China committing human rights abuses with impunity in Tibet: US State Department
DHARAMSALA, 14 April: Tibetans inside Tibet were subjected to numerous abuses under Chinese rule, the US State Department has said in its 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
The annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, also known as the Human Rights Reports, cover internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international agreements.
The State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices of China declared China as “an authoritarian state” and stated that the Chinese “security forces committed serious and pervasive abuses in Hong Kong, Macau, and Tibet.
“Government officials and the security services often committed human rights abuses with impunity.”
The report added that China committed “genocide and crimes against humanity against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.”
“These crimes were continuing and included: the arbitrary imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty of more than one million civilians; forced sterilization, coerced abortions, and more restrictive application of the country’s birth control policies; rape; torture of a large number of those arbitrarily detained; forced labor; and draconian restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression, and freedom of movement,” it added.
Citing the case of Tenzin Nyima and Norsang who were tortured to death by the Chinese authorities in prison, the report highlighted the arbitrary deprivation of life and other unlawful or politically motivated killings by the Chinese authorities.
The report further noted that “approximately 150,000 Tibetans live outside Tibet, many as refugees in India and Nepal,” and that “the Tibetan overseas community is frequently subjected to harassment, threats, coercion, monitoring and cyberattacks believed to be carried out by the PRC government.
Citing a report by the Jamestown Foundation on tactics PRC officials used to target Tibetan activists overseas and the Tibetan diaspora community, it added that the Chinese authorities resort to secret infiltration of Tibetan communities, reporting on Tibetans, and the use of disinformation in addition to the Chinese consulates abroad often collecting data from family members applying for visas to use the information to identify and target Tibetans in the PRC.
“The PRC government at times compelled Tibetans in China to pressure family members seeking asylum overseas to return,” the report said.
the Human Rights Reports – cover internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international agreements. The U.S. Department of State submits reports on all countries receiving assistance and all United Nations member states to the U.S. Congress in accordance with the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Trade Act of 1974.