15 January 1996
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China's birth control policy in Tibet
[ read ]
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Painter's suicide in prison
[ read ]
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Spiritual head imprisoned for mining protests
[ read ]
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Signature campaign for Sonam Dekyi
[ read ]
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Profile:
The sacrifices of a man and his family
[ read ]
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Destruction of Tibet's forests
[ read ]
Between September and October of 1996, 308 Tibetan women in
the sub-district of Takar in Chushur district under Lhasa
City were sterilised over a period of 22 days. One woman
died after forced sterilisation and another is reportedly
in critical condition. One woman, three months pregnant
at the time, was also forced by Chinese officials to abort
her child.
Between 20 and 80 families live in each of the 23
villages under the sub-district of Takar, making up a
total of 5210 residents. Prior to September 1996, 100
women had already been sterilised in Chushur District
Hospital. In September 1996, officials and doctors from
Chushur District, the Mother Child Health Care Office in
Lhasa City, and the Lhasa City Women's Hospital arrived
at the Takar sub-district and instructed Takar government
officials to similarly take strict measures. All women with
three children were to be forced to undergo sterilisation.
Each sterilisation operation took between one to two hours
and, assisted by Takar hospital staff, two female Chinese
doctors from Lhasa Women's Hospital were able to carry
out 14 sterilisations a day for a period of 22 days in
September to October 1996.
The oldest of the 308 women sterilised was aged 38 and the
youngest was aged 24. The majority of the women had four
to five children but some of the women sterilised had
only two children already. Thirty-five year old Nyima,
pregnant with her fourth child, was forced to abort her
three month old child before also being sterilised.
Nyima Dolma,
aged 27 from Takar, died in Chushur Hospital three days
after her forced sterilisation. Married with two children,
Nyima Dolma was in good health and free of any sickness
before sterilisation. Chinese officials announced that
the cause of the death was ill health.
In another case,
Yangzom Dolkar,
a 29 year old woman from Takar, was similarly in
good health before she was forcibly sterilised.
She subsequently fell seriously ill
and, faced with extensive health expenses, is now reported
to be struggling for her and her family's livelihood. All
of the expenses related to Chinese imposed sterilisations
in Tibet must be covered by the individual.
In the case of Nyima Dolma and Yangzom Dolkar, both women
were reported to have lost large quantities of blood and to
have become weaker and weaker each day as a result of the
operation. Although Chinese national regulations specify
that women must have a minimum of seven days hospital rest
after a sterilisation operation, the women in Takar were
allowed a rest period of only three days.
This information was provided by a recent arrival from
Takar (name withheld) who says that the Takar health
department has been conducting sterilisations and abortions
and dispensing contraceptive pills to control the Tibetan
birth rate in the region. Birth control policy has been
launched in the Takar, Jinup and Nyethang sub-districts
of Chushur, he said, adding that some women, struggling
to provide care and education to their families, willingly
underwent sterilisation.
The informant was employed as a health-worker in Takar
Hospital for seven years from March 1991. He was one
of seven Tibetans working in the hospital and he, like
four of the others, had received only one year's medical
training in Lhasa. He had been approached in his village
by a member of the Chinese Communist Party who knew of
his family's poor economic situation and had asked if he
would be interested in doing medical work as a way out of
his poverty.
In fact the informant received just 60 yuan a month (around
US$7.50) for most of his time in Takar hospital and this
was increased to 100 yuan a month just before he left
Tibet. Two of the other Tibetans working in the hospital
who had undergone full medical training received a much
higher salary and various government-provided facilities.
Since China's take-over of Tibet, the Chinese authorities
have taken various steps to effect the sinocisation of
the Tibetan people. Birth control policy is carried out
in all parts of Tibet through propaganda, coercion and
strict regulatory measures. The systematic and organised
manner in which China is implementing its birth control
policy in Tibet corresponds to the Chinese population
transfer policy being conducted. It is estimated that
some 7.5 Chinese settlers have been moved into Tibet,
already outnumbering the 6 million Tibetans. By denying
Tibetan women their reproductive rights, China further
marginalises ethnic Tibetans in Tibet.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy is
gravely concerned at reports of China's coercive birth
control policy against Tibetan women in Tibet and believes
that this constitutes an immediate and critical threat
to the survival of Tibetans as a distinct people. TCHRD
considers China's action to be a direct violation
of article 16 of the United Nations Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women,
to which China is a State Party, which safeguards the
right of all women "to decide freely and responsibly on
the number and spacing of their children".
[ top ]
Kalsang Dawa,
a 29 year old painter from Phenpo, central Tibet,
was reported to have died mysteriously in October 1995
while serving his prison sentence in a Chinese prison
in Tibet (reported in Human Rights Update of
May 15, 1997).
More reliable information has been received from
a recent arrival from Tibet, detailing the circumstances
of Kalsang's death. Suffering mental and physical pain
as a result of prison beatings Kalsang Dawa took his own life.
Kalsang Dawa was arrested and imprisoned in April or May
1993 for having painted the forbidden Tibetan national
flag and pasting independence wall posters. He was taken
to Sangyip prison in May 1993 and kept in Unit no. 6.
One night a drunk prison guard stormed into Kalsang's
prison cell and immediately began to beat him for not
having complied with prison orders to go to sleep on time.
The beating continued the next day and Kalsang
received heavy blows to his head.
Since that day Kalsang demonstrated some kind of
abnormality in his behaviour. He was said to have often
covered his ears with both hands and would cry out; "they
are inserting electric batons into my ears." Sometimes
he would take off his shirt and place it on his head.
His health deteriorated.
One of his fellow inmates reported; "Unable to remain
silent spectator to his suffering we pleaded several
times to the prison officials to take him to the hospital.
Finally they took him for a medical check up,
but the hospital reports showed that he was fit and had no
problem with his brain. We were not satisfied and again
pleaded with the authorities to take him to hospital for
a proper and thorough medical check up but the same report
was given."
Kalsang Dawa was imprisoned in Sangyip for about eight to
nine months, and later, after his sentence was pronounced,
he was transferred to Toelung Trisam Prison. Toelung
Trisam, 12 km from Lhasa, is known as a labour camp,
where the prisoners are put under hard labour.
One of Kalsang Dawa's close inmates in Sangyip (name
withheld) was later Kalsang's cell mate in Toelung
Trisam. Now released, this man had told our source that
Kalsang often complained of pain although when he was
first brought into Sangyip, he had been in good mental
and physical health.
In Trisam prison the visiting day was fixed on the 14th
of every month and on one such day Kalsang was reported
to have dressed in new clothes, washed his hair and looked
very fresh and happy. He said to his fellow prisoners that;
"if I die I have nothing to regret, since I die for the
sake of six million Tibetans and for our country Tibet".
This was to be Kalsang's final statement. A few hours later
he was found dead in his cell, hanging from the ceiling.
He had used a toilet pot to support himself while tying the
rope around his neck.
Chinese prison officials subsequently intended to call
Kalsang's parents to show them the cause of their son's
death, but Kalsang's close friend had strongly objected to
this and the problems it would cause his parents, and he
offered to take responsibility for the body. He asked the
prison officials to cover the cremation expenses but, after
much pleading, was provided with a sum of only 800 yuan.
Kalsang Dawa's parents are poor farmers and were unable to
help him look after his well being. They were reportedly
devastated at not having seen their son before he died.
[ top ]
Nazod Trulku,
the spiritual head of Nazod monastery and its 200 monks
located in the south of Serta County, was sentenced in
August 1996 to six years imprisonment. Reacting to the
escalating Chinese mining activities in the area around
the monastery, Nazod Trulku had printed and distributed
environmental protest posters.
The population of Serta city is 10,000, and today 80%
of these are Chinese settlers, brought in to carry out
the massive mining activities in Serta County,
Golok Tibet Autonomous Prefecture in Amdo (incorporated into
the Chinese province of Gansu).
Nazod Trulku was intensely unhappy with the "development"
and environmental devastation and in June 1995, on the
day said to commemorate the 40th anniversary of China's
"Peaceful Liberation" of Tibet, he decided to act. On
that day Chinese authorities had called a public meeting
in Serta county for representatives from various counties
and the general public. Seizing the opportunity, Nazod
Trulku, assisted by some friends, distributed independence
leaflets and pasted wall posters protesting against the
mining activities.
The posters read: "Because this land has been blessed
by the appearance and births of successive Dalai Lamas
and the high lamas, this blessed land is believed to be
land of gold"; "Due to the mining in the area and the
unavailability of food, many living creatures are starving
to death"; and "As a result of the mining the protector
gods are disturbed and unhappy, resulting in the break out
of various new diseases in the surroundings. Livestock
bear less milk than usual and farming yields have fallen".
In March 1996, Chinese authorities found the wooden block
used to print the posters and other related documents in
Nazod Trulku's house. The spiritual head was arrested
the same day and taken to Serta county prison. He was
kept there for five months, interrogated and tortured
periodically.
Some sources say that Nazod Trulku has been transferred
to Me-Nyag Ra Nga prison in Nyag-rong county under Karze
Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture but the exact place of
his current imprisonment is not known. The information
regarding his arrest and sentencing was provided by 24
year old Jigme Sonam, from Raktrom township in Serta,
who arrived in Dharamsala, India, in June 1997.
On 28th July, 6439 signatures from 22 countries were
submitted to the Chinese Embassy in Delhi requesting that
Mrs Sonam Dekyi be granted a visa to visit Tibet in order
to see her son, Ngawang Choephel, currently serving 18
years imprisonment on charges of "spying" for the Tibetan
Government-in-Exile.
[ top ]
On 28th July, 6439 signatures from 22 countries were
submitted to the Chinese Embassy in Delhi requesting that
Mrs Sonam Dekyi be granted a visa to visit Tibet in order
to see her son, Ngawang Choephel, currently serving 18
years imprisonment on charges of "spying" for the Tibetan
Government-in-Exile.
We sincerely thank all those who participated in the campaign and pledged
their support for Sonam Dekyi and Ngawang Choephel.
[ top ]
Namgyal Tashi
is currently serving 8 years in prison.
He has made an extraordinary number of sacrifices for the
cause of Tibet. Namgyal Tashi spent his days painstakingly
printing independence posters using wooden blocks and
hand-crafting Tibetan flags for distribution. His family
has also made more than their share of sacrifices. Namgyal
Tashi's son has also spent time in prison for independence
activities and his daughter, a nun, continues to serve
her staggering 18 year prison term. Namgyal's wife died
soon after her husband and son were taken away to prison
by Chinese Public Security officials.
Namgyal Tashi, aged 65 years, was born in Nampa
Tsalug under Lhoka district and lived in Tengayling in
Lhasa. Before 1980, he worked in the stone factory of the
Lhasa City Co-operative Society.
Namgyal Tashi subsequently began to distribute the Tibetan
national flag and the leaflets throughout the region of
Lhasa. In 1987 he participated in major demonstrations
in Lhasa and in 1989 he went to Samye monastery (south
of Lhasa) and asked the monks to paste pro-independence
leaflets in the monastery and hoist the banned Tibetan
national flag on the top of Samye. He then travelled to
Dranagshol and Chedeshol in Lhoka district, passing the
Tibetan national flag and leaflets to his friends as he went,
and later carried his pro-independence campaign into
Amdo (eastern Tibet) with great success.
On 13 June 1991, the head of the Lhasa City Public Security
Bureau, together with armed officials, ransacked Namgyal
Tashi's home, confiscating pictures of His Holiness
the Dalai Lama, leaflets and flags still to be stitched.
Both Namgyal Tashi and his son Tenzin Sherab were arrested,
leaving behind the 56 year-old mother of the household,
Jampa Choezom. Suffering massive depression, Jampa Choezam
died just three days later.
Namgyal Tashi was detained incommunicado for eight
months in Seitru Detention Centre in Lhasa. He was
later transferred to Drapchi Prison and sentenced to an
eight-year prison term for alleged "splittist" activities,
including involvement in demonstrations, links with
"Westerners involved in anti-Chinese activity", and
distribution of posters and the Tibetan national flag.
Namgyal Tashi is described as a relaxed, easy-going man
with a high sense of morality. He is very religious
and never harms others. Namgyal has seven children and
an eighth (the eldest) has passed away. Ngawang Choedon,
42 years old, is the eldest of the children; Rinzin Dolker
is 35; Tenzin Sherab is 32; Tenzin Choephel is 28; Jampal
Tenzin is 25; Ngawang Sangdrol is 20 and Pema Tseten is
17. As an aristocratic family, they were subjected during
the Cultural Revolution to public humiliation and insult
and Namgyal Tashi was sent for labour work without payment.
The sixth child of Namgyal Tashi is Ngawang Sangdrol, the
longest serving female political prisoner in Tibet. She is
presently in Drapchi Prison serving a total of 18 years
imprisonment for independence activities and is not due
for release until 2010.
Namgyal Tashi is due for release in 1999. He will never be
able to see his wife again and will have to wait a further
11 years to see his daughter free.
If you would like to offer your support, please address
an appeal letter to the Chinese Premier, Mr Li Peng,
requesting the Chinese authorities to release Namgyal
Tashi immediately and unconditionally, and send it to
TCHRD for forwarding.
[ top ]
Tibet is China's largest source of timber, with 7.6 million
hectares of forests. Forest production accounts for 14 percent
of the region's gross domestic product.
Tsawa Pashoe, Zogon, Markham, Chamdo, Kongpo, Dromo, Nangchen,
and Bathang are only some of the mentioned areas in Tibet
where major deforestation has been reported by recently
arrived Tibetan refugees in India.
Sonam Tashi
from Derge village in Kham says that the Chinese are
cutting down trees as fast as they can build the roads to
transport them to China. Sonam reports that Kongpo, a lush
forest area in south-east Tibet (425 km east of Lhasa) is
near extinction and predicts that if the Chinese continue
to cut down trees at the same rate, Kongpo's trees will
be gone within 6 to 18 months.
Sonam also reported on a creative new method devised by the
Chinese to transport these trees. An "uncountable amount"
of trucks show up at the banks of the Drichu river (one of
Tibet's major rivers which flows south-east from central
Tibet all the way into China) daily and dump huge logs
into the river. The strong current of the river carries
the logs, felled mostly from Palyul and Ringchu, into China.
This is mostly done in Summer when the river is
very high with a strong current.
Another recent refugee from Gonjo in Kham,
Jigme Loyang,
reports that there is a brand new highway in Gonjo to
transport trees. The road shortens the route for the Chinese and
logging trucks are able to travel from Lhasa or Chamdo
through Gonjo, Derge, Karze and finally into Serdo and
finally China.
Jigme, whose village lies on the new highway, has counted
between 200 to 500 trucks full of trees on their way to
China each day. He estimates that around 2,000 trucks a
day are using this road to transport wood, minerals and
other products to and from China.
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