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![]() ![]() The right to be free from racial discrimination 7.1. International Law "Racial Discrimination" is defined in article 1 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination46 (hereinafter CERD) as meaning:
Reports in 1996 reveal that the PRC authorities continue to directly discriminate against Tibetans in various spheres of life including public representation, education, employment and housing for reason of their race. The rights of Tibetans as a minority group have also been denied. These rights are recognised in article 27 of the ICCPR which states:
In August 1996, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination denounced attacks by Chinese on the rights of ethnic minorities including Buddhists in Tibet. The committee singled out the destruction of Buddhist temples and the advantages granted by Beijing to the Chinese majority aimed at persuading them to move to the "TAR" in a bid to alter the demographic make-up of the area. Discrimination by Chinese authorities towards minorities in the workplace, secondary and higher education and the lack of teaching of their own culture and history was also denounced. 7.2. Discrimination in Public Representation Article 5(c) of CERD guarantees racial equality in the enjoyment of political rights including the right to take part in the government as well as in conducting of public affairs at any level. On 22 May 1996, Chadrel Rinpoche, former abbot of Tashilhunpo monastery and leader of the search committee for the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, was stripped of his membership of the "TAR" CPPCC (Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee) and removed from his post as Vice-Chairman because he "went against the fundamental stand of the nation and lost his political direction".47 Dhondup Dorje, now 49 years old, was appointed Head of Lhasa Weather Department in 1989 and in 1991 was promoted to Chief of the Department in Nagchu District. He was also a CCP member. As a result of his active campaigning for basic human rights for Tibetan people, Dhondup Dorje was arrested on 14 May 1992 in Lhasa by officials of Lhasa Intelligence Bureau. He was released in January 1995 and on 18 May 1995 returned to the Weather Department where he was told that he would only be employed as temporary staff . His new job was garden maintenance for which he was paid 300 yuan in contrast to his previous 1700 yuan payment. In the beginning of 1996 Chinese authorities ordered the Weather Department to remove Dorje. He has also been stripped of party membership and all other rights and benefits. His daughter has been denied admission into university because she comes from a family of "political activists". The position of Tibetan bodies, as well as individuals, are being targeted in the latest Chinese campaign against Tibetan culture. In Spring 1996 the Leading Committee of Tibetan Language in "TAR" was downgraded from regional to county level. Several of the older academics on the committee have since retired, amounting to the marginalisation of senior Tibetans involved in education.48 7.3. Discrimination in Education49 In early October 1996 the PRC announced that at least four out of five school age children in Tibet would be receiving three, six or nine years of compulsory education by the end of the century. The number of years will be adjusted based on the conditions and education levels of students in pastoral areas, farming sites, towns and cities. Under a set of regulations passed by the regional People's Congress, the legislative body in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, each county of Tibet is to have at least one middle school, and each township must have a complete primary school. However, under the present educational system in Tibet, this move effectively benefits only the thousands of Chinese who have poured into the Himalayan region. The Lobchungs (primary schools) in Tibet are of two types: Mangtsug and Shungtsug schools. Right from the Lobchung level there are separate classrooms for Tibetan and Chinese students at the same class level. It is commonly alleged that the Chinese classes are given much better facilities and teachers. The Mangtsug are the village level schools which have no financial support of any kind from the Chinese government. Classes are held sporadically and there are few properly qualified or permanent teachers. It is very rare for a Mangtsug student to complete the six years or to go on to Middle School. Shungtsug are Chinese government established schools found only in the cities and county headquarters towns. These schools enjoy comparatively much better facilities and give primary level education to the children of the predominantly Chinese urban population. The Lobdrings (Middle School) are similarly found only in county-headquarters towns and cities. Lobdring students come only from the Shungtsug which means that the Mangtsug graduates have generally no further educational opportunities. Thus, while the majority of Lobchung students are Tibetans, at the Lower Middle School there is a disproportionate increase in the number of Chinese students. At the Higher Middle School there is again a sharp increase in the number of Chinese students and classes. In addition to the high drop-out rate of Tibetans, the most significant factor in this imbalance is the large number of Chinese students who, having failed to secure seats in Higher Middle Schools in China, manage to secure registration in Tibet. The fact that students who complete their school education in Tibet are required to score ten percent less marks than others in the University entrance examination further attracts a large number of Chinese students to Tibet. Those Tibetan children who score very well in their final Lobchung examination in Tibet are taken to China for their Lower Middle School study. Upon graduation they are not given seats to go to a Higher Middle School but must opt for a vocational training school. The Tibet Information Network reports the following recent actions taken by the authorities of the PRC to discriminate against the use of Tibetan language in educational institutions within Tibet.50 In December 1996, authorities announced that the History of Tibet course at the University of Tibet is to be taught in Chinese rather than Tibetan. The decision ignores the fact that many of the teachers and students are Tibetan and that the course is taught by the University's Tibetan Language Department. So too it ignores one of the reasons listed for the founding of the University - the maintenance and development of Tibetan culture and language. A long-standing requirement that all students pass an entrance examination in Tibetan is also said to have been dropped this year and all except one of the 17 university courses are now believed to be taught mainly in Chinese. Rural students who are not fluent in Chinese are particularly at risk of discrimination as a result of these decisions. Local authorities have also closed an experimental project initiated by the late Panchen Lama in three secondary schools in the "TAR" whereby Tibetan children were being taught in Tibetan. All other Tibetan children in secondary schools study in Chinese with the exception of some 40 special schools in Qinghai province which includes Tibet's Amdo province. In 1995 the first graduates of the pilot project achieved far better results (79.8% pass rate) than other Tibetan secondary school students (39%) who were required to study in Chinese. Tibetan students studying in Chinese have, moreover, scored well below the national average. The official reason given for the closure of the project was a lack of funds and qualified teachers, yet some 500 teachers have been trained to teach in Tibetan since 1993. Chinese authorities are now setting up a new project to have all primary school education in both Tibetan and Chinese medium while almost all Tibetan primary schools currently teach in Tibetan. Other actions reported include the downgrading of the committee responsible for policies implementing the use of Tibetan language from regional to county level and the subsequent retirement of many of its Tibetan members. The Head of the University of Tibet reportedly does not speak Tibetan and the head of the Education Commission and Vice-President of the University is also Chinese. While Tibetan was declared the official language of the "TAR" in July 1988, it is now felt by Tibetans that fluent Chinese is imperative for employment opportunities. Testimonials from Tibetan refugees reveal economic and linguistic discriminatory practices in schools. One example is Bayan County Nationality School in Amdo (Chinese: Qinghai), a day-cum-boarding school primarily for ethnic minorities.51 Of the 850 students, 250 are Tibetans while the rest are Chinese. Most of the boarders in the school are Tibetan and all Tibetans in the boarding school must pay 90 kg of barley, 50 kg of potatoes, two and a half litres of oil and a quantity of charcoal to the school authorities in addition to expenses for stationary. This is in-keeping with other reports of China collecting taxes from Tibetan children in Tibet despite claims that it is providing adequate and free school education to such students.52 Although Tibetans make up over one quarter of the studentpopulation of Bayan School, there are only five Tibetans of the 80 staff members. All decisions regarding the functioning of the school are reportedly made by the Chinese and since 1985 Tibetan language has been excluded from the curriculum. The subjects taught in the school are: Chinese Language, Mathematics, Political Science (covering Marxist and Chinese ideology, the Chinese constitution, and Chinese administration), Science, Geography and History, Environment and English. Teachers and the school authorities are reportedly condescending to Tibetans who are referred to as "pagmi" (Chinese: phiya), a derogatory term for those who wear animal skins; "chedak", meaning one who licks utensils; and "allo", the Chinese term for "foolish". Tibetan students are reportedly frequently expelled following disputes between Chinese and Tibetan students, and may be harassed and beaten by Chinese after leaving the school. Such events result in the exodus of a large number of Tibetan students. Since 1992, it is reported that approximately 30 Tibetan students have left the school each year. 7.4. Discrimination in Language In addition to the discrimination of the use of Tibetan educational institutions outlined above, other measures include the reduction in hours of the Tibetan language broadcasting service53. On 9 July 1996 it was reported that China has been jamming an exiled Tibetan radio station, the Voice of Tibet, through the relay of a China Radio International service at the same time as the Voice of Tibet transmission.54 The 'Regulations on the Study, Use and Development of the Tibetan Language' announced by the "TAR" government in March 1989 promoted the use of Tibetan in government meetings and communications, schools and judicial proceedings, and stipulated that proficiency in Tibetan should be one of the qualifications for recruitment and promotion in government positions. Despite this, Chinese remains the dominant language in such fora. For example, Chinese is still generally the medium of instruction for all subjects when students attend middle school at the age of 12.55 Tibetan language is intrinsically linked to Tibetan Buddhism and it has been suggested that people who know the language are most likely to be involved in 'splittist' activity. The targeting of Tibetan language by PRC authorities is thus a political measure to assist in the stamping out of Tibetan nationalism. 7.5. Discrimination in Reproductive Rights The PRC's birth control policy in Tibet continues to enforce strict control over the timing and number of children and appears strategically aimed at reducing the Tibetan minority population. A new birth control campaign to reduce the size of families was launched in Tibet in 1996 with the aim of reducing the region's natural population growth to 1.6 percent by the year 2000. 56 Tibet already has a religious tradition of what is described as a "self-imposed" population control with between five to ten percent of the population being monks or nuns. This means that the cultural survival of Tibetans, already a minority in their country, is disproportionately vulnerable to the Chinese birth policies. Officially, the "one family, one child" policy covers only "nationalities" in China with more than ten million people. Tibet, with a population of six million should therefore be exempt from this policy. However in 1982 the Beijing authorities issued a national directive on birth control which said: "Although the policy towards the national minorities may be appropriately relaxed according to the actual situations, family planning must be encouraged among the national minorities."57 The Central Committee and the State Council responsible for propagating family planning and control of population growth stated that "family planning should be practised among minority nationalities to raise the economic and cultural levels of minority areas and to improve national quality." In October 1994 China introduced a national law entitled The Maternal and Infant Health Care Law, to be implemented in China in 1995, in which the government reserves the right to control marriages and births according to their perception of the health of the parents and infant. This legislation effectively gives the State the autonomy to determine who is a "healthy" and "able" parent based on political considerations.58 The Minister of Public Health, Chen Minzhang, who introduced the draft legislation, singled out "births of inferior qualities" among the old revolutionary base, ethnic minorities, the frontier and economically poor areas" as constituting a major burden on the state, implying that they were the focus of attention.59 Lhundup Ganden, a Sera monk who recently escaped to India, visited the township of Nyagra under Lhasa City Municipal Bureau in June 1996 and documented the official and systematic enforcement of the Chinese birth control policy. This is described in detail in this report under the section entitled "The Rights of Women". 7.6. Discrimination in Employment According to article 5(e)(i) of CERD, States Parties undertake to guarantee the right of everyone, without racial discrimination, to equal enjoyment of:
The Third National Forum on Work in Tibet of 1994 fully endorsed the policy of high-speed economic growth in the "TAR". This economisation of Tibet has led to an influx of Chinese entrepreneurs and migrant workers, and increased inflation and unemployment for the Tibetan population. The use of Tibetan labour to fulfill the main economic priorities set by the Third Forum (such as irrigation, mining and construction of bridges and roads) has continued in 1996. In December 1996 it was reported that Chinese authorities in Tibet have adopted a new regulation aimed at attracting foreign investment while forcing local Tibetans to construct a road network.61 While Tibetans in the past may have seen this labour as a contribution to the community, as Chinese migration has risen the benefits received by the Tibetans has fallen. Tibetans are generally unpaid whereas Chinese labourers receive a regular wage. Farmers also face particular difficulties under the Chinese occupation. An unnamed Tibetan refugee, a farmer from Eastern Tibet, said; "A good harvest brings a farmer about 10,000 gyamas [1 gyama is approximately equal to a half kilogram]. The farmers are required to pay a tax of about 500 gyamas to the Chinese authorities. The farmers must also sell 300 gyamas of wheat grains to the authorities at a very low price. This taxation is fixed whether the harvest is good or bad. Even if the crops are destroyed by snow storms as in 1995, the farmers are still bound to pay their tax even if they have to sell every thing they own." In Tashi Dzom, a town in Dhingri County, the Chinese authorities come to buy barley from the local Tibetans once a year. The Chinese pay the Tibetan farmers only 7 motse and 5 ping for one gyama of barley whereas the standard price amongst Tibetans is one yuan and four motse. Similarly, the Chinese pay 40 to 50 yuan for a sheep while the price among Tibetans is between 130 to 150. In addition, each farmer is charged an annual tax of 5 yuan and 5 mose, and since 1996 an annual tax of five ping is collected from every Tibetan individual.62 Health workers in Tibet have also faced discrimination. Sources in Tibet reported that during late 1995 and early 1996 the Health Department of "TAR" conducted an inspection of all the private hospitals and clinics in and around Lhasa. The inspection team confiscated the practising licence of Lodoe Choedak, former Director of Lhasa's Zhigong (Chinese Hospital). After his retirement, 50 year-old Lodoe Choedak had opened a private clinic. Along with Lodoe, the practising licences of nine of his colleagues, all Tibetans, were confiscated. The inspection team claimed that Lodoe's clinic did not fulfill certain criteria and thus forced the closure of the clinic. Some of Lodoe's colleagues who had good connections with the Chinese officials and some Chinese doctors, despite being recent graduates and lacking experience, were allowed to retain their licences. When Lodoe's Tibetan patients appealed to the Health Department to re-issue practising licences to the doctors, the department confiscated more licences from other new doctors. It is reported that there were 150 private hospitals and clinics in and around Lhasa before the inspection. Of these, only 119 hospitals and clinics which had good relations with the Chinese officials were allowed to retain their licences. The story was confirmed by a recent new arrival from Tibet who disclosed that the closure of these private hospitals was a deliberate policy initiated by the Health Department in order to curb the success of these hospitals which are more popular with patients. 7.7. Discrimination in Housing Article 5(e)(iii) of CERD prohibits race discrimination with regard to equal enjoyment of every individual's right to housing.63 Throughout Tibet, Chinese settlers have tended to be allocated with more spacious housing better equipped with amenities such as running water, electricity and sanitary facilities64. Much of the PRC's state housing investments are devoted to state-owned work units and there is little funding available for construction of Tibetan style housing or renovation of traditional Tibetan houses. As many Tibetans do not work in Chinese Government work units they are further precluded from benefitting from new housing investment.65 Moreover, traditional Tibetan housing, adapted to life in high altitude and Buddhist beliefs, are being demolished to make way for concrete buildings and barracks-like appartments, alien to local life and culture. In Lhasa, for example, it is estimated that only two percent of structures now are genuinely Tibetan66 as multi-storied buildings are quickly constructed to house Chinese immigrants.
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