Publications

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Racial Discrimination in Tibet (2000)

Discrimination in Public Representation

The Right to Complain and Freedom of Association

It is enshrined in the Chinese Constitution that:

"Citizens of the People's Republic of China have the right to criticise and make suggestions to any state organ or functionary. Citizens have the right to make to relevant state organs complaints and charges against, or exposures of, violation of the law or dereliction of duty by any state organ or functionary"

...and that:

"In case of complaints, charges or exposures made by citizens, the state organ concerned must deal with them in a responsible manner after ascertaining the facts. No one may suppress such complaints, charges and exposures, or retaliate against the citizens making them."

The experience of the Tibetan people is directly contrary to these provisions, and indeed if there were any real or sincere avenues of redress available for plaintiffs in Tibet then the number and regularity of illegal demonstrations, enacted in desperation and with severe consequences, would surely decrease.

Dorje Tongmey from Nyarong County, Kandze "TAP", reported in February 2000 that local Tibetans in the area had no opportunity to participate in, or complain about, decisions that directly affected them. "For the last 12 years, many Chinese have been assigned to deforestation projects, and the region is now denuded of vegetation. The villagers who depended on the surrounding forests for their livelihoods were not consulted at any time or given any chance to protest, for the officials simply announced that the land belonged to the motherland, and that any person opposing their work would be termed a "splittist". A few of the older villagers insisted on voicing their concerns, but were quickly arrested and taken away. The remaining inhabitants were then too afraid to continue protesting, and had to accept the devastation of their environment every day. While Chinese labourers wantonly destroyed the forest around them, the Tibetan villagers in the area, who had lived on the land all their life, were forced to get permission from the county officials should they wish to fell even a single tree for firewood or housing."

Aside from the failure of the CPPCC, Village and Neighbourhood Committees, Tibet still suffers greatly from a substantial lack of available legal mechanisms set up to protect the rights of citizens, which is in part the result of the central government's unwillingness to actually enforce its constitutional promises. While citizens in truly democratic countries would primarily look to the police force for help in resolving disputes and discriminatory treatment, Tibetans have no such option. The Public Security Bureau (PSB) and the People's Armed Police (PAP) sent to "keep order" in Tibet are themselves the ones who commit a large number of atrocities violating human rights, and are to be avoided rather than consulted:

"Strategy for dealing with the police seemed to be universally agreed upon: avoid them. Under no circumstance take a problem to the police. They bring problems to you. The law is theirs to do with as they like; they are widely viewed as corrupt and extortionate" If their prime purpose is to keep people quiet, they do the job."

Aggrieved citizens in Tibet are today generally forced to approach an administrative agency responsible for their particular problem and lodge a complaint. However, "As with other methods of dealing with complaints in China, the agency responsible for dealing with the complaint is generally the one which has been responsible for the violation, so a satisfactory resolution of the issue is often very difficult to achieve."

Even if, by some miracle, a complaint should get to the official law courts, a number of logistical obstacles still stand in the way of justice. The courts do have the power under the Administrative Procedure Law of 1989 to declare that the actions of a specific state official are contrary to the law and require remedial action, but to make this law effective entails overcoming a significant amount of other problems. One significant obstacle is that the judiciary has only limited independence from government control, and is susceptible to widespread corruption. Another is that the vague language of Chinese law and regulations often makes it easy for judges to assert that conduct was in actual fact lawful within the language and scope of the law, and the complaint is dropped.

The lack of ombudsmen, citizen's advice bureaus or other organisations independent from the ruling state or government in China makes it difficult for a complaint to be publicly redressed, particularly in the case of aggrieved Tibetans. China requires all organisations or associations, no matter how small, to register with the local Ministry of Civil Affairs prior to operation in accordance with the Regulations on the Management and Registration of Social Groups (1998). These aim to incorporate - and therefore control - all social groups wishing to organise, and failure to register immediately renders all potential participants subject to prosecution. Before an application can even be filed, the group must find a government body sponsor and obtain the relevant approval from "professional leading organs". Not only does this make constitutional pretensions to "freedom of association" a farce, but also severely restricts the introduction into society of organisations able to help aggrieved citizens. Tibetans suffer discrimination in every sector of society, but are prevented from even considering - let alone actively pursuing - justice. Thus, inequalities become everyday more intense, and discrimination continues unabated.