The State Department’s annual Country Reports for Human Rights Practices, released on April 19, highlights the continuing egregious human rights violations in Tibet. “Under the banner of maintaining social stability the government engaged in the severe repression to Tibet’s unique religious, cultural and linguistic heritage,“ the report said. The report notes that the number of self immolations were six times as much as 2011 and that the Chinese response to the self immolations was harsh. The report highlighted that family members and associates of self immolators had been denied social benefits, detained and sentenced. The Department said in the report that requests from foreign diplomats to observe the trial of those charged with crimes related to political protests was denied. “In cases that the authorities claimed involved ‘endangering state security’ and ‘separatism’ trials often were cursory and closed.” The report also highlighted that the U.S. government officials submitted more than 10 requests for diplomatic access to the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) between May 2011 and December 2012, but none was granted, and U.S. diplomatic personnel have not been permitted to visit since spring 2011. The Tibetan section within the annual Human Rights Report was mandated by Congress in 2002.
ICT’s compendium of the Tibet section of the annual Human Rights Reports can be found here raquo;