Over 1,800 Tibetans detained in Chinese prisons: Human rights organization

The Dharamshala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) launched an online database of Tibetan political prisoners on Human Rights Day, and said that 1,809 people are currently detained in Chinese prisons.

The Dharamshala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) launched an online database of Tibetan political prisoners on Human Rights Day, and said that 1,809 people are currently detained in Chinese prisons. The initiative is in collaboration with Geneva-based HURIDOCS' (Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems) application Uwazi, Phayul reported.

It further reported that the database with information on 5,518 Tibetan political prisoners has been compiled since 1990. According to Phayul, researcher Tenzin Dawa said 3,067 prisoners have been released whereas 1,809 people are still detained in Chinese prisons.

The database which is launched on the occasion of Human Rights Day on Friday, will be updated with new information procured from observers, TCHRD said. Human Rights Day is celebrated on December 10 every year in all countries of the world under the supervision of the United Nations. On December 10, 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was declared by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

"The database was compiled after reviewing older documents in TCHRD's archive and cross-checking with other similar databases. The database includes county-level GPS coordinates of each prisoner's place of origin," Phayul quoted the press release. "5,518 is not a small number. These are verified cases which have been put in the database with sufficient proof. This alone should make China answerable for their atrocities, if only it were a country that accepted the truth," researcher Nyima Woeser said.

The group further claimed that the data is only cases procured from open sources, suggesting that many unknown cases are yet to be unearthed. Over 300 cases of detention lie unresolved in TCHRD's records as no information was received after the prisoners completed their sentences, Phayul reported. Meanwhile, the human rights organization urged the global community to condemn ongoing Chinese atrocities on Tibetan soil that largely go unnoticed.

"We call on the international community including the United Nations, organizations, and individuals to pressure China to put an immediate halt to its state-sponsored policy of cultural assimilation in Tibet," the human rights organization said. Tibet is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party government based in Beijing, with local decision-making power concentrated in the hands of Chinese party officials. Tibet was a sovereign state before China's invasion in 1950 when the People's Liberation Army (PLA) entered northern Tibet. (ANI)

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