On Tuesday, 28th March 2023, a Special Hearing “Preserving Tibet: Combating Cultural Erasure, Forced Assimilation and Transnational Repression” was conducted in Rayburn House Office Building, Washington D.C. The two-hour Hearing was chaired by Representative Christopher Smith, Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC). A panel of Tibet experts (from India and the US) presented their cases and answered questions from the US lawmakers.
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China was created by Congress in October 2000 with the legislative mandate to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law in China, and to submit an annual report to the President and the Congress. The Commission consists of nine Senators, nine Members of the House of Representatives, and five senior Administration officials appointed by the President.
About the Special Hearing
Tibet faces new and worsening challenges from the Chinese Communist Party’s repressive rule. Threats to Tibet’s linguistic, religious, and cultural heritage have expanded in recent years, and now an estimated 80 percent of all children in the Tibet Autonomous Region are separated from their families and educated in a massive system of colonial boarding schools-a deeply troubling manifestation of the Party’s program of forced assimilation of ethnic and religious minority groups. In recent years, police have conducted mass DNA collection and iris scanning programs in wide swathes of Tibetan society, including in monasteries and primary schools. Amid these threats to Tibetans in Tibet, the Chinese Communist Party are also seeking to extend their repressive reach abroad, targeting Tibetan diaspora communities in India, Nepal, Europe, and North America for surveillance and harassment.
In this hearing, the Commission will examine growing restrictions on linguistic and cultural rights in Tibet and transnational repression faced by Tibetans abroad. The goal is to explore the diplomatic and policy options for the United States and other like-minded countries to help preserve Tibetan cultural heritage and to defend against threats and intimidation targeting Tibetans in the United States and around the world.
WITNESSES:
Penpa Tsering, Sikyong, Central Tibetan Administration
Richard Gere, Chair, International Campaign for Tibet
Lhadon Tethong, Director, Tibetan Action Institute
Tenzin Dorjee, Senior Researcher and Strategist, Tibet Action Institute
USEFUL LINKS
Congressional-Executive Commission on China
Central Tibetan Administration
Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities 