Tibetan Headlines
Sep 6: Football Achievement
Tenzin Samdup, 26, the Tibetan National football team’s Number One goal keeper has been signed up with a permanent contract to play for Real Kashmir FC. Samdup was a former I-League champion with Chennai City FC. Along with Karma Tsewang from Kollegal Dhondenling, Samdup is one of the two Tibetans to play in top Indian domestic football league.
Sep 6: Chinese Protest
A Tibet photo exhibition at the University of Queensland in Australia sparked an objection from a group of Chinese students who called it “harmful to China”. Lhagyari Namgyal Dolkar, president of Gu-Chu-Sum, the Tibetan ex political prisoners association based in Dharamshala who are sponsoring the exhibition, and a member of Tibetan parliament-in-exile, thanked the University for standing true to its principle in upholding basic human rights.
Sep 5: Fire Devastation
A warehouse fire has destroyed merchandise belonging to Tibetan sweater sellers in Dhule in Maharashtra State, just weeks before their main winter business season. The fire was caused by a short circuit; the warehouse contents, worth around INR265 lakh (US$370,000 / £300,000) were not insured. 12 Tibetan households are dependent on their sweater selling trade from this market, all members of the Tibetan sweater sellers’ association, the Tibetan Refugee Traders’ Association.
Sep 5: Imprisonment Threat
The Chinese government has announced increased monitoring and management of online chat groups and individual users in Amdo [Qinghai Province], reports the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, quoting Chinese news media announcements. Sharing of “illegal” information which “harms the nation and the Chinese Communist Party” would result in fixed-term imprisonment of between one and eight years.
Sep 4: Tibet Advocacy in Geneva
A delegation from the Central Tibetan Administration’s Department of Information and International Relations are participating in a week-long advocacy for Tibet at the United Nations in Geneva to highlight the current situation in Tibet. This comes ahead of the UN human rights council’s 42nd Regular Session beginning on September 9. The CTA delegation are meeting UN members and other delegations to update them on the deteriorating situation inside Tibet.
Sep 2: Tibetan Democracy Day
Tibetans in Dharamshala gathered to celebrate the 59th anniversary of Tibetan Democracy Day, an official function organised by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). Thousands of Tibetan refugees, visitors and CTA officials participated: the Chief guest was Ms Sarveen Chaudhary, Minister of Urban Development/Town and Country Planning, Government of Himachal Pradesh. The event also saw cultural dance performances by school children.
Sep 1: Prestigious Skoll Scholarship
Tsechu Dolma, a Tibetan refugee in Queens, New York has won the prestigious Skoll Scholarship, 2019-2020. She is one of five to win a fully paid tuition scholarship at Oxford University where she will pursue her MBA. Tsechu was listed under the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30: Social Entrepreneurs as founder of the Mountain Resilience Project - a project that addresses the poverty and food insecurity prevalent in mountain communities.
Aug 28: CPC on Reincarnation
Speaking in Lhasa at a training session attended by over 100 monks, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference official, Sonam Rinzin said that reincarnation is “never a religious-only issue or a living Buddha’s personal right” but is instead an important representation of the Communist Party of China’s strategies and policies. The session was also attended by the Chinese government appointed Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu, widely regarded by the Tibetans as the ‘fake Panchen’.
Aug 27: Condolences from Tibetan Leadership
Condolences were sent by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the wife of Arun Jaitley, the former finance minister and veteran Indian legislator, who passed away at the age of 66 after a prolong illness. HH described Mr Jaitley as “ a distinguished attorney and public servant” who “dedicated himself to the service of the Indian people". President Dr Lobsang Sangay added his sympathies on behalf of the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan people.
Aug 26: Call for Religious Freedom
Sam Brownback, the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, while speaking to a group of the Independent Council, called on Beijing to end its assault on religious faith groups and religious freedom , reports phayul. The report said that he has expressed his concern about “widespread and undue restrictions” on religious groups, including Uighurs, Kazakhs and other Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants and Falun Gong.
Aug 26: Support From Australia
Tibetan supporters united in Melbourne, Australia, with Uyghur, Chinese and Hong Kongers in support of the Hong Kong’s mass protests. Namgyal Dolkar, president of the Gu-Chu-Sum Movement association, who organised the rally with the Tibetan community in Victoria, said that Tibetans are moved by the Hong Kong protesters, and wanted to join them in sending a message of defiance to the Chinese government. The Hong Kong protests, with over 700 arrests, are now into their 12th week.
Aug 25: Tibetan Cooperatives in India
The Federation of Tibetan Cooperatives in India (FTCI) has begun its 19th annual meeting in Dharamshala from August 24 to 26. The inauguration of the meeting was graced by the presence of the President of Central Tibetan Administration, Dr Lobsang Sangay, and others officials. The meeting saw the distribution of the annual budget to its 15 cooperatives and the declaration of the Nyemdel scholarship through a lucky draw.
Aug 24: Best Outgoing Student
Tenzin Bhuti, a Tibetan girl, was awarded the 'Best Outgoing Student of the Year 2019' by the Christ University in Bangalore, South India. Bhuti, a graduate of Masters of Arts in English with Cultural Studies, has received a certificate and monetary price of Rs 7,000 as recognition for her good grades titled ‘Merit Scholarship’. She is from Kollegal Tibetan settlement and the recipient of a scholarship for her masters from the CTA’s department of education.
Aug 23: Discrimination Against Tibetans and Uyghurs
Lens Technology, a giant tech company in China’s Hunan province, has posted a job advertisement barring Tibetans and Uyghurs from applying. Despite Chinese law stating that everyone has equal employment rights based on merit, the company, with over 60,000 employees, said that it can only “accept other ethnic minorities” for the job posting if they are not Tibetan, Uyghur Mongolian or Sichuanese, reports Tibet Watch.
Aug 22: Psychological and Sexual Abuse
A number of nuns expelled from Yarchen Gar and Larung Gar, Buddhist universities in Kardze, Kham, who are being held for political re-education, are being subjected to psychological and sexual abuse in Chinese detention centres according to an article by a Tibetan researcher at Tibetan Policy Institute of the Central Tibetan Administration. Following the demolition of residences at Larung Gar, Yarchen Gar faced the mass eviction of monks and nuns this year, a measure designed to restrict the growing influence of the institution.