TIBET

World Report 2001 Entry

World Report Entry 2000

World Report Entry 1999

World Report Entry 1998

 China and Tibet: Profiles of Tibetan Exiles
This report profiles five Tibetans living in exile in Dharamsala, India. All are in their late  twenties or thirties, and all are originally from the areas known to Tibetan nationalists  as Amdo and Kham. Today almost all of this territory lies in what Tibetans call  "eastern Tibet" and Chinese call the Tibetan regions of Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai, and  Yunnan provinces. Their stories show a common pattern: all had unusual access to  education; all became involved in political activities through discussions at state   schools or academies; all were arrested and detained by Chinese security forces for  possession or circulation of published materials about the Dalai Lama or Tibetan  independence; and some were tortured. The men's stories are similar to many others  we heard in Dharamsala, and while we do not claim that five cases are illustrative of a broader pattern of repression, their accounts suggest that peaceful political activity in  Tibetan areas outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region (T.A.R.) and its capital, Lhasa,  is no more acceptable to authorities than it is in the T.A.R.
(C1105), 9/99, 29pp., $5.00
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Cutting Off the Serpent's Head: Tightening Control 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 since 1990. The increased repression is the result of a Chinese government policy that has led to tighter internal security in Tibet, longer sentences for political offenses, increased control over monasteries and nunneries, a demand for declarations of loyalty from thousands of Tibetans, and intensified political education in schools. Over 230 Tibetans were detained for political offenses in 1995, a 50 percent increase over the year before, bringing the total now believed in custody to over 600. Cutting Off the Serpent’s Head gives a detailed account of the emergence of the new policies, based on several hundred interviews, reports from Tibet, and internal Chinese documents. It includes an analysis of the political developments leading to the deterioration in human rights, a description of coercive practices: political imprisonment, torture, and restrictions on religious freedom, and the first study of compulsory labor in Tibet. (Co-published with Tibet Information Network)
3/96, ISBN 1-56432-166-5, $15.00/£12.95
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Political Prisoners in Tibet
New lists of prisoners supplied by former inmates and smuggled out of the Tibet Autonomous Region substantially increase the known number of political prisoners in Tibet. In this report, Asia Watch and the Tibet Information Network present the cases of some 275 prisoners with all extant biographical material. The lists clearly show that the majority of people arrested for nonviolent political activity in Tibet since 1987 have been young monks and nuns, and they provide important insights into the complexity of the prison system in Tibet. The lists also contain more information than has hitherto been available on women prisoners.
(0553) 2/92, 66 pp., ISBN 1-56432-055-3, $7.00/£5.95
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(C303) 81 Political Prisoners Held in Drapchi Prison, Lhasa, 1/91, 15 pp., $3.00/£1.95
(594) "Merciless Repression": Human Rights in Tibet, 5/90, 104 pp., ISBN 0-929692-59-4, $10.00/£8.95

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