2000 Annual Report
Message from the President & Director
The millennial year of 2000 was eventful in many ways for Tibet, yet it was also marked by a deep freeze in the process toward a genuine dialogue to resolve the occupation of Tibet.
The year began with the arrival of the Karmapa in India, a historic event highlighting religious repression in Tibet and China's uphill battle to gain legitimacy in Tibet. In the summer, Chinese authorities in Tibet began to search people's homes for images of the Dalai Lama on altars, a tactic not seen since the Cultural Revolution. In the fall, the top official of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Chen Kuiyuan was replaced by another Chinese official, Guo Jinlong, continuing China's colonialist tradition of governing Tibetan areas with non-Tibetans. The year ended on an ominous note, with the announcement that construction on a railway from Golmud to Lhasa would begin in 2001.
Outside of Tibet, the Tibet movement showed its depth and strength in numerous successful campaigns. The most remarkable of these was an international campaign, led by ICT and others, canceling a World Bank project which would have moved tens of thousands of Chinese into Tibetan areas. In another, ICT worked aggressively to convince scores of large institutional investors not to buy into the PetroChina IPO based on PetroChina's construction of a gas pipeline across Tibet, proving that China's access to U.S. capital markets could be vulnerable when connected to Tibet. Later in the summer a high-profile protest campaign against the Dalai Lama's exclusion from a summit of world religious leaders at the United Nations shamed China and the UN and brought unprecedented media attention to the plight of Tibet.
While China's occupation of Tibet continues to cause severe and systematic human rights violations, ICT believes that many aspects of it can be changed. As the above campaigns demonstrate, China's occupation involves specific people and institutions not only in China but around the world. By demanding justice and mounting aggressive campaigns, the Tibet movement is not only making a difference in key areas, but it is laying a groundwork of international public opinion, public outrage and public expectation which will serve Tibetans well for decades to come.
In our capacities as the President and Director of ICT our goal is to develop new and innovative ways to address complex issues in Tibet and ensure that ICT continues to be an effective, efficient organization that produces tangible results for the people of Tibet, year in and year out.
ICT is proud to be a leader in this movement, empowering people everywhere to support Tibetans in their struggle for human rights and self-determination. Our work involves a large network of friends and supporters and we want to thank everyone who worked with us in 2000 and hope that many more will support our work in the future.
Sincerely,
John Ackerly
President
Bhuchung Tsering
Director
Government Outreach
ICT worked throughout the year on foundation and precedence building in anticipation of a new Administration and a new Congress. ICT worked especially closely with the office of the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues at the State Department to secure programmatic assistance for Tibetans and highlight human rights concerns, including religious freedom. 
The final official meetings between the Dalai Lama and President Clinton and Secretary Albright occurred in July.
Administration and Congressional officials, including Julia Taft, Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, made several visits to India and Nepal. Mrs. Taft served concurrently as Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, and her visit, at the invitation of the Central Tibetan Administration, reflected her responsibilities for Tibetan refugees. Assistant Secretary Taft sent her principal assistants, Kate Friedrich and Joe Bracken, to settlements in south India. During their visit, accompanied by Mary Beth Markey, ICT's Director of Government Relations, they held meetings with community, school and monastic leaders to identify the needs of the agriculture-based settlements and how to deal with the challenge of an ambitious new generation of young Tibetans.
ICT brought four congressional aides to Delhi, Dharamsala and Kathmandu in late November to meet directly with branches of the Tibetan government-in-exile, newly arrived refugees and former prisoners of conscious. This was the sixth such delegation to provide direct observation of US programming and greater understanding of the political and human rights dimensions of the Tibet issue.
Several influential Tibet advocates in Congress retired from office in 2000, most notably Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) and Congressman John Porter (R-IL).
Other important events in 2000:
- The Senate passed S.Res.60, sponsored by Connie Mack (R-FL), calling for dialogue between His Holiness the Dalai Lama or his representatives and the Chinese government and marking March 10th as the 41st anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising in Lhasa.
- ICT Director Bhuchung Tsering testified before the House International Relations Committee hearing on Human Rights in China and Tibet.
- At the invitation of ICT, actress Goldie Hawn met with Members of Congress to speak against the granting of Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China.
- Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont linked his opposition to PNTR to his demand that Ngawang Choephel the former Middlebury student arrested in Tibet be released from prison.
- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released its report and held hearings in Los Angeles. Bhuchung Tsering and Agya Rimpoche testified before the Commission.
- A staff delegation from the House International Relations Committee visited Lhasa.
Political Prisoners
ICT worked to promote awareness and action about scores of political prisoners in 2000 and ran intensive campaigns on two of them: The Panchen Lama and Ngawang Choephel.
Ngawang Choephel
In August following high-level international appeals, Chinese authorities granted Sonam Dekyi permission to visit her son and former Middlebury College Fulbright scholar, Ngawang Choephel, in prison. Together with the office of Senator James Jeffords (D-VT) and the Office of Tibet in Nepal, ICT worked quietly on the arrangements of Sonam Dekyi and her brother Tsering Wangdu to see Ngawang. It was believed that the meeting would take place in Tibet, but upon their arrival at the airport outside Lhasa, they were quickly transferred to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province where they met with Ngawang in a nearby prison. Upon returning, Sonam Dekyi informed ICT that Ngawang was in extremely poor health. He looked "weak and did not seem strong mentally" and that "he was just skin and bones and his face was yellow." A doctor had informed Ngawang that he is suffering from liver, lung, and stomach ailments, and possibly also a urinary tract infection. Previous reports from Chinese authorities indicated that he was also suffering from tuberculosis and hepatitis. Since then, ICT has stepped up its campaign to have Ngawang released on medical parole.
Panchen Lama
At gatherings ranging in size from a few dozen people to tens of thousands, ICT continued to show its film "Tibet's Stolen Child" and distribute Free the Panchen Lama Kits which call for the immediate release of Gendhun Choekyi Nyima. ICT held screenings of the film during the visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the United States in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. ICT Europe screened the film at His Holiness' teachings at Lerab Ling in France and distributed a French language version of the kits.
ICT Europe
In its one year of existence ICT-Europe has obtained a significant degree of recognition and support for its work in Europe. It has been effective in establishing working relationships with parliamentarians, various governments, NGOs and built a foundation of popular support in Europe.
One of the main aims of ICT-Europe is to foster better coordination between members of Parliament in Europe. In order to achieve this ICT-E organised a first-of-its-kind conference on Tibet with the European Parliamentarians in which 15 countries participated. ICT-E has been Gere & Sogyal in France 2000instrumental in the coordination and mobilisation of members of parliament for the World Bank campaign. ICT-E continues to brief parliamentarians in Europe on issues in Tibet and encourages them to take appropriate action.
ICT-Europe also closely monitors the EU-China Human Rights dialogue. Due to a lack of results, ICT-E in cooperation with other NGOs has urged the EU Commission to suspend the dialogue and conduct a thorough review on its effectiveness. In addition, ICT-E has appealed to the European parliament to ensure scrutiny of the impact of the dialogue and to initiate a debate on the progress of the dialogue.
During 2000, ICT-Europe built a strong membership base of more than 12,000 dues-paying members. This effective membership program provides stable funding and an excellent means to mobilise members to take action. To inform and strengthen our relationship with our Dutch donors, ICT-E publishes several Dutch language newsletters a year. The first issue was in the autumn of 2000.
Chinese Outreach
ICT continued its outreach to the Chinese community in numerous ways in 2000, including assisting with the organization of an Interethnic Leadership Conference in Weston, Massachusetts. This conference was put together by the Foundation for China in the 21st Century, based in Boston. During this conference ICT built relationships with many Chinese from the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, as well as with Taiwanese. In preparation of a full-fledged Chinese language website, ICT began including Chinese language pages on our current site, www.savetibet.org. With the internet having a significant presence inside China, ICT expects its site should be able to attract a sizable number of Chinese visitors. At ICT's Board meeting in November, the Board approved of the hiring of a Tibetan who speaks Chinese to greatly expand this program.
Folklife Festival
The highlight of raising awareness about Tibet in Washington D.C. in 2000 was the Smithsonian's Folklife Festival on the Mall featuring "Tibetan Culture Beyond the Land of Snows," the largest Tibetan cultural celebration ever held in the West. The primary organizer was the Conservancy for Tibetan Art and Culture (CTAC). ICT played a supporting role in numerous ways - helping to raise funds, publicizing events and organizing off-site, more political activities. ICT also coordinated the participation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Festival featured a public address by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the National Mall attended by an estimated 50,000 people.
Financial Condition
In 2000 ICT raised $5,417,426, a significant increase over 1999 because of a very generous and unexpected bequest. ICT's expenses in 2000 were $2,697,874. ICT is proud to report that 85% of our expenses were for programming, 8% for fundraising and 7% for administrative expenses. $183,375 or 3% of ICT's budget was spent on direct and indirect lobbying, well below the 20% allowable by law for ICT as a 501(c)(3) organization.
People at ICT
ICT staff, former staff, consultants, interns and friends, with His Holiness the Dalai Lama during his July 2000 visit to Washington, DC. Not pictured is Lesley Friedell, Development Coordinator.
Board Chairs
- Richard Gere, Chairman
- Lodi Gyari, Executive Chairman
Staff
- John Ackerly, President
- Bhuchung Tsering, Director
- Mary Beth Markey, Director of Governmental Relations
- Lesley Friedell, Development Coordinator
- Moj Azemun, Campaign Coordinator
- Joel Gysan, Membership Coordinator
- Tenzin Dhongthog, Office Manager
- Van Ly, Program Associate
- Melissa Carlson, Program Associate
Staff, ICT-Europe
- Tsering Jampa, Director
- Caroline Lindner, Program Assistant
Consultants
Roger Craver, Carol Faulb, Steve Kretzmann, Craig Lamb, Rachel Lostumbo, Julie Meling, Wangchuk Meston, Maureen Nelson, Richard Nishimura, Lobsang Rabgey and Michael van Walt.
Interns
Norzin Dagyab, Michel Lee, Lia Lindsey, Ayako Okada and Lisa de Saxe
Board of Directors
- Mr. Reed Brody
- Mr. Harrison Ford
- Mr. Richard Gere
- Dr. Gail Gross
- Venerable Geshe Tsultim Gyeltsen
- Mr. Lodi Gyari
- Mr. Marvin Hamlisch
- Mr. Mark Handelman
- Mrs. Bette Bao Lord
- Ms. Melissa Mathison
- Mr. Joel McCleary
- Mr. Amit Pandya
- Mr. Keith Pitts
- Ven. Sogyal Rimpoche
- Mr. Mark Rovner
- Mr. Steve Schroeder
- Mr. Gare Smith
- Ms. Grace Spring
- Ms. Erica Stone
- Mr. Paljor Thondup
- Mr. Adam Yauch
Board of Advisors
- Ms. Michele Bohana
- Mr. David Breashears
- Ms. Alex Butler
- Mr. Victor Chen
- Mr. Rinchen Dharlo
- Ms. Lia Diskin
- Mr. Peter Kedge
- Dr. Blake Kerr
- Ms. Nancy Nash
- Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi
- Mr. Abdullah Ommidvar
- Ms. Alison Reynolds
- Ven. Gelek Rinpoche
- Mr. Galen Rowell
- Ms. Lynn Russell
- Mr. Thubten Samdup
- Ven. Geshe Sopa
- Lama Sopa
- Mr. William Sterling
- Bro. Wayne Teasdale
- Mr. Tenzin Tethong
- Prof. Robert Thurman
- Dr. Michael van Walt
- Mr. Sonam Wangdu
- Mr. Harry Wu
- Mr. Xiao Qiang
- Ms. Kunzang Yuthok
International Council of Advisors
- The Honorable Rodrigo Carazo Odio
- The Honorable Hideaki Kase
- Mrs. Kerry Kennedy Cuomo
- Dr. Jeane Kirkpatrick
- The Honorable Bernard Kouchner
- The Honorable Vytauas Landsbergis
- Dr. Fang Lizhi
- Mrs. Mairead Maguire
- Mr. Aryeh Neier
- Mrs. Jetsun Pema
- The Honorable Adolfo Perez Esquivel
- Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta
- The Honorable Rabi Ray
- Professor Samdong Rinpoche
- The Venerable Sulak Sivaraska
- Mrs. Yukita Sohma
- Bishop Desmond Tutu
- The Right Honorable Lord Weatherill
- Dr. Elie Wiesel
You can download the PDF version of the 2000 Annual Report here.
