Tibetan Headlines
Dec 9: No ID for Tibetans
Nepal is to issue identification cards for refugees - but only for Bhutanese refugees, Tibetans will not be issued with ID cards. Phayul reports that this means Tibetans will be unable to pursue higher education or to set up businesses, nor engage in other activities in order to live self-sufficiently. Tibetans in Nepal were issued with ID cards until 1994 and since then Tibetan refugees have not been documented.
Dec 8: Shoes Off?
Enes Kanter, the National Basketball Association player who has been campaigning for Tibet and wearing shoes with Free Tibet slogans, says the NBA has asked him not to wear the shoes. He refused, and continued to wear them despite the insistence of the NBA, who, he says, eventually admitted that he was not in violation of any NBA rules.
Dec 8: Young Indians Conference
A four-day virtual conference on Tibetan studies for young Indian scholars is underway, organised by the Tibet Policy Institute (TPI) in Dharamshala, the think tank of the Central Tibetan Administration. The conference is looking at social, cultural and religious links between India and Tibet.
Dec 7: Writer Sentenced
Lobsang Lhundup, pen name Dhi Lhaden, who has written books about passive resistance and who was arrested in 2019, has been sentenced to four years in prison on the charge of "disrupting social order". Since his arrest he has been held incommunicado and his trial was held in secret. It is suspected that he was arrested for teaching Tibetan history at a private cultural education centre in Chengdu.
Dec 7: Olympic Boycott
United States President Joe Biden’s administration has announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in protest at China’s human rights violations. Activists in the United Kingdom are campaigning for a UK boycott and calling for the rest of the world to follow the US’s lead - and for the International Olympic Committee to be accountable for its decision to award the Games to China once again.
Dec 5: Translation App
Microsoft has added Tibetan to the list of languages on its translation App, the latest 12 languages to be added brings the total to over 100 languages which are spoken as native language by 84.6 million people. Phayul reports that people who have tested it say the software “gives a literal translation of words absent of contextual meaning”, ie it is less accurate for complex and contextualised sentences.
Dec 4: No to Gender Violence
An event held in the main square in McLeod Ganj called for an end to gender violence in the Tibetan community, organised by the Central Tibetan Administration’s Women Empowerment Desk, together with the Tibetan Women’s Association. TWA President Tenzin Dolma said, “There is an immediate need to take responsibility and put an end to violence against women.” The event included dance, theatre and a live art mural.
Dec 3: Campaigning for Inclusion
The Tibetan Ability Centre (TAC) held an event to mark International Day of People with Disabilities in McLeod Ganj main square, calling for more inclusion for people with disabilities in the Tibetan community. The organisation is working to promote an understanding of disability issues and to mobilise support, and to provide support through healthcare, socioeconomic support, inclusive education awareness and early intervention programmes.
Dec 3: Evidence of Persecution
Radio Free Asia has released a video showing that persecution is taking place in Tibet and the Uyghur belt in East Turkestan [Ch: Xinjiang] and reporting on the “widespread misery” of people living in these areas. The video shows illegal seizure of Tibetan territory with no compensation and persecution of those who object.
Dec 2: The Simpsons Censored
Disney has pulled an episode of its long running popular series The Simpsons from its new Hong Kong channel - the episode contains satirical comments about Tibet, Tiananmen Square and the Cultural Revolution. Bloomberg.com reported that it is not clear why the episode had been pulled and that neither Disney nor the Hong Kong government have responded when asked.
Dec 1: Sikyong Thanked NBA Star
Sikyong Penpa Tsering, President of the Tibetan Government-in-exile,speaking on behalf of all Tibetans, thanked the National Basketball Association star Enes Kanter Freedom for expressing his solidarity with the Tibetan struggle under Chinese rule. “Your support comes at a crucial time when the Chinese government is increasingly and aggressively using its economic clout to threaten the universal values of democracy, freedom and rule of law,” he said.
Dec 1: World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day was marked in Dharamshala with a public event in the main square in McLeod Ganj to raise awareness of HIV-AIDS organised by the Tibetan Government-in-Exile’s Health Department and Delek Hospital. Skits were perfomed at different locations around the town; free HIV-AIDS, diabetes and blood pressure tests were offered and condoms given out..
Nov 29: World Heritage Site
The Sakya Water Storage Irrigation System in Tibet is among three ancient irrigation sites to have been newly recognised by the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage as a World Heritage Irrigation Structure (WHIS), reports Chinese state media Xinhuanet. The Sakya system is the highest WHIS site and is still in use, benefitting approximately 10 percent of the population of the Tibet Autonomous Region, says the Xinhua report.
Nov 26: Gender Issues
All staff and officials of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) attended an event to mark International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women organised by the Women’s Empowerment Desk. The event focussed on gender-based violence and abuses in the exile Tibetan community. Sikyong Penpa Tsering expressed the Tibetan administration’s firm commitment towards creating a just and equitable society irrespective of gender and background.
Nov 26: HR Message to China
Four Tibetan Activists interrupted the Europa Forum Lucerne, the forum looking at Switzerland’s role in European business and economics, to protest that human rights organisations were not represented at the forum, saying “Human rights are one of the fundamental values of Switzerland. Human rights are not negotiable”. They made their protest during a speech by an invited Chinese business representative with slogans including “Free Tibet”.