The World Bank is considering to finance a project that will move over 60,000 Chinese into Tibetan areas in Amdo Province. This project, if funded, would have serious implications on Tibetan people. The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy request you to join hands with us to urge the World Bank to withdraw its support from the Project.

Below is a copy of the letter, TCHRD has sent to the President of the World Bank for your information. Thanks for your attention and support in advance.

20 May 1999

WorldBank President
Mr James Wolfenshohn
1818 H Street NW
Washington DC 20433
USA

WORLD BANK'S CHINA WESTERN POVERTY REDUCTION PROJECT

1. On behalf of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), I would like to draw your attention to the serious human rights implications inherent in the recently proposed funding by the World Bank to the People's Republic of China (PRC).

2. On 8 June 1999, the World Bank will vote on whether or not to grant US $334 million in funds to the PRC to relocate 61,775 Chinese people into the traditional Tibetan area of Tulan (Chinese: Dulan) County in Qinghai Province, under the China Western Poverty Reduction Project # 46564 (the Project).

3. The Project aims to fund the resettlement of minority Chinese peoples into Tulan county, and other counties in Qinghai. Tulan county is in the traditional Tibetan province of Amdo, west of Lake Kokonor. One part of the Project, the "Tsaidam population transfer project" involves the relocation of Chinese minority peoples to the oasis of Xiangride, which is now the second largest urban centre of Tulan county. Tulan has been home to Tibetans since the 7th century and the main occupation of Tibetans in the region is agricultural, particularly nomads and farmers. According to 1990 Chinese officials figures, the total population of Dulan county is 56,096 people.

4. The aim of the Project is to alleviate poverty of three groups of minority Chinese peoples, Hui, Tu and Salar, inhabiting the region east of the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai. The project proposes to bring in 61,775 new settlers (none of whom are Tibetan or Mongolian) into Tulan county, and other counties in the area. The peoples will be resettled in Tulan on 26,500 hectares of oasis land, upon which irrigation water and drainage wells will be constructed. The transmigrants will be given resettlement funds also.

5. The fundamental principle of the Project is the transfer of non-Tibetan population into a Tibetan region, as well as other minority regions. Population transfer is characterised by the UN Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities as "the movement of people as a consequence of political and/or economic processes in which the state government or state-authorised agencies participate." Population transfer has been a serious threat to the culture of Tibetan people since 1959. In 1992, the UN Economic and Social Committee on Human Rights stated that: "Thousands of civilian Chinese have moved into Tibet with the active encouragement of the Government of China. In all major Tibetan cities - which are the economic, political, and cultural centres of the distinct Tibetan peoples - Chinese now appear to outnumber Tibetans.

6. The act of population transfer by the PRC government is a breach of the Tibetan people's right to self-determination. It violates a number of economic, social and cultural rights including the right to work, the right to education, the right to freedom from discrimination, the right to integrity of culture, the right to control natural resources and the right to be free from compulsory labour. Population transfer is accelerated through increased Chinese and foreign investment in Tibet. The application of US $334 million to resettle over 60,000 Chinese in a Tibetan region directly contributes to the assimilation and dilution of the Tibetan culture and destruction of the Tibetan way of life.

7. The Project violates the human rights of the Tibetan people in the following ways:

   1. Population transfer will displace Tibetan people farming in the region, violating the right to subsistence. Tibetan nomads and farmers have occupied the area for centuries and, nomads in particular, will be displaced from their traditional lands by intensification of agriculture in the region. The area is ideal for traditional Tibetan land use, which is seasonal nomadic grazing. Due to previous PRC "development" projects involving mass population transfer, already ravines and erosion ditches cover at least 15% of the land area in the selected townships and villages and fuel, feed and water are in short supply. The Project will further undermine the traditional economic base of the Tibetan people, particularly nomads and villagers.

   2. Tibetans will be marginalised in education as non-Tibetan education policies and facilities are promoted and developed. The Project anticipates the upgrading of basic education and health facilities in the region. Education facilities are to be upgraded for the transmigrants,60% of whom are classified as "minority nationalities", but none of whom are Tibetan. Of the 22 proposed new schools, only ten will are designated for "minority nationalities", indicating that the first language of most of the immigrants is Chinese. None of the new schools will serve the Tibetan community. Absorption of Tibetan children into the new schools will breach the requirement of international law that a child belonging to an indigenous minority group shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practice his or her own religion, or to use his her own language.

   3. Tibetan are racially discriminated against by policies targeting non-Tibetan peoples in the Tibetan indigenous region. According to a World Bank document, dated October 1998, just over 60% of the people to be resettled are from three "minority group", the Hui, Tu and Salar - none are Tibetans. The remaining 39% are Han Chinese. None of the US$334 million fund is allocated to the development of the indigenous Tibetan people. To the contrary, the Project promotes a policy that will severely detriment the Tibetan way of life in the region.

   4. Tibetan national and cultural identity will be diluted and assimilated. The Project is consistent with the PRC government's policy to intentionally divide contiguous Tibetan areas in order to weaken Tibetan opposition to Chinese rule. By moving Chinese peoples into the region, the PRC is able to assert more control. Consequently, Tibetans become a minority in many parts of Tibet, leading to the destruction of Tibetan culture. The relocation of 61,775 more Chinese peoples into Tulan County, which has an approximate total population of 56,020 (with 10,779 Tibetans), will further marginalise the indigenous Tibetan people. The population transfer will lead to further dilution and assimilation of traditional Tibetan culture and values by Chinese values.

   5. The Project violates the right of Tibetan people to freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources.The most westerly part of northern Tibet is the Tsaidam Basin, a huge arid area rich in minerals. Industrialisation of the Tsaidam Basin has already reached such intensity that it attracts major sums of foreign direct investment capital, notably a $500 million Israeli investment in potash salt extraction and fertilizer manufacture, and the new petrochemical plants. The prosperity of the densely populated areas of eastern Qinghai, and the heavy industries of central China all rely on the endless stream of oil, gas and salt, potash, lead, zinc, asbestos and other minerals coming from the arid Tsaidam Basin.

      The World Bank has been keen to demonstrate its commitment to environmental preservation. Nonetheless, in the Project area of Tsaidam Basin, there was once rich vegetation. With the significant population transfer that has already taken place, it has become one of the most barren regions in China, forcing inhabitants to import large quantities of food to sustain the large Chinese immigrant population which works in the oil, potash and other mineral industries. The population influx and its exploitation of natural resources in the region has led to the destruction of vegetation, a deteriorating ecosystem, and a rapid rise of desertification. The relocation of thousands more people into the region will further destroy the natural wealth and resources and ecosystem of the region.

   6. Compulsory Tibetan labour may be used to develop the infrastructure for the Project. Throughout 1998, TCHRD received reports about compulsory labour programmes in various parts of Tibet, whereby Tibetans were required to engage in arduous tasks for long periods of time with little or no payment. The compulsory labour programmes force Tibetans to work for negligible reward and preclude them from adequately managing their own herds and crops, seriously undermining their ability to economically sustain themselves. Official Project documentation, dated October 1998, confirms that "villagers would be mobilised for local infrastructure works."

      The displacement and marginalisation of Tibetan farmers on the river plains began in the 1920's, and accelerated when the communist Party came to power and began sending prisoners to Tulan county. Now, according to a recent inspection, Tulan county has the largest concentration of prisoners in any county in China. Prison labour may be used to prepare the land covered by the Project for future cultivation.

8. Although poor people are the targeted beneficiaries, all aspects of this project, from its initial design through to implementation and review are in the hands of the Chinese state and its many bureaucracies at national, provincial, prefectural, county, township and village levels. The host community (the indigenous Tibetan people) has had no role in the decision-making process of the Project. The right of the Tibetan people over its land has been denied, it is understood that deal was signed between the Chinese authorities and World Bank officials without consulting the local inhabitant.

   It is important that there should be meaningful Tibetan participation in all decision-making and implementation phases of the Project. It should take into consideration local conditions and needs as perceived by inhabitants. Article 1 of both the International Convenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Convention of Civil and Political Rights provides that: All people have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

9. The Project clearly violates the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the Tibetan people and advances the PRC's policy of systematic undermining of the Tibetan national culture and identity. TCHRD strongly requests that the World Bank votes against the funding for the Project on 8 June 1999.