Tibet and Human Rights

Tibet and Human Rights

China: an Autocratic Parent of Tibet
Cultural Genocide in Tibet
Media Report

Prepared by
Hana Prudilova

Prepared for
Amy Milne-Smith

April 27, 2008
Introduction
On March 10, 2008 Tibetan monks commemorated the unsuccessful revolution in March of 1959 and marched peacefully through streets of Lhasa. A wave of protest spread from the capital to surrounding provinces with dense Tibetan population. Police and armed forces were put in place by the Chinese central government to suppress the protesting and arrest the protesters. It is believed that eighty monks and lay persons were arrested during the peaceful demonstrations. The arrests created another wave of protests the following day and turned violent on March 14. Tibetan protesters used violence against police, military personnel, and mainly Han Chinese civilians when they set Han-Chinese-owned businesses on fire.[1] Attacks aimed at the Han Chinese were ethnic-based and should have been condemned, but Chinese police and armed forces created a situation that caused a violent outbreak. Chinese government did not allow any foreigners to remain in the region and imposed high censorship on any material covering the riots in Tibet. The data released by the government are highly biased because they do not mention any deaths on protesters’ side but talk about 19 deaths among Han civilians, and 600 wounded people. Amnesty International released a report that shows the estimates by overseas Tibetan organizations counting 79 - 140 deaths, 1200 ' 2000 detainees, and 100 disappeared among the Tibetan population.[2]
As the case of Tibetan riots depict, relations between China and Tibet are not peaceful, and Tibetans are not satisfied with the Chinese rule. Even though Tibet has had close ties with China throughout the history, since 1950 China has claimed Tibet as an integrated part of its territory and a subject to the central government...

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