Chinese authorities continue persecuting Tibetans for their culture, beliefs: Report

Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet continue to be persecuted for their culture and beliefs by Chinese authorities, wrote Janet Rice, a Senator in the Australian Parliament, for a report in Tibet Rights Collective.

According to Tibet Rights Collective, Tibetan Uprising Day is observed on March 10 each year. It commemorates the 1959 Tibetan uprising, which ultimately resulted in a violent crackdown on Tibetan independence movements and in the flight of the Dalai Lama into exile.

According to estimates, over a million Tibetans have since been killed and, with the Chinese government's policy of resettlement of Chinese people to Tibet, Tibetans have become a minority in their own country.

A group of UN special rapporteurs had in November last year, issued a statement noting their grave concerns. They said they had received information:"... concerning what appears to amount to a policy of acculturation and assimilation of the Tibetan culture into the dominant Han Chinese majority, through a series of oppressive actions against Tibetan educational, religious and linguistic institutions, in contradiction with the right to freedom of religion and belief, the right to education and cultural rights of the Tibetan people."

A media statement issued by the UN human rights commissioner earlier in February noted their alarm at the separation of one million Tibetan children from their families and forced assimilation at residential schools.

Janet Rice for The Tibet Rights Collective, wrote: "I continue to be extremely concerned about the disappearance of the Panchen Lama 28 years ago. Last year I introduced a motion to the Notice Paper calling for the Senate to recognise only a Dalai Lama appointed by Tibetan Buddhist traditions and practices without interference by the Chinese government."

She further said: "The Australian Greens believe that universal human rights are fundamental and must be respected for all people in all countries. That principle informed my approach as the Greens' foreign affairs spokesperson, and it continues to inform my views on foreign policy."

( With inputs from ANI )