Human Rights Watch/Asia

Tibet Information Network

PRESS RELEASE

FOR RELEASE 00:01 GMT Tuesday, March 26, 1996

For further information contact:

Robbie Barnett (London) (44) 181-533-5458 [w/h]

Sidney Jones (New York) (1) 212-972-8400 ext. 290[w]

(1) 718-398-4186 [h]

Mickey Spiegel (New York) (1) 212-972-8400 ext. 291[w]

(1) 212-472-8723 [h]

- Dramatic Increase in Political Imprisonment in Tibet -

Political repression in Tibet has increased sharply since 1994, and there are now more political prisoners in custody there than at any time in the last six years, according to a study jointly published today by Human Rights Watch/Asia, the New York-based human rights monitoring group, and Tibet Information Network, a research organisation based in London. The study was released as a major debate on human rights in China gets underway in Geneva at the current session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

The new study, Cutting Off the Serpent's Head: Tightening Control in Tibet 1994-95, attributes the increased repression to a new Tibet policy announced in July 1994. The policy coincided with a decrease in international pressure on China to improve its human rights record. As a result, the Chinese authorities have tightened internal security in Tibet, given out longer sentences for political offences, increased control over monasteries and nunneries, extended the crackdown on economic as well as political protests, demanded declarations of loyalty from thousands of Tibetans, intensified political education in schools, increased anti-Western rhetoric, and detained more people. Over 230 Tibetans were detained for political offences in 1995, a 50 percent increase over the year before, bringing the total now believed in custody to over 600.

The policy change on Tibet, the most sweeping since 1980, came at a meeting in Beijing in July 1994 called the Third National Forum for Work on Tibet or more simply, the Third Forum. Officials there described the Tibetan independence movement as a snake, and their attempts to "cut off the serpent's head" have led to restrictions on the spread of Buddhism, a ban on officials possessing religious items, new mechanisms for identifying Tibetans with nationalist sympathies, and a campaign to destroy the religious as well as the political standing of the Dalai Lama. The Third Forum also gave full endorsement to a controversial policy of high-speed economic growth in the Tibet Autonomous Region which has led to an influx of Chinese entrepreneurs and migrant workers.

The report found that the 1995 dispute over the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama was used by the authorities to speed up the new restrictions on religion and the monitoring of leading Tibetans. The criticism of the former abbot of Tashilhunpo is the first denunciation campaign since the Cultural Revolution to target a Tibetan inside Tibet. It has led to the detention of two leading lamas and at least fifty-eight monks and others, as well as the disappearance of the child originally identified as the reincarnated Panchen Lama, together with his family.

The new report consists of two parts, the first an analysis of the political developments leading to the deterioration in human rights, and the second a description of particular instances of political control: political imprisonment, torture, and restrictions on religious freedom. It includes the first study of compulsory labour in Tibet, a practice which is increasing in the Tibetan countryside under the new economic policies, with some Tibetans obliged to spend up to three years working unpaid on government mines, roads and irrigation projects. The report also contains the case histories of all Tibetans known to have been arrested for political reasons during 1995.

* Contact HRW or TIN to order copies of the 180 page report.

Human Rights Watch/Asia Human Rights Watch is a non-governmental organization established in 1978 to monitor and promote the observance of internationally recognized human rights in Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and among the signatories of the Helsinki accords. It is supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations world-wide. It accepts no government funds, directly or indirectly.

Tibet Information Network The Tibet Information Network (TIN) is an independent news and research service that collects and distributes information about social, economic, political, environmental and human rights conditions in Tibet. TIN aims to present information that is accurate, reliable, and free from bias. Its material is available to subscribers who, in return for an annual fee, receive news updates and background briefing papers, as well as access to specialist briefings, translations of documents, and research services. TIN was started in 1987 and is based in London. It has no political affiliations or objectives.

Human Rights Watch / Asia Tibet Information Network 485 Fifth Avenue 7 Beck Road

New York, NY 10017-6104 London E8 4RE

United States Of America United Kingdom

Tel: (212) 972-8400 Tel: (44) 181-533-5458 Fax: (212) 972-0905 fax: (44) 181-985-4751 E-mail: hrwnyc@hrw.org E-mail: tin@gn.apc.org