International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is observed every year on June 26 as on that day in 1987, the United Nation’s Convention against Torture came into effect. Today on this day, we pay deep respect and tribute to all those around the world who have suffered and endured the worst torture.
Sixty years have passed since China invaded Tibet in 1949. Up till 1979, 1.2 million Tibetans were brutally killed and more than six thousand monasteries razed to rubble according to a report by the Central Tibetan Administration. The situation over the years hasn’t changed as the Chinese government continues to subject Tibetan people to various forms of physical and mental tortures depriving them of human dignity and freedom, which all people are entitled to, irrespective of caste, color, creed and religion, by virtue of being a part of the same global family, i.e., humanity.
The 2008 peaceful protests in Tibet against the Chinese government’s cruel policy resulted in hundreds of deaths, thousands of imprisonments, involuntary disappearances and severe injuries to hundreds of Tibetans. The year 2010 saw immense political suppression on influential Tibetans after the post 2008 peaceful protests across the Tibetan region. The brutal clamping down on influential Tibetans by the Chinese government is a futile attempt to diminish or end the public influence on Tibetan civic and intellectual leaders, writers and artists. Despite the recent incidents of harsh crackdown on Tibetans in Amdo Ngaba and Kardze by Chinese authorities, Tibetan people continue to carry out peaceful protests to demand freedom. Tibetans’ spirit for freedom and justice has never been bogged by tortures, brutalities, intimidation or coercion.
We show our solidarity to all those Tibetans martyrs and freedom fighters whose indomitable courage and undiminished spirit have kept the flame of freedom bright and steady in every Tibetan heart sacrificing their lives and happiness.
As a mark of respect and to show solidarity to all those Tibetans who are tortured by the Chinese government we observe this important day, ‘International Day in Support of Torture Victims’, to appeal to the United Nation to help release all the political prisoners languishing in Chinese prisons.
GuChuSum Movement of Tibet has been actively initiating various campaigns against torture perpetrated on Tibetan political prisoners ever since its inception and thus appeal and enjoin again on this important day to the UN Committee Against Torture, Amnesty International and to the international communities who protect and promote basic human rights and fundamental freedom of all people based on the principle of justice and equality.
GuChuSum Movement of Tibet
