Category: Exile News

Tibet Matters March


The Tibetan Youth Congress organized a month-long “Tibet Matters March”, which has commenced on Tibetan Martyr’s Day on the 29th of April 2023. A month-long march was kicked off from the state of Sikkim crossing West Bengal, and conclude at Tezpur in Assam. TYC volunteers participating from across the Tibetan Youth Congress Regional Chapters in India and Nepal.

Flag-off ceremony of the Tibetan Youth Congress’s “Tibet Matters March” in presence of forest Minister of the state, Sikkim.

The following particular date and place are outlined to send a clear and concrete message to the G20 leaders that China’s “diplomatic assurances” are not to be trusted.

On 23rd May 1951, Tibetan delegates were forced to sign a “Seventeen-Point Agreement” with unacceptable intimidation, and large-scale military retaliation. The Tibetan delegates were also given the only choice of either signing the “Agreement” on their authority or accepting responsibility for an immediate armed indulgence in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet.

For the next eight years, Tibetans tried to abide by the terms of this document but China, on the other hand, showed no inclination to honour its own part of the “Agreement”, and PLA immediately set out to inflict unbelievable atrocities upon the Tibetan people and occupied Tibet in 1959. H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama was forced to flee Tibet and the Tibetan government (Kashag) repudiated the so-called “17th Point Agreement” in the Yugyal Lhuntse District of Tibet on 26th March 1959, and again on his arrival in Tezpur in Assam (India), H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama internationally repudiated the “17-point Agreement as having been “thrust upon Tibetan government and people by the threat of arms.”

“Tibet Matters March” aims to urge the G20 leaders to raise the issue of the Sino-Tibet conflict which plays a significant role in resolving the growing tension between China and a number of countries in Southeast Asia.

The very survival of almost 2 billion people depends on the freshwater resources originating from the Tibetan plateau. The continued exploitation of the Tibetan landscape, ecosystem, and natural resources by the Chinese Communist regime will produce a direct impact and long-lasting negative consequences for the downstream countries. Therefore, it’s high time to talk about Tibet which significantly matters in promising and promoting permanent peace and security in Asia. 

After more than six decades of forceful and illegal occupation of Tibet, China has turned Tibet into the world’s least-free country, sharing the bottom spot with South Sudan and Syria in Freedom House’s global freedom scores. The current human rights situation in Tibet has been one of the worst in recent years with the forceful imposition of repressive policies that primarily aims to eliminate the very Identity of Tibetans.

Under the Chinese colonial education system, over one million Tibetan children have been separated from their families and forcefully placed into Chinese state-run colonial boarding schools. It is a genocidal policy to indoctrinate Tibetan children from their cultural roots: the Tibetan language, Tibetan religion, and cultural heritage.

And under the Chinese massive surveillance system, they have been taking their hands-on mass collection of Tibetan DNA samples including children as young as five. We believe this is their newest attack on Tibetan identity, massive surveillance on individual privacies, and freedom of movement inside Tibet. Therefore, Today, Tibetan Youth Congress urges the international community and the G20 leaders, in particular, to raise the Tibet issue with the Chinese leaders.


Demands:

1) We urge the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi Ji, and world leaders to raise the issue of the Sino-Tibet conflict with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the G20 summit in September 2023.

2) We demand the Chinese government addresses the ever-deteriorating human rights situation under its repressive rule in Tibet and immediately shut down the colonial boarding schools that attack and eliminate the Tibetan culture and identity.

3) We also seek the support of international community in resolving the Sino-Tibet conflict.

Currently the Tibetan Youth Congress volunteers have reached in Alipurduar in West Bengal and entering in the Assam state in two days.

Despite the difficulties of the heat-waves hitting more than 35’C, the volunteers continue to walk under the scorching sun to amplify their voices.

Marytrs’ Memorial Basketball Tournament Resumes after two years.

The opening match was between All-Star Team (Green-light) and the Team Lhakar (Black). Pic-credit: VOT

The largest and oldest Tibetan Basketball Tournament organised by the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress Dhasa resumed after two years of Covid Chaos.
The Tournament begins in the mid of September every year, and the final match is often scheduled on the 7th of October, on the founding day of the Tibetan Youth Congress, the largest Non-governmental organisations of Tibetan Community in Exile.

Team Garuda (Blue) and Brute Team (White)

This year, there were 8 boys’ teams and 2 girls’ teams that were participating in the tournament. Team Drokpa ( Nomad Team) and Team Mentsekhang, the teams dominating the Tournament in the past years have not taken part this year.


The 20th Martyrs’ Memorial Basketball Tournament was scheduled to kick off on 25th September 2022, but was delayed by a day due to the heavy rainfall in Dharamshala.

Brute Team player in action Pic-credit: Sonsnow

The Tournament attracts people of all ages from the hill station which is popularly known as the little Lhasa. You will see students in their uniforms rushed to the venue to witness their much-awaited matches. It is also common to see monks and nuns in their red robes running from their retreat centres to the tournament site to see the skills of the young men and women who are taking part in the Tournament.
This Tournament aims to create awareness among the younger generations about the Tibetan Martyrs who sacrificed their precious life for the cause of Tibet. It also hopes to promote much-needed health awareness among Tibetans.

The Tournament started after 10th March 1998. Tibetan Youth Congress organized a Hunger Strike unto death at Jantar Mantar New Delhi as per the resolution adopted during the 27th and 28th Working Committee Meeting held in Mussoorie and Orissa. The hunger strike coincided with the 39th Tibetan National Uprising Day and was intended to draw global attention, thereby compelling the United Nations to implement the International Council of Jurists (ICJ’s) recommendations on Tibet. There were six hunger strikers representing the six million Tibetans. On the 48th day of the hunger strike, the remaining three hunger strikers were forcefully dragged by the Indian police. Thupten Ngodup, who had volunteered to be in the second batch of hunger strikers ran to the public toilet where he had hidden a jar of petrol, poured it onto his body, and set himself ablaze for the cause of Tibet. His self-immolation drew the attention of the media all around the world. He suffered 90 percent burns and was declared dead two days later on 29th April 1998.

In memory of the late Pawo Thupten Ngodup and thousands of other Tibetan martyrs, the day has since been marked as Tibetan Martyrs Day by the TYC, and Regional Tibetan Youth Congress started the tournament two years later in memory of the Tibetan Martyrs.

Tournament Poster

TWA exposed CCP’s ill-treatment of Tibetans amidst the rise of Covid Cases in Tibet.

Amidst the increasing rise of Covid cases in Tibet, China continues to impose severe lockdown policies in the big cities of Lhasa and Shigatse in the Tibet Autonomous Regions.
Tibetans continue to express their outrage against the poorly facilitated quarantine centers.

Tibetan Women’s Association centrex, along with its Regional Chapter, Dharamshala played a Short Skit at Mcleod Ganj, exposing the Chinese ill-treatment of the Tibetans with the zero Covid policy.


Their press statement states that “We request to all the leaders for your urgent help in this crucial matter. Tibet needs your support. Tibetans are facing extreme violations from the Chinese communist party. Recently Chinese government started conducting COVID-19 tests, which led to inhumane behaviour toward the Tibetans from the Chinese Officials. Chinese communist party has been forcefully taking Tibetans regardless of their age, even a 2-year-old could not escape the torture of the CCP. As per the reports, thousands of Tibetan people were inhumanely dragged into a good carrier and were placed in a mass internment camp.

Irrespective of their COVID reports, both positive and negative patients were put into the same camp with unhygienic washrooms and toilets. If so, the Tibetans went against their commands, they were threatened to exploit their basic rights. Even with such atrocities behaviour from the Chinese Officials, the Tibetan people accepted to follow the command to be quarantined however they were treated in an obnoxious way.
They were served with stale and decaying food. They were exploited mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially.
In a recently circulated video, people have expressed their struggle in meeting the necessities and not knowing their families’ whereabouts. An innocent stated *send us back to our home, we want to live, we will die here in this conferment room”


During the pandemic, the Chinese officials launched a helpline number that claims to help the citizen during the crisis but in actuality, the citizens are unable to reach the given number. The stripping of the Basic Human Rights of the Tibetan people is still an ongoing issue. Chinese officials are using COVID as an excuse to exterminate the Tibetan population. Tibetan people are injected and the purpose of vaccination is a mystery.

The Tibetan people are going through a wide range of violence in the name of quarantine. We the Tibetan women’s association urged the world health organizations and the higher authoritarian of the respective organizations to look into this urgent issue. The people of Tibet are in waiting of hope for your support and to take action immediately.

More and more Tibetans are coming out into social media and airing their frustrations against the Chinese government for failing to provide adequate meals and care for people detained under the guise of covid prevention.

One Tibetan women in her video expressed, “Why detaining us in this poorly facilitated detention, we would rather choose to die in our own home.”