Tibetan Delegation Participates in Sideline and Closed‑Door Meetings in Geneva as 59th UNHRC Session Underway

Tibetan Delegation Participates in Sideline and Closed‑Door Meetings in Geneva as 59th UNHRC Session Underway

 

As the 59th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is currently underway, a group of Tibetan delegation participated in a sideline event organised by the UK Mission and the Helsinki Foundation in Geneva. They also took part in a two-day closed-door meeting with the Permanent Representative to the UNHRC, Special Rapporteurs, and staff of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights from 30 June to 1 July 2025.

The delegation comprised Dorjee Tseten—member of the 17th Tibetan Parliament in Exile and Asia Program Manager at the Tibet Action Institute—along with Tobjor Tenzin Tsultrim, Communication Director of US-based Students for a Free Tibet; Representative Thinley Chukki; and UN Advocacy Officer Phuntsok Topgyal of the Tibet Bureau, Geneva.

During the two-day forum, Parliamentarian Dorjee Tseten and Tobjor Tenzin Tsultrim presented the Tibet Action Institute’s research findings. They detailed the colonial-style boarding schools imposed by the Chinese government on Tibetan children in Tibet, noting that Tibetan children as young as four are being forcefully enrolled in state-run boarding schools far from their families and communities. According to the report, over one million Tibetan children are admitted into these institutions.

They emphasised that Tibetan parents who refuse to send their children face the withdrawal of government benefits and aid. Within these schools, children are indoctrinated with Communist propaganda and deprived of learning their native Tibetan language, culture, and heritage. The delegates appealed to UN representatives and the international community to find ways to pressurise the Chinese government and end these practices. They called for support to help restore the freedom and basic rights of Tibetan children and families inside Tibet.

This appeal urges the United Nations to amplify the Tibetan situation on the international stage and to heed the ongoing call for freedom and rights within Tibet.

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