Thematic Reports

China’s widespread and intrusive practices of mass surveillance and censorship have served as a perfect foil to continue perpetrating human rights violations with impunity in Tibet. Since 2008 when Tibetans held widespread protests calling for freedom and return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Chinese authorities have tightened control to ensure that such an event will never happen again. For years now, the Chinese Communist Party (‘Party’) authorities have enforced a model of social control that has proved highly successful in silencing Tibet and encouraging the rapid forced assimilation of Tibetans.

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By Ngawang Choephel Drakmargyapon*

“If I die, I think two to three years, I think the Chinese may choose even one Dalai Lama. But Tibetans (will) not accept that. The Panchen Lama which they choose, some Chinese officials also they describe as ‘Fake Panchen Lama’.”

                                              ~ His Holiness the Dalai Lama, TIME Magazine, 7 March 2019

This report is an account of the largely unknown attempts made to ascertain the whereabouts, the well-being and the fate of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Eleventh Panchen Lama of Tibet at the United Nations.[1] It attempts to provide a comprehensive narrative on the efforts by the international community over the past more than two decades to determine the fate of the Panchen Lama by particularly highlighting how the mechanisms of the UN human rights system have played a crucial role to help the Tibetans, followers of Tibetan Buddhism, supporters of Tibet and others by initiating interventions on the case directly with the Chinese authorities.

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was recognised on 14 May 1995 by His Holiness the Dalai Lama during a ceremony in Dharamsala, India. His Holiness declared: “Today is the auspicious day when the Buddha first gave the Kalachakra teaching. The Kalachakra teachings have a special connection with the Panchen Lamas. On this occasion, which also happens to be the Vaisaki, it is with great joy that I am able to proclaim the reincarnation of Panchen Rinpoche. I have recognized Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, born on April 25, 1989, whose father is Kunchok Phuntsog, and mother Dechen Chodon, of Lhari district in Nagchu, Tibet, as the true reincarnation of Panchen Lama.”

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'The Red Path'
‘The Red Path’

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has published a report in Tibetan on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) so-called “Mass Line Campaign” in Tibetan areas. The report titled lam chok mar po (The Red Path) documents the human rights violations caused by the ‘mass line’ political campaign in Tibet.

Under the direction of Xi Jinping, the president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the CCP has launched a Mass Line political campaign throughout China, reminiscent of Mao Zedong’s rectification campaign, and aimed at eliminating all opposition, both real and perceived. Under the guise of combatting corruption, the CCP has begun striking hard upon both the “tigers and flies.” As of now, more than hundred senior figures of the party have been indicted and punished under this campaign, including former head of China’s security Zhou Yongkang, sentenced to life in prison in June this year. Moreover, under slogans such as “the Four Misdeeds” and “Eight Principles” meant to “clean up the Party,” grassroots officials have been subjected to investigation for corruption and misuse of power.

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