Publications

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Racial Discrimination in Tibet (2000)

Discrimination in Housing

Restrictions on Freedom of Movement and Residence

Article 5 (d) (i) of the ICERD guarantees, without distinction of any kind,

"...the right to freedom of movement and residence within the border of the State.

Under the "household registration system" (Chinese: hukou dengji zhi), each individual in Tibet has an official place of permanent residence, further classified as urban or rural, which can only be changed with permission from the authorities in the place of origin and/or destination. While temporary residence permits are also available, these are officially valid for only three months and must be paid for. The system as a whole seeks to avoid massive urbanization, but has in effect forced over 85% of Tibetans, who hold rural residence permits, to remain where they are regardless of the local social or economic conditions. Despite an official admission in May 1996 that "It is necessary to gradually give peasants and herders the rights to move from one place to another", very little has actually been done to put this goal into practice. Any movement within Tibet, be it a change in employment, accommodation or even for the purpose of visiting relatives, is still strictly monitored, and can generally be achieved only with government permission.

While this is true for both Tibetan and Chinese citizens, the access to and availability of documents necessary for transfer from a rural to an urban residence is highly discriminatory. As Scott Leckie reported in 1994,

"The system of residence permits is applied deferentially to Chinese and Tibetans in Tibet. Whereas the former find only limited difficulties in obtaining such permits, for Tibetans wishing to move to Lhasa and other towns, the task of acquiring the documents necessary to do so is made extremely difficult" Tibetans wishing to move to towns such as Lhasa, Chamdo and Shigatse are often prevented from doing so, while Chinese settlers are actively encouraged to take up residence in these urban centres."

Asia Watch has also testified to what appears to be deliberate and inherently discriminatory policies aimed at keeping non-resident Tibetans out of Lhasa, while allowing non-resident Chinese the right to settle freely in the city.

A 17 year-old girl from Lhasa reported to TCHRD in January 2000 that there were many special conditions for the Chinese concerning residence permits. "While I was working in the Lhasa hotel, many Chinese staff arrived from China in search of a job. Instead of having to apply to the authorities with the relevant documents for a residence permit like the Tibetans, they simply had their existing Chinese permit transferred from their old place of residence in China. They did not have to seek approval, because they had connections and the transfer was automatic. For Tibetans to even move from one city to another is very difficult, and to move from the country to the city is near impossible."

This is also confirmed in a 1995 study documenting China's Colonization of Tibet, which states that "Movement of Tibetans within their own country, and particularly from rural to urban centres, is strictly regulated. It is not at all unusual to see PAP [People's Armed Police] board incoming buses or minivans at checkpoints around Lhasa to inspect residence papers. Tibetans who live in nearby villages are often removed from vehicles and told to go home. Chinese passengers are never inspected or denied access to the city."

Chinese traders from outside Tibet area are also able to move into and around Tibet without restriction as part of special preferential policies introduced by the government to advance the rapid development of a free market system. It is this discrimination, so widespread within the administrations responsible for housing and internal movement, that has forced many Tibetans to resort to getting their residential permits from the black market, where Chinese dealers reportedly charge as much as 8,000 yuan.

For those Tibetans wishing to leave the country with official permission - usually to visit relatives in India and Nepal - a number of preconditions must be complied with, many of which are near impossible for the majority of Tibetans to fulfil. In 1990, the general outline of these conditions was as follows:

Obtain a photograph of the relative outside Tibet that you wish to visit;
Receive a letter of invitation from the relative;
Obtain permission from seven different local, district, provincial and other governmental authorities to travel abroad;
Promise to state that the Chinese Communist Party policies in Tibet are "good" and refrain from criticising the Party;
Promise to bring separated relatives back into the fold of the" motherland; and
Promise to bring back concrete information about exiled Tibetans.

If permission is granted at all, it can take up to a year to process and finally procure without inside "connections", and as such continues to fuel the massive illegal escape of Tibetans across the border.