Welcoming the emergence in recent years of a large number of dependent territories into freedom and independence, and recognizing the increasingly powerful trends toward freedom in such territories which have not yet attained independ

ence.

Convinced that all peoples have an inalienable right to complete freedom, the exercise of their sovereignty and the integrity of their national territory,

Solemnly proclaims the necessity of bringing to a speedy and unconditional end of colonialism in all its forms and manifestations;

And to this end

Declares that:

(1) The subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights, is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations and is an impediment to the promotion of world peace and co-oper

ation.

(2) All peoples have the right to self-determination; by virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

(3) Inadequacy of political, economic, social or educational preparedness should never serve as a pretext for delaying independence.

(4) All armed action or repressive measures of all kinds directed against dependent peoples shall cease in order to enable them to exercise peacefully and freely their right to complete independence, and the integrity of their national territory shall be respected.

(5) Immediate steps shall be taken, in Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories or all other territories which have not yet attained independence, to transfer all powers to the peoples of those territories, without any conditions or reservations, in accordance with their freely expressed will and desire, without any distinction as to race, creed or color, in order to enable them to enjoy complete independence and freedom.

(6) Any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

(7) All States shall observe faithfully and strictly the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the present Declaration on the basis of equality, non-interference in the internal affairs of all States, and respect for the sovereign rights of all peoples and their territorial integrity.

NATIONAL JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS ADVISORY COUNCIL-STATEMENT OF

OPPRESSION OF TIBETANS

The Jewish people, based upon our own historic experience are especially sensitive to repression of the rights of ethnic or religious groups. Thus, it is with grave concern that the NJCRAC has followed reports or continuing oppression or the Tibetan people by the present Chinese government. After thirty-nine years of domination of Tibet by China, it is clear that the Chinese have persecuted and brutalized the Tibetan people resulting in the deaths of over a million Tibetans. Over one-hundred thousand have been forced into exile with the Dalai Lama, their spiritual leader. Thousands of Buddhist monasteries were destroyed along with religious artifacts of the thirteen-hundred year old Tibetan civilization. Only 17 functioning Buddhist monasteries remain. Million or Chinese have been relocated into Tibet in a systematic campaign to transform the Tibetans into a minority in their own country. Tibet's natural resources are threatened as the Chinese have begun to use Tibet for disposal of toxic wastes from China and other countries. Consistent with the Jewish community relations field's commitment to human rights, NJCRAC recommends that its member agencies should:

Request the dissemination of this statement to the NJCRAC constituency and members.

Seek to form coalitions wherever possible with other organizations concerned about human rights violations in Tibet and work with them to: (a) Request the U.S. Government to place the issue of Tibet and the protection of religious freedom on the agenda of discussion between the U.S. and China; (b) Raise the Tibet issue, in appropriate international fora; and (c) Encourage American to meet with the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan leaders.

MERCILESS REPRESSION-HUMAN Rights in TIBET

(An Asia Watch Report-May 1990)

INTRODUCTION

In meetings with local officials, Mr. Qiao revealed Beijing had decided to alter its policy toward Tibet from lenient to severe

"The Covernment of the region must [said Mr. Qiao] adopt a policy of merciless repression toward all rebels." (UPI, in South China Morning Post, July 20, 1988)

The above remarks, made by Qiao Shi, China's security chief, in the course of his tour of Tibet in July 1988, show that the PRC authorities had by then decided upon a course of suppressing political dissidence in Tibet through the use of unrestricted force and violence. Events in Tibet over the intervening period have amply substantiated Qiao's promise of "merciless repression" to come. A series of initially peaceful protest demonstrations in Lhasa and elsewhere-notably a small procession on December 10, 1988, marking International Human Rights Day, and several larger demonstrations in early March 1989-were swiftly and brutally countered by the Chinese authorities, in a mounting display of government-inspired violence. Dozens of unarmed Tibetan demonstrators were killed, and many more have been arbitrarily arrested in the subsequent security sweeps by Chinese police and military. In addition, there have been numerous credible reports of the widespread use of torture against Tibetan political prisoners, and several known deaths have resulted.

On March 7, 1989, the spiral of repression led finally to the imposition of martial law in Lhasa, a drastic state of affairs which, thanks to the authorities' expulsion of foreign observers from the region, largely removed Tibet from the sphere of direct international human rights scrutiny. Martial law was officially rescinded on May 1 of this year, but if events in Beijing are any measure, this simply indicates that the mechanism of repression is secure enough as to no longer require a conspicuous military role in suppressing dissent.

Asia Watch has published two previous reports on Tibet: Human Rights in Tibet (February 1988), and an update entitled Evading Scrutiny (July 1988). Both reports stressed the need for a concerted campaign of international pressure to alleviate what Asia Watch identified as extremely grave human rights violations by the Chinese authorities in Tibet. The Chinese government's response was predictable. Following the release of Evading Scrutiny, Zheng Wanzhen, press counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, stated bluntly:

"[One suspects] that Asia Watch is not supporting human rights in Tibet, but aiding a handful of former serf masters and their followers and abetting secessionist activities. This of course can only be taken as a crude interference in China's domestic affairs and cannot be tolerated by the Chinese people.1

On a number of occasions Asia Watch has pressed a request to send a mission to Tibet to examine human rights conditions there. The Chinese government has consistently refused these requests, arguing that the issue is wholly "an internal Chinese matter" and that any expression of foreign concern or criticism concerning human rights abuses in Tibet is nothing less than a "violation of China's sovereignty."

This report deals with human rights conditions in Tibet in the period since the publication of our last report, Evading Scrutiny. However, it is not a simple update, for the scale and volume of visible human rights abuses have greatly increased since that time. Since September 1987, Tibetan exile sources have reported the occurrence of no less than 30 demonstrations or public displays of political dissent, mostly in and around the Lhasa area, but also in places as far afield as the Tibetan regions of Qinghai and Sichuan. All such manifestations of dissatisfaction with Chinese rulewhether peacefully conducted or otherwise-are viewed by the authorities as constituting "illegal separatist activity," and those who have led or participated in them have been punished with escalating force and severity. "Merciless repression" remains, in Tibet, the order of the day.

In compiling this report we have drawn upon a variety of sources including published articles about Tibet; information from Tibetan exile sources and also data from Tibetans who have just recently fled Tibet; travelers' accounts; interviews with persons who have been in Tibet; and information gathered in the PRC but outside

1 Xinhua (New China News Agency), July 31, 1988, cited in Foreign Broadcast Information Service (hereinafter given as FBIS), August 1, 1988.

the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) .2 The generally consistent nature of the data obtained has enabled us to draw a reasonably accurate profile of the deplorable human rights situation in the region.

Asia Watch is particularly concerned at the grave danger confronting Tibetan human rights monitors, persons who knowingly take upon themselves the potentially fatal risks entailed in working to inform the outside world about continuing human rights violations in Tibet. These people are performing a task that is nothing short of heroic considering the circumstances prevailing in Tibetan areas of the PRC, and we would once more like to recognize their courageous, though necessarily anonymous contributions.

I. POLITICAL REPRESSION

1. Deepening of the Crisis in Tibet: Septemher 1988 to March 1989

Free discussion of political issues in Tibet is highly restricted, and public dissent on Chinese policies in Tibet and on the question of Tibet's status invariably leads to harsh, and sometimes ferocious, punishment. Speeches, writings, and other activities in support of Tibetan independence have occasioned retaliatory measures as cruel as summary execution in the streets. As public demonstrations and other actions in support of Tibetan independence have increased over the past two years and more, repressive measures by the Chinese authorities have become increasingly drastic and routine.

The extent to which demonstrators in Lhasa have remained peaceful and non-violent is therefore remarkable. Pro-independence demonstrations over the past two years have largely begun non-violently, and the degeneration into violence has generally been precipitated by overt violence on the part of the authorities. For the Chinese authorities, however, the question of whether or not pro-independence demonstrations in Tibet are conducted non-violently appears to be largely irrelevant. Rather, since any activities advocating Tibetan independence are proscribed by Chinese law, their occurrence in any form is held by the authorities to be sufficient cause for the summary and often indiscriminate use of deadly force. Asia Watch takes no position on the status of Tibet; nevertheless we firmly believe Tibetans have a basic human right to express themselves on the issue.

The armed security build-up

The most readily visible indicator of the repressive policy pursued by the PRC authorities in Tibet in recent years is the greatly increased military and police presence in the Lhasa area. In June 1988 the Chinese People's Armed Police (Renmin Wuzhuang Jingcha), under the ultimate command of Qiao Shi, created a detachment designed specially to deal "resolute blows at separatists who sabotage the unity of the motherland and the solidarity of nationalities." 3 The unit was established on the second day of Qiao Shi's visit to Tibet on June 15-28, 1988, in the course of which Qiao made the speech from which our opening quotation comes. His remarks received wide circulation in both the foreign and Chinese press, and other officials promptly elaborated upon them. In October 1988, for example, Lhasa's vice mayor, Lamo Rinchen Ozer stated:

"Splittists in Tibet who stir up the region's independence and make trouble must be cracked down on resolutely without mercy. *** We will deal resolute blows at those who carry out splittist activities and make trouble in Tibet. We seriously warn the small number of splittists that they must not persist in their stand of opposing the people. We are well prepared. Once a disturbance or riot takes place, we will take severe measures to punish and suppress it. Trouble makers will certainly eat their own bitter fruit.6

2 Besides those in the TAR, Tibetans live in a number of other autonomous administrative units in the PRC; these are under the jurisdiction of the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu.

3 Radio Lhasa, June 16, 1988; in FBIS, June 17, 1988.

4 "Politburo Member Qiao Shi Inspects Tibet," Xinhua, June 30, 1988; in FBIS, July 1, 1988. 5 In addition to the July 20, 1988 United Press International report referred to on p. 1, above, see: "China Vows to Crack Down in Tibet," International Herald-Tribune, July 20, 1988; “A Tibetan Puzzle for Peking," The Financial Times, July 23, 1988; "China Gets Ready for Anniversary of Bloody Lhasa Riot," The Hong Kong Standard, October 1, 1988; "Tibet Leader Relays Qiao Shi Instructions," Radio Lhasa, July 14, 1988, in FBIS, same day; "Tibet Commentator Urges Studying Qiao Shi Speech," Radio Lhasa, July 14, 1988, in FBIŠ on July 18; and "Tibet CPC Committee Opens Plenary Session," Radio Lhasa, October 20, 1988, in FBIS, October 21. The actual text of Qiao Shi's speech is not publicly available.

6 "Lhasa Vice Mayor on Dealing With Disturbances," Radio Lhasa, September 30, 1988; in FBIS, October 3, 1988.

7

Numerous foreign press reports subsequently remarked upon the overt presence of Chinese armed forces in and around the Tibetan capital, although their profile was said to be lowered when tour groups were visiting the Tibetan quarter. As the first anniversary of the October 1, 1987 protest demonstrations (the earliest in the recent round of pro-independence activity) neared in late September 1988, the military presence was increased still further, clearly with the aim of intimidating any potential demonstrators. Travelers reported seeing teams of soldiers patrolling the streets on foot and in trucks, and independent estimates put the number of troops in the center of Lhasa's Tibetan quarter at 1,000 by October 1, China's National Day. Foreign journalists in Lhasa reported that monks who might consider demonstrating had been threatened with execution if they did so, and that an intimidating convoy of shackled Tibetan prisoners had recently been driven through the main street in the Tibetan quarter. Similarly, foreigners in Lhasa were warned not to leave their hotels between 11:30 pm and 6:00 am and not to go near the Jokhang (the central temple in Lhasa) on October 1.9

State coercion in the monasteries

In addition to the armed Chinese presence in the streets of Lhasa, a similar repressive presence was simultaneously imposed in monasteries in the vicinity of the Tibetan capital. In late August and early September 1988, Chinese officials took up residence in several of the monasteries, clearly in preparation for the coming first anniversary of the 1987 demonstrations. They held a series of tough meetings with the resident clergy, reportedly issuing threats that imprisonment or execution would follow if any demonstrations were attempted.1o On September 30, a clash reportedly took place between officials and monks at the monastery of Rato, close to Lhasa, following a heated exchange between the two sides in which monks began claiming that Tibet had formerly been an independent country. In the ensuing violence, as many as twenty monks and neighboring lay people were said to have been arrested and the monastery was reportedly closed down. One particularly vocal monk among the arrested was named as Tsering Dhondup.11 Tibetan exile sources have reported that several of the monks arrested were severely beaten before and during interrogation.

The Decemher 10 suppression

On December 10, Chinese police opened fire on a group of demonstrators in Tibet, killing at least two and wounding many others, as dozens marched beneath the outlawed Tibetan flag in Lhasa to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Although the nationally televised evening news in China said that police fired after demonstrators threw bottles and stones at them, eyewitnesses reported that police shot without warning.12

International coverage noted that the lead monk in the demonstration, Gyalpo,13 was shot at almost point-blank range as he marched along peacefully. 14 In addition, a Dutch woman received a bullet-wound in the arm; the authorities, however, claimed her presence in Lhasa was suspicious and later accused her of having been sent into Tibet with instructions to organize a riot.15

7 Patrick Lescot, "Night Curfew for Foreigners Imposed in Tibet," AFP, September 27, 1988; in FBIS, same day.

8 David Watts, "Lhasa Parades 'Convicts' to Forestall Unrest," The Times (London), September 29, 1988; and Reuters, "Monks Threatened With Death," in The South China Morning Post, September 14, 1988.

9 Patrick Lescot, "Police Presence Discourages Tibet Demonstrations," AFP October 3, 1988, in FBIS, October 4, 1988; and David Watts, “Lhasa Parades 'Convicts' to Forestall Unrest," The Times (London), September 29, 1988.

10 David Watts, "Lhasa Parades 'Convicts' to Forestall Unrest," The Times, September 29, 1988.

11 Daniel Southerland, "Tibetan Monks Clash With Police," The Washington Post, November 1, 1988.

12 News From Asia Watch, "Chinese Police Shoot Tibetan Demonstrators During Human Rights Day Demonstration," December 16, 1988.

13 Also known as: Ngawang Kunga.

14 See James L. Tyson, "Peking Takes More Violent Tack in Dealing With Tibetan Rebels," Christian Science Monitor, December 12, 1988; Tim Luard, "Tibetans Shot As They Join China's First 'Rights Day,'" Daily Telegraph, December 12, 1988; Danny Gittings, "Tibetans Killed By China Police," The Guardian, December 12, 1988; Nicholas D. Kristof, "Two Are Said to Die in Tibet Protests," The New York Times, December 11, 1988; Daniel Southerland, "Police Shoot at Protesters in Tibet," The Washington Post, December 11, 1988; "Chinese Police Kill Three In Lhasa Violence," The South China Morning Post, December 11, 1988; and "18 died In December Demonstration: Chinese Report," Tibetan Review, February, 1989.

15 "Comment on Martial Law," Xinhua March 21, 1989; in FBIS, March 22.

In the wake of the Human Rights Day protest, Tibetan officials in the TAR broadcast wrathful condemnations of those advocating Tibet's independence. According to one official: "It is necessary to punish severely a small number of splittists according to the law, and no appeasement should be applied to them." 16 The authoritative magazine Liaowang (Outlook) summarized as follows the stern view from Beijing:

"Tibet is an inalienable part of Chinese territory. Any splittist action is not allowed by state law. Independence, semi-independence, or independence in a disguised form will never be tolerated *

"The riots in Lhasa were engineered and instigated by a handful of splittist elements inside and outside Tibet. They tried to split Tibet from the big family of the motherland. This will never be allowed by law, or tolerated by the Tibetan people."

"'17

The armed Chinese presence once again visibly increased, both in the streets of Lhasa and in the local monasteries. Military street patrols were instituted, and nine busloads of People's Armed Police personnel were driven to the monasteries of Sera and Drepung, where several monks were then arrested.18 This armed presence was, of course, additional to the large numbers of non-uniformed Chinese security personnel whose usual presence in the streets of the Tibetan quarter we noted in Human Rights in Tibet. Once Chinese control had been fully reestablished, much of the armed presence was withdrawn from the Tibetan quarter, but it remained in place elsewhere in the rapital. Non-uniformed police contingents and the occasional truckload of troops continued to make sweeps through the area. 19

Just prior to the military crackdown and imposition of martial law in Lhasa in March 1989, senior party officials were quoted by Reuters as saying that China must "maintain a high degree of vigilance and wage a resolute struggle against destructive separatist activities" and that China would "severely crack down" on separatists.20 Echoing the point, Ismail Amat, a senior member of China's State Nationalities Affairs Commission stressed the need to "resolutely fight against any separatist activity." 21 The foreign press reported that Tibetans had been warned by the authorities that would risk being shot should they venture to demonstrate.22 2. The March 1989 Demonstrations and the Period of Martial Law in Lhasa

The most serious violence in the recent series of protests in Tibet occurred during the large-scale demonstrations of March 5-7, 1989, events which led directly to the imposition of martial law in the area in and around Lhasa. These demonstrations were undoubtedly intended to commemorate the demonstration held at the end ofthe Great Prayer, or Monlam Chenmo Festival a year earlier which had degenerated into violent confrontation between protesters and security personnel resulting in the death of a member of the armed security forces. 23

According to Tibetan exile sources, the events that led directly to the imposition of martial law began with a peaceful protest by Tibetans near the Jokhang, the main temple in Lhasa, around noon on March 5, 1989. A small procession of less than 40 individuals circled the temple twice and then found itself facing armed security personnel who had taken up positions on the roof of the area's police station. The police are said to have thrown bottles at the protesters, who responded with rocks. The police then began shooting at the demonstrators. Shortly before 12:30 pm tear gas was fired, and several minutes later automatic rifles were fired by the police. For two hours afterwards, a series of running confrontations between demonstrators and security forces took place. Just before 2:30, automatic weapons were once more fired. At 2:30 a larger group of Tibetans (up to 1,000) tried to circle the

16 "Tibetan Patriots Stress National Unity," Radio Lhasa, December 13, 1988; in FBIS, December 14, 1988.

17 "Liaowang Discusses Tibetan Affairs," in FBIS, December 20, 1988; from Liaowang (Overseas Edition), December 19, 1988.

18 Danny Gittings, "Chinese get tough with protesters," The Guardian, December 13, 1988. 19 David Holley, "Tibet's Hunger to Be Free Symbolized by Dalai Lama," Los Angeles Times, January 21, 1989.

20 "China Warns Restless Minorities," The Washington Times, February 22, 1989.

21 "Nationalities Minister Criticizes Separatism," Renmin Ribao (People's Daily), February 22, 1989; in FBIS, February 28, 1989.

22 See "AFP Views 'Harder Line' on Tibetan Protesters," FBIS, December 12, 1988 (on report from Patrick Lescot of AFP, same day); and Danny Gittings, "Chinese Get Tough With Protesters," The Guardian, December 13, 1988.

23 Four young Tibetans were arrested and later tried and convicted on account of this killing. See below, for details of the criminal proceedings against the four. A full account of the events of March 5, 1988 is given in Evading Scrutiny, pp. 17-23.