Situation of Tibetan Women in Tibet Raised at UN Meeting ahead of China Review

The Tibet Bureau and the Tibetan Women’s Association delivered a joint statement on the situation of Tibetan Women in Tibet during a UN public briefing for the 85th session of the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CEDAW), held on 08 May 2023. The 23-member expert committee will review the status of the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women by China on Friday, 12 May 2023.

Representative Thinlay Chukki along with the UN Advocacy Officer Kalden Tsomo and the President of Tibetan Women’s Association (Central) Tenzing Dolma participated in the meeting and met with the UN committee’s members and apprised them of the situation of Tibetan women in Tibet under China’s control.

During the window of a two-min oral briefing opportunity, on behalf of the Tibet Bureau and Tibetan Women Association, UN Advocacy Officer of the Tibet Bureau Kalden Tsomo highlighted Chinese discriminatory policies and patterns impacting the Tibetan women in Tibet, disproportionately. Concerning the issues of residential schools in Tibet aimed at assimilation of Tibetan children into Han majority culture, she raised harassment and sexual abuses in residential schools in Tibet are “alarming”. Furthermore, she brought forward the UN experts’ attention to the situation of Tibetan rights defenders; the continued enforced disappearance of XIth Panchen Lama of Tibet Gedhun Choekyi Nyima along with his mother Dechen Choedon and the forced eviction of Tibetan nuns from Yachen Gar, one of the Tibetan Buddhist learning centres for female Buddhist practitioners.  She said, “Between 2017 and 2018, over thousands of Tibetan nuns from Yachen Gar were evicted, subjecting them to military drill training sessions”. Since 2009, 159 Tibetans, including girls and women, have self-immolated as a political protest against Chinese repression in Tibet, she added.

In conclusion, she urged the committee to press China: to stop persecution and discrimination against Tibetans, including women and girls; to allow Tibetan children to learn its culture, language and religious traditions and to reassess its discriminatory policies and suppression of Tibetan people, which have led to a cycle of protests and unrest in Tibet.

In view of the review session of the treaty body, the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CEDAW), The Tibet Bureau and the Tibetan Women’s Association have made a detailed written submission on the situation of Tibetan women in Tibet under China’s rule. Click here for written submission of the Tibet Bureau Geneva and click here for report submission of TWA.

China signed and ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1980. The treaty body’s experts held the last review of China in 2014. The ongoing 85thsession of the CEDAW commenced on 8th May and will be concluded on 26th May. The Tibet team will take part in the remaining China-related sessions in a public and private setting as well.

keyboard_arrow_up