Human Rights Update and Archives

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MAY 2003

Nepal Deports Tibetan detainees under Chinese pressure  [ read ]

Dams project to forcefully displace local inhabitants  [ read ]

China detains four Tibetans from Serthar Institute  [ read ]

Profile of a current political prisoner:

"Unreformed" after three terms  [ read ]

TCHRD Activities Bulletin:

TCHRD bids adieu to two of its senior staff  [ read ]

TCHRD Executive Director, Mrs. Tsewang Lhadon, attends north India Tibet Support Group meeting in Patiala  [ read ]

Briefing to visiting German Delegation  [ read ]

Nepal police jail 18 Tibetan refugees

According to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), 18 Tibetan detainees were deported from Nepal to Tibet under pressure from the Chinese Embassy in Nepal. At 6 a.m. of 31 May, police officers from Hanuman Dhoka District Police Station forcefully led the group into a police van. It is reported that the group resisted but were overpowered by police who lifted the detainees and pushed them into the van.

The group was driven to Police Club near Immigration Department where a Chinese Embassy van was already waiting to pick them up. Reportedly the number plate of the embassy van was covered and the windows curtained. Three foreign correspondents have apparently followed the embassy van when it left the Police Club. The van headed off towards Dram (Nepal-Tibet border) where the group will be handed over to the Chinese border security personnel.

Tashi, who was transferred to Central Badhra Jail after a brief imprisonment in Dilli Bazaar Jail, was also deported taking the total number to 18. He was brought to Hanuman Dhoka Police Station at 6 p.m.on 30 May. The 18 Tibetans consisted of the 17 detainees from Dilli Bazaar Jail and one from Central Bhadra Jail.

The deported Tibetans are Yeshi, 13 (M), Tenzin Nyima 14 (M), Rinchen Dhondup 14 (M), Gyaltsen Wangchuk 14 (M), Lobsang Jampa 16 (M), Yonten 17 (F), Rinzin Dolma 17 (F), Tsultrim Gyatso 17 (M), Thupten Tsering 18 (M), Kelsang Wangdue 19 (M), Tashi Choedon 19 (F), Lobsang Phuntsok 21 (M), Tashi 22 (M), Lobsang Tenpa 23 (M), Yeshe Sangpo 23 (M), Lobsang 25 (M), Lobsang Tenphel 28 (M), and Gelek 30 (M). The three other minors — Tenzin Dolkar, 6 (f), Lobsang Dawa, 6 (m), and Passang Diki, 9 (f) — who are under the care of TRRC, are last reported to have not been taken with the group.

Nine out of the 18 detainees are reportedly juveniles between 13 to 18 years. The fact that the current deportation involves minors is in direct contravention of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Nepal is a signatory. Article 22 of the CRC specifically states, "State Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure that a child who is seeking refugee status ... receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance in the enjoyment of applicable rights set forth in the present Convention ..." Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) provides for "everyone the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution."

TCHRD believes that the current deportation of Tibetans with the direct intervention and at the behest of Chinese officials is the first of its kind. In June 1995, Nepali police forcefully deported 39 Tibetans to Tibet but at the time, no pressure was applied by China. The 39 Tibetans were detained for several days in a detention centre in Dram and then at various detention centres while on their way to Lhasa. Since their return to Tibet, these Tibetans have been kept under constant scrutiny and surveillance by Chinese authorities. They live a life bound by "invisible chains".

According to the Nepali Immigration Act of 1992, Article 3.1, stipulates "No foreigner shall be allowed to enter into and stay in the Kingdom of Nepal without obtaining a passport and visa." In the case of transgressions of this article, procedures are in place to deal with the accused. The Immigration Officer, under Article 8.2 of the Immigration act, must open an investigation pursuant to any contraventions of this act. Once an investigation is opened, the Immigration officer has the power to "record statements of the accused person, and keep him on parole, release him against surety or bail, or keep him in detention for not more than 25 days with the permission of the Court if there exist reasonable grounds for doing so."

There is a caveat inscribed in Article 8.2 which allows for sustained detention if the required surety or bail cannot be paid. However, in the case of these 18 Tibetans who could not initially pay the bail, they were given sentences ranging from three to ten months. When the representatives of the TRRC of Kathmandu came to pay the fines for their release, the officials of the Chinese Embassy thwarted the efforts demanding custody and deportation of the Tibetans.

When bail is met, by law the detained must be released, and that a request for deportation by foreign officials, unless in the case of extradition treaties, is not provided for. In order for any foreigner in violation to be deported, the Immigration Officer must submit a report to the Director General, who then must gain the approval of His Majesty's Government (HMG) to deport the foreigner.

TCHRD is gravely concerned about these bizarre transgressions of Nepali law. Nowhere in Nepali law does it categorize transgressors of the Immigration Act as criminals, yet the Tibetans were transferred to Hanuman Dhoka District Police Station, where they were placed with ordinary criminals, and with the information available at this time, the sequence of events that has unfolded with regard to the Tibetans in the last two days does not bear any resemblance to measures prescribed in Nepali law. Although Nepal Government has no official refugee policy, TCHRD considers deportation of the Tibetans as a breach of the usual procedure and adherence to the "Gentlemen's Agreement" of 1989 between the Nepali Government, UNHCR and Tibetan government-in-exile for safe transit of the Tibetan refugees to India. Nepal is not a signatory to the Geneva Convention on Refugees, but it is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and to its First and Second Optional Protocols. Therefore, it is bound to protect and safeguard the right of the Tibetan refugees to seek refuge from persecution.

TCHRD is appalled that Chinese Government has invaded domestic procedures to exert pressure directly on Nepal with the aim of depriving the Tibetans of their fundamental rights and freedom. Nepal's bilateral relations with China have dictated Nepal's policies towards refugees. It is ironical that Tibetan refugees are now being deported to a country from where they escaped persecution. TCHRD is gravely concerned about the fate of the 18 Tibetans since they are likely to face severe repercussions for their acts of "treason".

Eye witness account of the detainees handover at Dram border:

"As soon as I heard that the deportation was taking place as feared, I took a photographer along and set off as fast as we could. On the way we heard that the prisoners were being switched from a police van to another vehicle at a place called the Police Club, and we got there just as they were being driven out in the new van, a modern, nondescript Toyota minibus with no plates. We wouldn't have known at all that this was the bus with the prisoners if a Tibetan lady, the only other person there, hadn't thrown herself screaming on the ground in front of the bus to try to stop it leaving. That gave us time to get to the bus, take some pictures, and to get into our car and follow them. Between the prisoners and us was a smart Chinese Embassy SUV with a Chinese official, a driver and a Nepalese official in plain clothes (I spoke to him later, he was a sour suspicious person, treated by the Nepalese as a senior officer, though he told me in Hindi that he was a tourist on holiday at the border). We followed the convoy without being noticed for about 60 kms and then lost them; we were in a much slower vehicle and the roads higher up in the mountains towards the border were very rough. When we saw them again they had added a third vehicle, a commercial Nepalese truck with about 20 or so Nepalese police traveling as an escort, some of them armed. No one else was up there at Kodari, the border town, besides local villagers and truck drivers. We arrived there ahead of the convoy, and it was already tense on the Chinese side, with lots of People's Armed Police moving around doing exercises energetically and carrying out little training exercises at their barracks on the far side of the river. A little posse in partial riot gear was sent running down to the Friendship Bridge to chase me off when they saw me walking over the bridge. Half an hour later I saw a big Chinese police vehicle with Lhasa plates arrive on the Nepali side, with heavy-set officials, Tibetan and Chinese, who got out to talk to the Nepalese immigration staff. Then the Chinese Embassy escort vehicle arrived with the Chinese official and his Nepalese liaison. I heard the sounds of horns blaring, and turned to see the prisoners' bus trying to race up the road towards the bridge. We couldn't see easily inside because the windows were tinted, and at least on our side, there were Nepalese police sitting between each row of prisoners and the window. So it was hard to see the prisoners, and it all happened so quickly. There was some commotion as the bus passed with its lights on and horns blaring, with the armed escort behind it, and all the local people running after to see what would happen. But the bus went straight through all the Nepalese check posts and over the bridge without stopping till it was safe on the Chinese side. There some officials put on their anti SARS white coats and briefly got on and off the bus to conduct some cursory health check, and then the bus was moved out of sight behind some building. The Chinese officials followed it across in the SUV. It was about 1225 local time. We couldn't see what happened there, but the police escorts must have been changed, because after an hour or so the Nepalese police came back across the bridge. There were about 25 or 30 of them, some five or so with rifles. One was carrying a gift that one of the others said the Chinese had given them - a big cardboard box probably full of beer. One was carrying shiny new bright green nylon rope. Another one, in plain clothes, was carrying about 10 sets of handcuffs; they must have been heavy because after a while he draped them round his neck rather than carry them. Presumably these had been used for shackling the prisoners on the five-hour drive from Kathmandu. A couple of the more senior officers among these Nepalese police told us that they were sorry and were just doing their duty. We saw the prisoners being driven away up the Chinese side of gorge towards Zhangmu, with the police escort vehicles. It was a crushingly depressing experience."

The group had 28 members from various areas of Tibet when they initially set off from Lhasa. But during their trek across the Himalaya, seven people had to abandon the group due to trek related illnesses. They came via Solukhumbu (Tibet-Nepal border) having crossed the Nangpa La pass. The group of 21 was on its way to the TRRC in Kathmandu but was apprehended at Thangkot in the outskirts of Kathmandu on 15 April 2003. On 17 April, they were transferred to the Department of Immigration for interrogation by its legal section. The same evening, fines were imposed on the arrestees on charges of lack of travel documents. They were imposed a visa fee of USD 37.50 and another NRS 5000(USD 70) as penalty. Since the Tibetans were unable to pay the fines, they were given prison sentences ranging from three to ten months. However, three juveniles-two six-year-olds and a nine-year-old -were handed over to the care of the UNHCR. The 18 were imprisoned in the Dilli Bazaar Jail but Tashi,22, was later transferred to the Central Bhadra Jail where he remained to be jailed until he was brought to Hanuman Dhoka District Police Station to be deported along with the group.

On 7 May 2003, the Nepali police at Barabise checkpoint apprehended Sobho, 28, while he was on his way to Kathmandu, Nepal. He was held in detention for six days at the local police lock-up before being handed over to Nepali Immigration Department on 12 May 2003. The Immigration Department registered a case to the effect and imposed a visa fee of USD 37.50 and a penalty of NRS 5000. Unable to pay the exorbitant fines, Sobho subsequently received a default imprisonment sentence of ten months.

On 13 May, Sobho was taken to Bhadra Jail in Kathmandu where Heruka, another Tibetan refugee, is serving his sentence of ten years. It is reported that Sobho might be deported even after he would have served his sentence. With this latest arrest and the 18 Tibetans deportation, the number of Tibetan refugee detainees in Nepali jail brings to 11.

List of known Tibetan refugee detainees in Nepal jails

List of known bailed detainees

Dams project to forcefully displace local inhabitants

The Chinese government has issued a decree whereby eight thousand Tibetan inhabitants would be forcefully displaced in order to implement a major project in constructing seven Dams in Barkham County, Ngaba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture ("TAP"), Sichuan Province. As a consequence of constructing the dams, it is feared that many holy Buddhist shrines and other age-old landmarks would submerge.

The areas where the Dams are to be constructed are Drakbar (translit: brag spar), Kyomkyo (kyom kyo), Damba (dam pa), Chuchen county (chu chen), Dzongbud (rdzong 'bud), Tawei (ta lwei), Tsodun (mtso bdun), Kokyab (Khro skyabs).

The main purpose of the project, which is envisaged to be completed in 2006, is to satisfy the enormous need of drinking water and to generate electricity for the mainland Chinese cities. Many Chinese workers have reportedly arrived at Drakbar where the construction is soon to begin.It is reported that the Tibetan inhabitants are perplexed and anxious in seeing numerous Chinese workers and also at their fate.

In December 2001, Chinese authorities had displaced sixty families in Gonjo County, Chamdo Prefecture to Nyingtri (Kongpo) Prefecture in Tibetan Autonomous Region ("TAR"). The families, mostly farmers, who subsisted from their traditional fields were warned with a fine of 70,000 Yuan for their incompliance with the orders. The displaced families faced enormous hardships in their new surroundings. The families tried to grow crops as per their occupation in the native land but failed to do so. Many had to go to Lhasa city to find employment to feed their family. The government promised to compensate the families but was never given a single dime.

Such projects that are part of the much-vaunted Western Development Programme (WDP), originally launched in 1999, have enormously hindered Tibetan livelihood. Majority of the infrastructure projects in the WDP are designed to transfer resources (water, gas, electricity) from Tibet to eastern regions of China.

The Chinese government's current Tenth Five-Year Plan (2001-2005) for National, Economic and Social Development which encompasses a massive transfer of resources from the Tibetan plateau to eastern China violates the Tibetan people's right to livelihood.

The fact that Tibetans do not have any "active, free and meaningful participation in development and in the fair distribution of benefits resulting therefrom" in the government development projects is a violation of the Tibetan Peoples right to pursue their "economic, social and cultural development". The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is highly concerned at the plight of the local Tibetan inhabitants who will be affected by the dams project.

China detains four Tibetans from Serthar Institute

According to reliable sources, Public Security Bureau (PSB) Officers of Serthar County, Karze "Tibet Autonomous Prefecture" ("TAP"), Sichuan Province, took four Tibetans into custody on 27 May 2003. The four were recently summoned to Serthar County PSB Detention Centre in connection with their alleged involvement in a row over reconstruction at Serthar Buddhist Institute in 2002. The detainees are Tamding, a monk in his mid-thirties, supervisor of the Finance Department within the Institute; Palzin, a monk and youngest among the four; Shongdu, a 40-year-old monk from Menyak County; and Ngodup, layman, a driver by occupation and originally from Tawu County. The only news available at the moment is that of their detention.

On 25 December 2002, Chinese officials tried to demolish reconstructed huts of the nun at the demolished site within the vicinity of Serthar Institute. Reportedly some nuns were still inside the huts when the officials began pulling down the huts, thereby causing injury to a few nuns. This led to a disagreement between the officials and the nuns and monks. The following day, a major row erupted between the two parties when a large number of officers from three main offices of Serthar County came to threaten the clergy with dire consequences for their action. Several clergy as well as officials were hurt in the midst of the scuffle. Reports also indicate that few vehicles were destroyed. On 27 December 2002, Chinese officers once again came to the Institute armed with weapons but nothing untoward happened that day.

Following this incident, the Chinese authorities demanded Serthar Institute to hand over the ringleader of the incident and further claimed compensation for the damaged vehicles. Should the Institute fail to obey their orders, the authorities threatened to arrest at least 200 monks and nuns. The Institute paid the reparations but couldn't provide name of the ringleader since all the monks and nuns present at the incident were equally involved. In the course of the Chinese inspection, the four Tibetans were summoned and subsequently detained.

Serthar Buddhist Institute, established as a non-sectarian study centre, had approximately 8,800 religious practitioners including ordained and lay students of diverse nationalities. Since 1998, Chinese "work teams" had ordered for reduction in the monastic strength and adherence to the diktats of China's "patriotic re- education" campaign. On 18 April 2001, the Chinese authorities enforced a limit of 1,400 residents, which necessitated the eviction of 7,000 students. Between June and July 2001, over 2000 dwellings within the institute were demolished though the Chinese officials have admitted to the demolition of 1,875 dwellings in their work report.

In June 2002, Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok, the founder and abbot of Serthar Buddhist Institute, was returned after being held incommunicado for a year in Chengdu. It is reported that the restrictions on the Institute in terms of monastic strength, code of conduct, frequency and content of religious teachings, are still in place though not to the extent as prior to July 2001.

Profile of a current political prisoner

"Unreformed" after three terms

Lobsang Namgyal a.k.a. Lonam, 34 years old, was born in Tsena Township, Chushul County, Lhasa City, "TAR". His family were farmers with three children; Lonam was the eldest. He has a younger brother and sister.

At the age of eight, Lonam attended the local township school for six years. In 1984, on finishing his elementary education, he joined the Nechung Institute where modern education could be acquired alongside Buddhist spiritual teachings. However, the Institute was closed in 1991 and Lonam had to return home.

In approximately March 1992, Lonam and some of his friends demonstrated at Barkhor (market area around the Jokhang temple) demanding freedom for the Tibetan people. The group was immediately arrested. Lhasa City Public Security Bureau sentenced Lonam to three years of "reform-through-education" in Trisam Prison. Since Lonam was well educated after 13 years of studies, he made good of his time behind the bars by teaching written Tibetan and Buddhist teachings to other prison inmates. This was done very secretly as he might have faced severe repercussions if he were to be caught. In the end of February 1993, he was released.

No sooner was he released, Lonam started to involve himself with some other Tibetan freedom activists. During the middle of night, they secretly pasted pro-independence political leaflets on the walls of Lhasa City. But the Public Security Bureau officials tracked the postings and subsequently arrested Lonam. He was detained in Lhasa City PSB Detention Centre for four months during which he was meted out with severe beatings and torture. But Lonam never disclosed his aides' names. Lhasa City PSB labeled him as "unreformed" and sentenced him to yet another three years of "reform-through-education" in Trisam Prison. Lonam had hardly spent days at his home after his release from Trisam but he was back into the prison yet again for three years. In January or February 1998, Lonam was released on completion of his term.

In March 2001, Lonam was rearrested under suspicion of collaborating with Anu (refer September 2002 'Human Rights update') who was also arrested by the PSB on suspicion of political activism.He was detained in Gutsa Detention Centre for six months along with Anu and another aide. Later Lhasa Intermediate People's Court sentenced him to fours' imprisonment for collaborating with "anti nationals in endangering state security". Subsequently he was transferred to Drapchi Prison.
Lonam is due to be released in 2004.

TCHRD Activities Bulletin

TCHRD bids fond adieu to two of its senior staff

Ms. Youdon Aukatsang, Senior Programme Officer and Ms. Tenzin Chokey, Personnel for UN Affairs, resigned in May. They have served the centre with utmost dedication and sincerity over the years. TCHRD is going to miss their invaluable experience and dynamism.

Ms. Youdon Aukatsang joined the centre in April 2000. She was appointed as the Senior Programme Officer upon her return after finishing Masters Degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the Tuft University, USA. Before leaving to the United States to pursue her Masters Degree, Ms. Youdon had worked as a research associate at the Tibetan Women Association (TWA) for two years after she graduated from the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi.

Ms. Tenzin Chokey joined the centre in January 1997 and took the responsibility of a Field Officer. Later, she was promoted as a Researcher. With her immense knowledge in the working of the United Nations, she was designated as the Personnel for UN affairs. At the time of her resignation, Ms. Chokey works in the aforementioned capacity. Ms.Chokey will be pursuing her Masters Degree in International Law and Diplomacy at the Fletchers School of Law and Diplomacy, Tuft University, USA. Ms. Tenzin Chokey is also a current central executive member of the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) since 2001.

All the TCHRD staff and volunteers wishes their best wishes in future and in every endeavor they undertake.

TCHRD Executive Director, Mrs. Tsewang Lhadon attends North India Tibet Support Group meeting in Patiala

The Executive Director, Mrs. Tsewang Lhadon, attended the first Tibet Support Group meeting of the north Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh in Patiala.

Bharatiya Tibet Sahayog Manch organized this first-ever TSG meeting held in Punjab. The meeting focused on the issue of Tibetan freedom. The members from various TSGs expressed the importance of India in raising the Tibet issue with the Chinese Leadership, especially during the forthcoming visit of the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee to Beijing. The members at the Meeting pledged to form more TSG units and increase awareness on the Tibet issue among the Indian masses. It was agreed to make TSGs in India a mass movement over the course of time.

The Executive Director spoke on the need for support of the Indian masses on Tibet issue. She expressed the importance and the difference that could be made with support from the host country of the Tibetan refugees. She also spoke of the need to check China's growing power and influence in the world including human rights violations in Tibet. Mrs.Lhadon expressed gratitude to the Indian government and people for their support and hospitality to the Tibetan people. She briefed individual members of the TSGs on the issue of human rights situation in Tibet separately.

The TSG Meeting came out with a Joint Declaration in a Memorandum to the Prime Minister on three points for his forthcoming visit to China.

1. That Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee raise the Tibet issue with the Chinese leadership
2. That India express its security concerns over the Gormud-Lhasa Railway Project, and
3. That India asks China to release all Tibetan political prisoners in Tibet

The meeting was coordinated by India-Tibet Desk, Delhi, and attended by Kalon Lobsang Nyandak, Minister for Finance and Health of the Tibet government-in-exile, two members of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile, and representatives from the National Democratic Party of Tibet, Tibetan Womans'Association, GU-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet, and TCHRD.

Briefing to German delegation

On 16 May 2003, TCHRD briefed a visiting delegation from the German embassy in New Delhi. The delegation, which comprised of wives of German diplomats in India, was on its tour of Dharamsala. They were briefed about the human rights situation in Tibet. Mrs. Tsewang Lhadon, Executive Director, Mrs. Norzin Dolma, Senior Programme Officer, Mr. Jampa Monlam, Researcher, Mr. Ugyen Tsewang, Information Officer and Mr. Tenzin Norgay, Field Officer, represented the centre. Mr. Jampa Monlam gave his personal testimony as a political prisoner in Tibet, which was interpreted in English by Mr. Norgay.

The delegation showed its solidarity to the Tibet issue and showed concern for the human rights of the Tibetan people.