By Staff Reporter
April 13, 2022
Dharamshala: The US State Department released its 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices focusing on China on Tuesday, 12 April. The report’s section on Tibet notes significant human rights abuses faced by Tibetans inside Tibet under the Chinese government.
The state department report documents in detail credible reports of torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, political prisoners, unlawful interference with privacy, serious restrictions on internet freedom, substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, and severe restrictions on Tibetan Buddhism under China among others.
The report specifically highlighted the cases of Tibetan political prisoners Tenzin Nyima and Kunchok Jinpa who died after suffering severe beatings in prison; the forced disappearance of the 11th Panchen Lama, the arbitrary arrest of Derung Tsering Dhundrup in 2019, Go Sherab Gyatso in 2020, Konmay in 2021, the denial of fair trial to four Tibetan monks from the Tengro Monastery in 2020, and the extrajudicial sentencing of Tibetan writers including Dhi Lhaden, among others. The report also noted the harsh prison conditions in Tibet including inadequate sanitary conditions and medical care as well as denial of visitation rights including attorney to the prisoners.
The human rights report further noted threats, harassment, surveillance, and coercion perpetrated by the Chinese government against Tibetan communities located outside of the territorial People’s Republic of China. It cited a report by the Jamestown Foundation that described the secret infiltration of Tibetan communities, reporting on Tibetans, and the use of disinformation as well as the practice of collecting data from family members applying for Visa to target Tibetans inside Tibet. It also cited media reports of PRC government efforts to hack into the mobile phones of officials in the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the leaders of the Central Tibetan Administration.
Click here for the PDF of the full report.
Source: tibet.net