The
Issues
Genocide and human rights
Since 1950, an estimated 1.2 million Tibetans
have been killed by the Chinese. China has ratified a number
of UN conventions, including those related to torture
and racial discrimination, and yet has repeatedly
violated these in China and Tibet.
Education
Chinese has replaced Tibetan as the official language.
Young Tibetans are being re-educated about
their cultural past, with references to an independent
Tibet being omitted.
Lack of religious freedom
The 1982 Constitution of the People's Republic
of China guarantees freedom of religious
belief, but China seeks to restrict the numbers of
monks and nuns entering monasteries and to discredit the
religious authority of Dalai Lama. The child recognised
as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama was rejected and
the Chinese installed their own candidate.
Resource exploitation
China's predominant interest in Tibet is no longer
ideological, but is based on resource
extraction and land for Chinese colonists. Mining
and mineral extraction is the largest economic activity
in both U'Tsang and Amdo and at least one-half of Tibet's
natural forest has gone since Chinese occupation.
Chinese migration
Long-term Chinese
settlement in Tibet has been deliberately encouraged,
with the result that Tibetans are in the minority in many
areas. Independent research puts the number of Chinese
in the TAR at 5 ≠ 5.5 million versus 4.5 million Tibetans;
in Kham and Amdo, Chinese outnumber Tibetans many times
over. Chinese traders are favoured by lower tax assessments
and the dominant position of Chinese in government administration.
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Some
4,000 Tibetans flee Beijing's oppression each year by
walking over the Himalayas. The refugees cross the alpine
passes in winter when the rivers are frozen, risking
frostbite, starvation and beatings if caught. Many are
children. Some die. The main income in the camps is from
the hand-weaving of wool carpets, a tradition going back
to the 7th century.