, and publishing. The Centre conducts systematic investigations of human rights abuses in Tibet, monitors China’s shifting policies, and publishes research documents on human rights issues concerning the people of Tibet. The Centre releases its annual report on the human rights situation in Tibet in January every year. It also publishes topical reports on specific human rights cases: torture, prison conditions, education, religious repression, land and housing rights, capital punishment, and any other urgent issues it deems necessary.

TCHRD actively engages with the global community through diplomacy, advocacy, and partnership. The Centre targets the United Nations with its research and it regularly attends the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva (now the Human Rights Council), as well as other regional, national, and international conferences. The Centre also submits memoranda to visiting delegations and the media, providing factual data regarding the human rights record of the Chinese authorities in Tibet. TCHRD also conducts international campaigns such as letter writing and petitions.

This report gathers together the research that TCHRD has done over the last ten years, presenting a general overview of the human rights situation in Tibet. It focuses on violations of human rights as enshrined in international law, using primary and secondary sources to represent a coherent picture of the abuses committed by the Chinese Communist Party against the Tibetan people. The sections in this report cover the torture inflicted under the banner of the Strike Hard and Patriotic Re-education campaigns and the deaths that have resulted; the economic discrimination against the Tibetan people and the negative impacts of ‘development’; the state of education for the Tibetan population; the environmental destruction in Tibet and the human rights implications of the exploitation of natural resources and sacred land; and finally the response of the UN and the international community to the actions of the Chinese government that consistently infringe the human rights of the Tibetan community.

TCHRD owes its gratitude to many individuals and organisations who have contributed immensely to the Centre’s work and who continue to raise awareness of the plight of the Tibetan people. The Centre would like to give specific thanks to the Heinrich Boell Foundation, whose grateful financial support has ensured the continuance of TCHRD’s work.

Click here to read/download the full report.