By Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, March 29: The human rights situation in Tibet has worsened dramatically, Dharamshala-based rights group Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) in its 2022 annual report released Tuesday said. The report highlighted the PRC’s ongoing efforts to deny and undermine the rights of Tibetans as evident from the widespread crackdown on freedom of expression during the ‘authoritarian Covid lockdown.’
“The report details Chinese authority’s repressive Covid measures during the zero-Covid policy, involuntary mass DNA collection in the Tibet Autonomous Region(TAR), PRC’s multi-year campaign of transnational repression, forced cultural assimilation policy and arbitrary detention of Tibetan political prisoners who are denied the right to religion, following the death in the detention due to prolonged torture,” remarked Ngawang Lungtok, a researcher at TCHRD.
Speaking to Phayul on the non-accountability that China enjoys for its decades-long repression in occupied Tibet, Tenzin Dawa, the Senior Program Officer, said, “For any state to be prosecuted or be considered at the International Criminal Court (ICC), one has to actually sign and ratify the Rome Statute which China has not signed as well as ratified so they have the impunity they enjoy that they don’t get to be prosecuted at the ICC. Country like China, which is an economic giant, plays a huge part in funding the United Nations.”
“However, attempts are being made by rights groups, and not just at the UN but to the international community at large, especially, the way that Special Rapporteurs have consistently issued joint communication and pressing Chinese authorities to be accountable for their alleged crimes against Tibetans show people are waking up to the Chinese lies which happened during the Covid,” she added.
The researchers hope that their recommendations in the report to the Chinese government and the international community, will be adopted at the earliest to further prevent the worsening human rights situation in Tibet. “At a time when China is projecting itself as an important international player with the largest population and the second biggest economy, gross human rights violations continue in Tibet and elsewhere in the PRC. The international community has the collective responsibility to hold China accountable for its harsh treatment of Tibetans and many others,” the press releases further stated.
