GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Human Rights Council
Forty-Ninth Regular Session
March 21, 2022
Statement delivered by Mélanie Blondelle on behalf of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights
Mr. President,
We remain deeply concerned about the systematic human rights violations against Tibetans. The Chinese government are erasing Tibetan identity by accelerating assimilation and consolidating political control. One by one, Chinese authorities have been targeting the foundations of Tibetan society: Tibetan religion, education, and its leading intellectuals. For example:
- In December 2021, Chinese authorities demolished two large Buddha statues around a prominent monastery in Drango county, Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan. Several Tibetans who shared the news with the international community were also detained.
- Chinese authorities have also set up a region-wide network of boarding schools for Tibetan children that seeks to reduce their contact with their native language and culture.[1]
- Tibetans who peacefully express their views also continue to be arbitrarily detained and sentenced without access to fair trials. The cases of Go Sherab Gyatso and Rinchen Tsultrim exemplify this experience. According to the organization Dui Hua, the number of trials on ‘Endangering State Security’ in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) have risen sharply over the past years.
The appointment of Wang Junzheng, who is on several human rights sanctions lists, as the new Party Secretary in the TAR suggests this repressive strategy will continue.[2]
We therefore call on UN members to urge the PRC to immediately end the repression against the Tibetan people and hold the Chinese Government accountable for its human rights violations in Tibet.
Thank you.
[1] Tibet Action Institute, December 7, 2021, ‘Separated From Their Families, Hidden From the World: China’s Vast System of Colonial Boarding Schools Inside Tibet’, https://tibetaction.net/campaigns/colonialboardingschools/.
[2] International Campaign for Tibet, October 20, 2021, ‘New Tibet Autonomous Region secretary must remain sanctioned’, https://savetibet.org/new-tibet-autonomous-region-secretary-must-remain-sanctioned/.
