The Central Tibetan Administration is the Tibetan government in exile, based in Dharamshala, India. It is composed of a judiciary branch, a legislative branch, and an executive branch, and offers support and services to the Tibetan exile community.
Ngawang Choephel is a documentary filmmaker, director, producer, and musician.
The history of Tibet from 1950 to the present includes the Chinese annexation of Tibet, during which Tibetan representatives signed the controversial Seventeen Point Agreement following the Battle of Chamdo and establishing an autonomous administration led by the 14th Dalai Lama under Chinese sovereignty. Subsequent socialist reforms and other unpopular policies of the Chinese Communist Party led to armed uprisings, eventually assisted by the CIA, and their violent suppression. During the 1959 Tibetan uprising, the 14th Dalai Lama escaped to northern India for fear of being captured by Chinese forces. He formed the Central Tibetan Administration and rescinded the Seventeen Point Agreement. In 1965, the majority of Tibet's land mass, including all of U-Tsang and parts of Kham and Amdo, was established as the Tibet Autonomous Region. Tibetans suffered along with the rest of China during the Great Chinese Famine and the Cultural Revolution under episodes of starvation, religious repression, destruction of cultural sites, forced labour, and political persecution. US-China rapprochement in the 1970s saw an end to Washington's support for Tibetan guerillas. Amid broader reforms across the country, China adopted policies to improve conditions in Tibet. Since the 2000s, it has invested heavily in the region but generated controversies due to the sinicization of Tibet. Human rights abuses remain a concern especially where it comes to freedom of religion and political prisoners.
The 1959 Tibetan uprising began on 10 March 1959, when a revolt erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, which had been under the effective control of the People's Republic of China (PRC) since the Seventeen Point Agreement was reached in 1951. The initial uprising occurred amid general Chinese-Tibetan tensions and a context of confusion, because Tibetan protesters feared that the Chinese government might arrest the 14th Dalai Lama. The protests were also fueled by anti-Chinese sentiment and separatism. At first, the uprising mostly consisted of peaceful protests, but clashes quickly erupted and the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) eventually used force to quell the protests. Some of the protesters had captured arms. The last stages of the uprising included heavy fighting, with high civilian and military losses. The 14th Dalai Lama escaped from Lhasa, while the city was fully retaken by Chinese security forces on 23 March 1959. Thousands of Tibetans were killed during the 1959 uprising, but the exact number of deaths is disputed.
Drapchi Prison, or Lhasa Prison No. 1, is the largest prison in Tibet, China, located in Lhasa. Drapchi is named after its location and was originally a military garrison until it was converted into a prison after the 1959 Tibetan Uprising. It is roughly one mile from the city centre and is the main prison for judicially sentenced prisoners in Tibet. It was the primary place for the detention of political prisoners before 2005 when the newer and modernised Chushur Prison was built. Drapchi also goes by the name Delapuxie prison, which has sometimes been listed as a separate prison online.
Palden Gyatso was a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Arrested for protesting during the Chinese invasion of Tibet, he spent 33 years in Chinese prisons and labor camps, where he was extensively tortured, and served the longest term of any Tibetan political prisoner. After his release in 1992 he fled to Dharamsala in North India, in exile. He was still a practicing monk and became a political activist, traveling the world publicizing the cause of Tibet up until his death in 2018. His autobiography Fire Under the Snow is also known as The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk. He was the subject of the 2008 documentary film Fire Under the Snow.
Passang Lhamo is a Tibetan nun, former political prisoner, activist.
Lobsang Sangay is a Tibetan-American politician in exile who was Kalon Tripa of the Tibetan Administration in India from 2011 to 2012, and Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration in India from 2012 to 2021.
The Tibetan diaspora are the diaspora of Tibetan people living outside Tibet.
Human rights in Tibet has been a subject of intense international scrutiny and debate, particularly since the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China. Before the 1950s, Tibet's social structure was marked by inequality and described as a caste-like system or, controversially, as serfdom. Severe punishments, including permanent mutilations of body parts, were common, although capital punishment was banned in 1913. Muslim warlord Ma Bufang caused widespread destruction and deaths in Amdo which is northeast of Central Tibet.
The Tibet Post is an online publication founded by a group of Tibetan journalists with the primary goal of promoting democracy through freedom of expression within Tibetan communities who are both within and outside of Tibet.
Protests and uprisings in Tibet against the government of the People's Republic of China have occurred since 1950, and include the 1959 uprising, the 2008 uprising, and the subsequent self-immolation protests.
Dhondup Wangchen is a Tibetan filmmaker imprisoned by the Chinese government in 2008 on charges related to his documentary Leaving Fear Behind. Made with senior Tibetan monk Jigme Gyatso, the documentary consists of interviews with ordinary Tibetan people discussing the 14th Dalai Lama, the Chinese government, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Han Chinese migrants to the region. After smuggling the tapes of the interviews out of Tibet, however, Dhondup Wangchen and Jigme Gyatso were detained during the 2008 Tibetan unrest.
Jigme Gyatso is a Tibetan activist of the Tibetan Independence Organisation who, in 1996, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of "leading a counter-revolutionary organisation" and "inciting splittism". Two more years were added to his sentence in 2004 when he protested in jail. Several international human rights groups have protested or campaigned on his behalf, and Amnesty International has designated him a prisoner of conscience.
Elections for the office of Sikyong and the Chitue (Members) of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile were held between October 18, 2015 and March 20, 2016. Tibetans in exile voted for the fourth time their political representative and executive of the Central Tibetan Administration, the self-proclaimed Tibetan government in exile. The election was overseen and organized by the independent CTA agency, Tibetan Election Commission.
The Tibetan National Congress is a Tibetan political party in exile of pro-independence ideology founded on 13 February 2013. The party maintains more radical positions than the moderate pro-independence National Democratic Party and supported the candidacy of former political prisoner Lukar Jam for Sikyong in the 2016 elections, as the only one of the candidates that supports the full independence of Tibet and not just greater autonomy. Party leaders have described it as a political option for Tibetans of pro-independence ideas. The party is not represented in the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration.
Lhade Namloyak is a Tibetan-Australian Polyglot Writer.
Lobsang Nyandak, sometimes written Lobsang Nyendak also called Lobsang Nyandak Zayul is a Tibetan diplomat and politician. born in 1965 in Kalimpong, India where he performed his studies in Herbertpur and at Panjab University in Chandigarh. There, he held functions at Tibetan Youth Congress before becoming the founding Executive Director of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. Member of the National Democratic Party of Tibet, he was elected deputy and was selected as a minister by Samdhong Rinpoche, the first elected Kalon Tripa of Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). He then was the Representative of the 14th Dalai Lama to the Americas and became president of The Tibet Fund.
Penpa Tsering is a Tibetan politician based in India. He is the second democratically elected Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration in India. He succeeded the last Sikyong Lobsang Sangay on 27 May 2021. Penpa Tsering was the speaker of the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration for two terms between 2008 and 2016.
