Tibet
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) engages in systematic efforts to curtail historical inquiry into subjects deemed “sensitive,” such as the Tiananmen Massacre; control narratives regarding the history of the CCP; and erase the culture of repressed peoples, including Tibetans, Mongolians, and Uyghurs. Writers, artists, and independent historians are currently engaged in efforts to preserve history and language in the face of CCP repression.
(Washington)—Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Chair and Cochair, respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), held a hearing to explore efforts by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to curtail historical inquiry into subjects deemed “sensitive,” such as the Tiananmen Massacre; control narratives regarding the history of the CCP; and erase the culture of repressed peoples, including Tibetans, Southern Mongolians, and Uyghurs.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) engages in systematic efforts to curtail historical inquiry into subjects deemed “sensitive,” such as the Tiananmen Massacre; control narratives regarding the history of the CCP; and erase the culture of repressed peoples, including Tibetans, Mongolians, and Uyghurs. Writers, artists, and independent historians are currently engaged in efforts to preserve history and language in the face of CCP repression.
(WASHINGTON)—Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Chair and Cochair, respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), released today a letter urging the Secretaries of Commerce, State and Treasury to impose export controls on technology used by People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s Public Security Bureaus and other entities in Tibet to collect biometric data which is used by PRC police for political identification and racial profiling.
Tibet faces new and worsening challenges from the Chinese Communist Party’s repressive rule. Threats to Tibet’s linguistic, religious, and cultural heritage have expanded in recent years, and now an estimated 80 percent of all children in the Tibet Autonomous Region are separated from their families and educated in a massive system of colonial boarding schools--a deeply troubling manifestation of the Party’s program of forced assimilation of ethnic and religious minority groups. In recent years, police have conducted mass DNA collection and iris scanning programs in wide swathes of Tibetan society, including in monasteries and primary schools.
(Washington)— Commissioners from the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) today released a letter to Marc Casper, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific expressing concerns that products made by his company are being used for mass DNA collection in Tibet which “could enable further gross violations” of the human rights of ethnic minorities in China.
(Washington)—Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA), Chair and Cochair respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) today released a letter to Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, asking for a UN investigation of children being forcibly separated from the families in Tibet.
Tibetans continue to experience egregious human rights abuses, as Chinese authorities impose increasingly harsh restrictions on religious and cultural life and restrict their ability to enjoy the fundamental rights they are entitled to under international law. For decades, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has sought to address the aspirations of the Tibetan people for rights and freedom through dialogue. From 2002 to 2010, ten rounds of dialogue between Chinese officials and representatives were conducted, without any concrete results. Chinese authorities continue to impose conditions on a return to dialogue, including an insistence that the Dalai Lama concede that Tibet has been a part of China since antiquity.