During 1995 many Tibetans trying to escape to India through Nepal for fear of political persecution, or for a better education in exile, were handed over to the Chinese authorities by Nepalese police at Dram, the border area of Nepal and Tibet. Between April and September 1995, the Office of Tibet in Kathmandu recorded the illegal deportation of 300 Tibetan refugees escaping Chinese occupation in Tibet. Tibetan refugees who are deported back to Tibet and handed over to Chinese border police face the threat of torture, imprisonment and the denial of economic and political rights.
UN procedures agreed upon and previously followed by the authorities in Nepal were ignored. According to standard UN refugee procedures Tibetan escapees are first transferred to the Central Immigration Office in Kathmandu where UNHCR officials begin assessing claims for refugee status. Contrary to normal practice the deported cases were not handed over to immigration officials but held in the Maharajganj jail beside the police training center. They were then taken to the Nepal-Tibet border where they were handed over to Chinese border police and further detained.
These deportations were carried out despite strong official protests from the United States, Australia, and the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nepal.
F. The Right to Education in Tibet
The right of Tibetan parents to choose their child's education was further violated in September 1994 when the Chinese authorities in Lhasa issued orders to government employees and cadres to recall their children from schooling in India. Warnings were issued that those who failed to obey the order would be demoted or possibly expelled from their jobs, that their promotions and pay increments would be withheld and that Party members would be expelled. The order further stated that children being educated in India would also lose their rights to residence permits and entitlement to rations if they did not return to Tibet within a specified time. The Department of Security of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile recorded that around 75 children were removed from Tibetan schools in India by parents who came from Tibet after the order was announced.
Considerable data relating to discrimination against Tibetan students in education in Tibet was collected in 1994. TIN research revealed that in 1994 only 45 per cent of students admitted to Lhasa's Tibet University were Tibetan, 55 per cent being Chinese. Amnesty International reported in 1995 that: "Many Tibetans also express deep concern about the poor quality of education provided for their children and the limited access to primary and higher education."
Schooling in Tibet is being dominated by ideological indoctrination. In September 1994 the CCP launched a three-year "patriotic education" campaign to "quash youthful visions of an independent Tibet or the return of the Dalai Lama". The hoisting of the PRC's national flag and singing of its national anthem in schools has been made mandatory under the new campaign.
G. The Rights of Children in Tibet
The Tibetan Government-in-Exile is gravely concerned about the numbers
of juvenile Tibetan prisoners of conscience who are/or have been
incarcerated in Chinese prisons in Tibet. At least 34 Tibetan male and
11 Tibetan female political prisoners who were reportedly still in
prison in 1994 were under the age of 18 at the time of their arrest.
The two youngest were aged 12 when arrested and one has since died due
to torture (see page 13). In December 1994, 26 of these juvenile
prisoners were still under the age of 18, of whom the 13 under the age
of 16 included seven girls.
The vulnerability of Tibetan children attempting to escape from Tibet
was highlighted in reports received of deportations from Nepal which
included children. Twenty five cases of children being deported between April
and September 1995 are known. In one case a report was received of two
13 year old children from Kham and one six year old child from Amdo,
eastern Tibet, being severely beaten and rendered unconscious whilst
in Nepalese police custody (see page 8).
In 1995 the Chinese added their youngest-ever Tibetan prisoner of
conscience to their list: Gendun Choekyi Nyima was six years old when
His Holiness the Dalai Lama proclaimed him as the Eleventh Panchen
Lama. Within weeks he was "missing" and is today in grave danger.
The fundamental denial of the right of Tibetan children to a proper
education is addressed under The Right to Education in Tibet (page
15).
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