Kashag Declaration* on the sixty-third anniversary of the National Tibetan Uprising Day
Sixty-three years ago, on this very day in 1959, Tibetans in Lhasa rose up in peaceful protest against the Chinese government's occupation of Tibet. Today also marks the fourteenth anniversary of the non-violent protests of Tibetans, that since March 2008 spread throughout Tibet. We pay tribute to the brave men and women of Tibet who have sacrificed their lives for our spiritual and political cause, and we stand in solidarity with the Tibetans who continue to suffer great oppression within Tibet.
Within its long history,The Tibet reached supremacy during the reign of the three great religious kings. Even after its disintegration, The Buddhist religion of Tibet exercised the influence on Eastern Asia that was at the height of Mongolia's military and China's political authority. The Tibet maintained a monk-protagonist relationship with the empires that occupied the Tibet and the successive Chinese empires, enjoying most of the time of mutual respect and harmony.
When the 1 October 1949, The Chinese communists assumed the mandodlear the call “Pacific release” from Tibet. Shortly after, in 1950, The overwhelming Chinese communist forces attacked Chamdo and defeated the Tibetan army. For the first time, all of Tibet came under their occupation after they coerced the Tibetans into 1951 sign the Seventeen Point Agreement. Although His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government did their best to cooperate with the Chinese government based on the agreement, the principle of peaceful coexistence was broken by the constant oppression of the Chinese army. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, followed by some 80.000 Tibetans, He had no choice but to take the path of exile.
In the following two decades, Tibet experienced the darkest period in its history. The arrival in 1956 of the “democratic reforms” to the Tibetan provinces of Kham and Amdo led to the destruction of monasteries and the arrest of lamas and monks. At that moment, The Chinese government did not have a clear policy about ethnic issues. However, This soon changed when Mao Zedong, taking advantage of the revolt of 1958 of Tibetanos and Salars in Yadzi County, In the province of AMDO, He pointed out that the question of nationality was essentially a class issue. Triggered an endless cycle of disastrous campaigns in the name of the revolt suppression, democratic reforms and the cultural revolution. It was the real start of cultural genocide in Tibet, that caused the death of 1,2 millions of tibetans and the destruction of more than 6.000 monasteries.
The decade of 1980 He witnessed the reform and openness policy in China, and the announcement of the fourth Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the Law on Regional Autonomies. She further , The adoption of a series of regulations in Tibetan and County Autonomous Prefectures provided legal support to guarantee the application of liberal policies such as monasteries restoration, The reactivation of religious studies of monks and nuns, The promotion of Tibetan language, The promotion of leading tibetans and land tenure. In addition, The sending of Tibetan Research Delegations and Recognition Missions from India, and the opening of the Tibet to the Tibetans so that they could meet with their relatives and relatives, It was a ray of hope for the resolution of the Sino-Tibetan conflict.
However, The situation in Tibet deteriorated after the purge of liberal-minded Chinese leaders, como HuYaobang, the sudden death of the 10th Panchen Lama, the imposition of martial law to repress the peaceful protests of the Tibetan people in Lhasa, the crushing of the Tiananmen movement and the stagnation of the dialogue process between the Tibetan and Chinese governments. In particular, from the decade of 1990, The Chinese government implemented hardline policies to strengthen its control over Tibet. Under the pretext of developing infrastructure in Tibet, The transfer of Chinese population to Tibet accelerated and the number of Chinese leaders in the administrative offices of the Tibetan areas increased. In addition, Upon protection of compulsory education, The monastic lineage eluction was enhanced and democratic management committees were reinforced to control monasteries.
China's control over Tibet became easier after the implementation of the Western Development Program. Large -scale development programs were applied to benefit Chinese emigrants and the exploitation of Tibet's mineral resources was undertaken. The promotion of the Chinese language under the pretext of a bilingual education policy further harmed the Tibetan language. To control the Tibetan people, The Chinese government applied the policy of appropriating the legitimate authority to select the reincarnation of living Buddhas.
These policies culminated in unprecedented peaceful protests of Tibetans in the three traditional provinces of Tibet in 2008. The Chinese government brutally repressed the relevantness of a balance of hundreds of dead tibetans and thousands of detainees. The result was a massive display of armed forces and the restriction of movement of tibetans throughout the Tibet. The policy of converting the Chinese language in the vehicular language into schools was accelerated and the campaign of “patriotic education” In monasteries. As a result, from 2009 Tibetanos were self -innomo -innomole as protest throughout the Tibet, asking for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet and Freedom for Tibetans. The Sino-Tibetan dialogue process was stagnant in 2010.
Currently, Our greatest concern is the systematic synicization of new Tibetanos in Tibet. in 2011, Some political advisors of the Chinese Communist Party requested the repeal of the regional autonomy system and the adoption of the call “Second generation of ethnic policies” To weaken the identities of the 56 nationalities and strengthen a single Chinese national identity. They also called for the revocation of preferential policies for ethnic minorities., encourage ethnic assimilation, impose the use of the Chinese language and the closure of schools for nationalities. These measures are actually being implemented now in Tibet.
in 2012, The Chinese government had to reverse its policy of merging village primary schools into boarding schools after facing strong protests in China.. However, The State Council of China issued an order in 2015 that forces children from ethnic areas to study, live and grow within the boarding school system. It is estimated that in 2019 around the 78% of all students in Tibet have been forced to live in boarding schools.
In addition, in August 2021, The Ministry of Education of China issued a decree to implement the “Children's Homophony Plan for the Common Language of Preschool Children” in all ethnic areas and rural areas during the 14th five-year plan. This plan stipulates that preschool children must learn Mandarin as a spoken and written language to lay a good foundation for compulsory education.. In the same way, the communication language for the recruitment examination for government jobs in Tibetan areas was changed from Tibetan to Chinese.
This policy of depriving Tibetan children of their right to learn their language, which is the basis of your identity, culture and religion, will have serious repercussions in the next two decades.
The systematic deprivation of the right to learn and use one's own language is a serious violation of the rights of minority nationalities provided for in the Chinese Constitution and the national regional autonomy law.. It also clearly shows how the Chinese government is violating several national and international declarations on the protection of languages., including the declaration of the World Conference on the Protection of Language Resources held in September 2018 in Changsha in China, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which he signed.
We respect the Constitution of the People's Republic of China because it defends the equality of nationalities and guarantees the basic rights of minorities. However, to promote the Chinese language, in December 2021 The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China repealed the constitutional provisions regarding the right of nationalities to teach their own languages. This is a blatant misunderstanding and serious violation of the principles of the Chinese constitution..
We respect the Chinese people and their culture. But we cannot accept only Chinese nationality., because the Tibetan people have their own distinctive race descended from their original six ancestral tribes and a culture highly influenced by the Bon tradition and Buddhism.
If the Chinese government wishes to win the love and loyalty of the Tibetan people towards the People's Republic of China, must end the suppression of Tibetan human rights and the annihilation of Tibetan identity while respecting its own constitution. You must accept the historical fact that Tibetans and Chinese have lived as neighbors in harmony and helping each other. You must stop thinking and acting in ways that create enmity between Tibetans and Chinese., and instead pay attention to the aspirations of Tibetans.
Although the Tibetan people in recent 63 years he has made his true aspirations clear, The Chinese government continues to pursue opposite policies. Hoy, under the pretext of the construction of infrastructure and nature reserves, Tibetan nomads and farmers forced to relocate, thus forcibly altering their traditional livelihood. Relocation is also promoted under the pretext of alleviating poverty and training and transferring “surplus rural workers.””. Tibetan students are sent to work in China as part of their assimilation campaign. In addition, marriages between Tibetans and Chinese are encouraged under the motto of “examples for ethnic harmony”.
The Chinese atheist government continues to interfere in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of reincarnation and the control of monasteries, restricts academic study and free movement of monks and nuns. Under the slogan of making “Tibetan Buddhism adapts to socialist society and develops in the Chinese context”, The Chinese government has banned the dissemination of religious content on the Internet, continues destroying Buddhist statues in Drakgo, and has closed the Kharmar monastery, a Kham. Likewise, arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of Tibetan intellectuals continue unabated., como GoSherabGyatso, writers, teachers, students, human rights activists and environmental activists. There are also reports of the destruction of Buddhist temples and stupas in China., stripping them of traditional architecture, Tibetan writings and murals.
The Central Tibetan Administration hopes to find a mutually agreed solution for the future of Tibet through dialogue based on the Middle Way Approach and, in particular, urging the Chinese government to correct its erroneous policies. We are ready to engage in conversations to seek a lasting solution based on equality, friendship and mutual benefit.
Until the Sino-Tibetan conflict is resolved, as free spokespersons for our brothers and sisters in Tibet, we will do our best to use all resources to draw the attention of parliaments, governments, expert committees and world media, On the continuous repression and extermination of Tibetan identity, Through the Tibet voluntary defense campaign and other media.
Despite China's repression, The Tibet Tibetans remain and resolved in their efforts to preserve their religion, culture and language and protect the natural environment. His spirit is the pillar that sustains our will. The responsibility that our compatriots are assuming in the Tibet is an inherent human right and is also according to the Chinese Constitution. Therefore, It is very important to continue the struggle for the right to preserve our identity with an unwavering will. In view of Chinese government policies in Tibet, Tibetans in exile must redouble our efforts to preserve our culture and identity.
Tibetans in exile have made extraordinary achievements by creating an effective administration under the direction and leadership of His Holiness the Great 14th Dalai Lama. We must concentrate our efforts to maintain it.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, We wish to offer our most sincere thanks to various nations, especially to the central and state governments of India, and the Tibet Support Groups for supporting the Tibetan cause during the last 60 years. We thank the US government. the recent appointment of the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Affairs. We urge like-minded nations to support the Middle Way Approach to resolve the Tibet issue by recognizing the true historical status of Tibet..
Since Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, plans to visit Xinjiang in May, We urge the High Commissioner to also visit Tibet.
We offer our prayers for TsewangNorbu, a well-known Tibetan singer 26 years, that according to the media, He died after self-immolation in Lhasa on 25 February. However, due to the heavy restrictions and surveillance imposed by the Chinese government, we have not been able to verify information about his condition. At this critical moment in our fight, the loss of the life of a single Tibetan patriot is an irreparable loss to our cause. Since the life of every Tibetan is precious, we must stay alive and contribute to our spiritual and political cause.
We also celebrate this day under the shadow of the war caused by the invasion of Ukraine. We offer our prayers for those who have lost their lives and those injured in this conflict, and we stand in solidarity with the more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees. We also pray for an immediate end to the global pandemic and other man-made conflicts, and so that humanity lives in peace and happiness.
Finally, I pray for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and for his wishes to be fulfilled. May the truth of the cause of Tibet prevail.
Kashag
10 March 2022
NdT: This is a Spanish translation of the English translation of the statement published in Tibetan. If there is any difference between this writing and the original in Tibetan, Tibetan should be considered the authoritative and definitive statement).
* Kashag, in Tibetan, is the council of ministers of the Central Tibetan Administration (Tibetan Government in Exile).
