International Campaign for Tibet: 2002 Annual Report

2002 Annual Report

Message from the President
ICT's Mandate
Government Outreach
Political Prisoners
Religous Freedom
Refugees
ICT-Europe
ICT-Deutschland
United Nations
Chinese Outreach
Membership
www.savetibet.org
Tibetan Empowerment Programs
ICT in the News
Light of Truth Awards
Financial Condition
People at ICT

In 2002, ICT continued to build support for Tibet in the United States and Europe. We accomplished many of the goals we set for ourselves. Many others will take more time. 2002 was a year of breakthroughs on a number of fronts. China granted medical parole to several high-profile political prisoners such as Ngawang Choephel, Takna Jigme Sangpo, and Ngawang Sangdrol. These three individuals represent the human rights struggles of several different generations of Tibetans and their releases marked the first time that China has released prominent Tibetan prisoners as a result of western pressure.

In 2002 we also saw renewed contact between Beijing and Dharamsala, when Beijing agreed to invite envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Beijing and Lhasa. ICT has worked towards this for years and many governments had urged Beijing to enter into a sincere and long-overdue dialogue.

And in 2002, Congress passed the Tibetan Policy Act, the most ambitious, supportive and comprehensive piece of legislation that any country has passed on Tibet in decades. It contains dozens of political and programmatic provisions ranging from humanitarian assistance to institutionalizing the office of the U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues at the State Department. Credit for this bill goes to its more than 100 Congressional sponsors and their staff who worked to craft the bill and secure its passage.

ICT's capacity to make progress in different areas increased in 2002 as we added several staff positions in Washington and Amsterdam, and opened a third office in Berlin. In 2002, we reorganized our structure, with Bhuchung Tsering and myself representing the entire organization, and Mary Markey becoming the Executive Director of ICT-U.S. Washington. Tsering Jampa became Executive Director of ICT-Europe, based in Amsterdam, and Gudrun Henne joined ICT as the Director of ICT-Deutschland in Berlin. This is a talented, inventive and tight team that will carry ICT forward as we begin 2003 and all the challenges and opportunities of a new year. I would like to thank ICT's staff for their dedication and hard work, and thank our Board of Directors for their guidance and advocacy.

Lastly, I want to thanks our members, supporters, and the Tibetan community who are a driving force of this freedom movement.

Sincerely,

John Ackerly's Signature
John Ackerly
President

ICT's Mandate

The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) is a monitoring and advocacy group dedicated to promoting human rights, democratic freedoms and self-determination for the people of Tibet. ICT works with the U.S. government and other governments to support Tibet, advocates for Tibetans imprisoned for their political and religious beliefs, provides for humanitarian assistance to Tibetans in exile, and promotes a peaceful resolution of the occupation of through negotiations between the Chinese Government and the Dalai Lama. Founded in 1988, ICT is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization with offices in Washington, Amsterdam and Berlin.

Government Outreach

Richard Gere, Lodi Gyari and Paula Dobriansky at HIRC

In 2002, a new Republican majority Congress was elected to work with the Republican White House. ICT continued to find strong and active supporters in both political parties and worked effectively to secure full funding for important programs for Tibetans and for the successful passage of the Tibetan Policy Act, which was signed into law by President Bush in September as part of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act. ICT was front and center preparing and presenting testimony, including for ICT Board Chairman Richard Gere when he testified on Tibet with Lodi Gyari, the Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Undersecretary Paula Dobriansky, the U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues.

A congressional staff delegation to India and Nepal in December was the first opportunity for Kelley Currie, the new Director of Government Relations, to introduce Tibetan issues first-hand to several congressional offices. In its U.S. government outreach, ICT kept its focus on promoting dialogue between the Chinese leadership and the Dalai Lama or his representatives. ICT also brought fresh and compelling information about human rights violations in Tibet directly to policymakers through reports, public testimony and private briefings. In December, ICT made a timely intervention at the State Department on behalf of Tibetan political prisoners in advance of the U.S.-China bilateral human rights dialogue.

Political Prisoners

Takna Jigme Sangpo with a picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

In 2002, ICT welcomed the early release of several high-profile political prisoners, including Takna Jigme Sangpo, Ngawang Sangdrol, Ngawang Choephel and Ngawang Choekyi. These prisoners had their sentences reduced by 3 to 12 years. ICT also noted that three other nuns who were imprisoned in Drapchi, Ngawang Choezom, Gyaltsen Drolkar, and Tenzin Thubten were released 2 to 9 months prior to the expiration of their sentence. Chadrel Rinpoche was also released in 2002, although months after the formal expiration of his sentence. ICT continued to aggressively campaign for the release of the Panchen Lama in 2002, including distributing thousands of Panchen Lama kits and highlighting his case during Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao's visit to Washington, D.C. As a result of ICT members' letters and postcards sent directly to Chinese officials about the infamous Drapchi Prison, Xinhua, the Chinese government news agency, released a series of articles addressing the lives of political prisoners in Tibet. These and other ICT campaigns on behalf of political prisoners aim to protect prisoners from mistreatment, secure their early release or medical parole and provide assistance to released political prisoners.

Religous Freedom

Since its founding, ICT has carefully monitored religious freedom in Tibet, documenting and publicizing the impact of China's repressive policies. In December 2002, ICT publicized news of the crackdown in Kandze (Tibet Autonomous Prefecture) where at least 15 people had been arrested, including Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. ICT also vigorously urged governments and prominent individuals to take up the case of the detained Panchen Lama and continued to monitor events at Larung Gar, a monastic encampment in eastern Tibet where demolitions and expulsions continued.

Refugees

ICT helped secure more than $2 million dollars appropriated by the U.S. Congress for humanitarian aid for Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal. ICT also published its first annual report on Tibetan refugees entitled, Dangerous Crossing, detailing the myriad of issues that we are working on to ensure the safe passage of Tibetan refugees through Nepal to seek refuge in India. ICT also directly presented its concerns for Tibetan refugees to the government of Nepal and the officials of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in meetings in Kathmandu.

ICT-Europe

ICT-Europe, based in Amsterdam, continued to put pressure on the European Union and national governments for a more robust strategy on China, and consulted with many government officials on human rights dialogues and specific human rights cases and issues. ICT-Europe also pursued the appointment of a EU Special Representative for Tibet. In July 2002, the Tibet Intergroup of the European Parliament introduced a budget line to amend the Commission's budget for the creation of such a position. (A full annual report of ICT-Europe and its financial condition is available from ICT-Europe.)

ICT-Deutschland

ICT opened up an office in Berlin in November 2002. ICT-Deutschland began its work by conducting introductory meetings with officials of the German government, the Bundestag, and major non-governmental organizations in Berlin. Gudrun Henne is the Director of the office and Dechen Pemba is the Program Coordinator.

United Nations

ICT was very active publicizing human rights violations in China-occupied Tibet at the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva. In August 2002, ICT traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa to draw attention to development issues inside Tibet at the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). Unlike the UN World Conference Against Racism in 2001, China successfully blocked ICT's accreditation to the WSSD but ICT participated as a delegate of an accredited NGO.

Chinese Outreach

In 2002, ICT's Chinese Outreach Program began publishing a quarterly Chinese-language journal, entitled Liaowang Xizang (Tibet Observer), to enhance and encourage the understanding of the issue of Tibet among Chinese people and Chinese speakers. Additionally, ICT co-sponsored or participated in several meetings between the Tibetan and Chinese communities in the U.S. and elsewhere in order to promote cooperation and engagement. ICT worked in coalition with Chinese human rights organizations to compile and disseminate news stories from Tibet and to translate books on former Tibetan political prisoners from English into Chinese.

Membership

In 2002, ICT's membership remained strong and relatively stable at about 75,000 members in the U.S. (ICT Europe's membership grew above 21,500 in 2002). ICT members were crucial to the many advances made for Tibetans in 2002 by sending thousands of postcards, petitions and letters to policymakers worldwide, inluding in China. The majority of ICT's revenue in 2002 came from its members, and much of it came from donations of $100 or less.

ICT members sent more than 50,000 post-cards to President Bush before his meeting with Chinese President Jiang Zemin on Oct. 25th in Crawford, Texas to press for dialogue between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government.

www.savetibet.org

In 2002, ICT's website www.savetibet.org averaged nearly 1,500 visitors a day (up from 500 daily in 2001) and more than 140,000 hits weekly. In 2002, ICT initiated two new forms of web-based communication to its nearly 28,000 online members: the bi-weekly E-mail Update, consisting of news, action items and other features; and ICT's ACTION ALERT, a fast-response notification system for urgent actions. ICT's online members took approximately 30,000 actions through ICT's Online Action Center in 2002.

Tibetan Empowerment Programs

Tibetan Youth Leadership

In March 2002, ICT held the second annual Tibetan Youth Leadership Program (TYLP) in Washington, D.C., with 13 young Tibetans from across the country. The program provided field trips to Capitol Hill, Radio Free Asia, Voice of America and major human rights organizations. The program also included panel discussions on cross-cultural outreach, networking, media and messaging, working with the U.S. Congress and Administration, and organizing within the Tibetan community. The 2002 participants were Dawa Lokitsang, Dekey Lhewa, Kalsang Tashi, Ngawang Legshe, Tenzin Chokteng, Tenzin Dickyi, Tenzin Kalden, Tenzin Namgyal, Tenzin Seldon Dekhang, Thupten Norbu, Tsering Dolma, Tsewang Sangmo Lama and Yangchin Topgyal.

Light of Truth Essay Competition

ICT launched an essay contest among Tibetans to recognize talented individuals who can formulate and articulate innovative and practical solutions to pressing issues facing the Tibetan people. The 2002 contest was judged by Kasur Sonam Topgyal, Mr. Tsering Shakya, Mr. Pema Bhum, Ven. Khandro Rinpoche and Prof. Dawa Norbu. The top prize went to Tenzin Dorjee, a student at Brown University, and the two second prizes went to Ngawa Loten in Dharamsala, and Ngawang Choeney of SOS TCV Hospital in Bylakuppe, South India. Three third prizes went to Dhondup Tsering, of the Tibet Journal at the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives in Dharamsala, India, Bochungtsang Dondrub Lhadhar of the Sarah Institute in Dharamsala and Geshe Jampel Senge in Australia.

Tibetan Roundtables

In 2002 ICT held a series of informal roundtables to foster vigorous discussion and debate on issues of importance to ICT and the Tibetan community. The roundtables often include people from Washington think tanks, academia, and the U.S. government. In 2002, roundtables were held on the railway to Lhasa, the status of Sinology in the Tibetan community and strategies for dialogue with China.

ICT in the News

In 2002, ICT-generated stories were featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Houston Chronicle and other U.S. print outlets from New Mexico to Wyoming. ICT stories were also featured by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and covered worldwide from India to Australia to Japan, and ICT was quoted extensively by wire services such as the Associated Press (AP) and Agence France Presse (AFP). In addition to Tibetan-language coverage by Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Voice of Tibet, ICT stories were picked up by Chinese-language outlets including VOA, RFA, BBC, The World Journal, Beijing Spring, China Observer, Tibet Bulletin, and Chinese News Net.

Light of Truth Awards

ICT held two Light of Truth award ceremonies in 2002 because the 2001 ceremony, planned in India, was cancelled following September 11. In Graz, Austria, the award was given to Heinrich Harrer and the late Petra Kelly. His Holiness the Dalai Lama presented the awards while in Graz for Kalachakra Initiations. Later in the year, ICT held the second award ceremony in India and gave the award to the people of India for their steadfast humanitarian support of the Tibetan refugee community. His Holiness the Dalai Lama presented the award as part of the closing ceremony of the Tibetan Festival of Compassion.

The Dalai Lama presented the Light of Truth Awards to Heinrich Harrer and Erica Heinz (on behalf of the late Petra Kelly) in October 2002 in Graz, Austria. Also pictured are John Ackerly, Reinhard Butikofer from the German Green Party, Tsering Jampa, and Alfred Stingl, the mayor of Graz.

Financial Condition

In 2002 ICT raised $3,184,915 and spent $3,248,806, resulting in a $63,891 deficit which was taken from ICT's working capital reserve. Revenues from ICT's membership program increased to 74% of ICT's 2002 income. 80% of expenses was spent on programs, 14% on fundraising and 6% on administrative expenses. 3% of ICT's expenses was spent on direct and indirect lobbying, well below the 20% allowable by law as a 501(c)(3) organization. ICT has no debt. You can access a detailed statement of ICT's Financial Position here.

Income and Expenses charts from the 2002 Statement of Financial Position