BEIJING: China has hit back at a panel of United Nations (UN) experts who accused Beijing of forcing hundreds of thousands of Tibetans into vocational training and labour transfer programmes, which threaten their cultural identity and could lead to forced labour.
The panel of six UN special rapporteurs voiced concern that the programs were being used as a pretext to undermine the religious, linguistic and cultural identity of Tibetan, and to monitor and indoctrinate Tibetans. However, Beijing dismissed the allegations as “completely unfounded”. The foreign ministry insisted that Tibet enjoys social stability, economic development, ethnic unity, and religious harmony and that people live and work in peace.
The panel’s statement, released on Thursday, warned that hundreds of thousands of Tibetans had reportedly been “transferred” from their traditional rural lives to low-skilled and low-paid employment since 2015. Although the programme is described as voluntary, their participation is reportedly coerced in practice. The transfer programme is facilitated by a network of vocational training centres, which the panel said focused less on developing professional skills and more on political and cultural indoctrination in a militarized environment.
China faces increased scrutiny over treatment of Tibetans
China has faced increased scrutiny from the international community over its treatment of Tibetans and its human rights record in recent years. Tibet has alternated over the centuries between independence and control by China, which says it “peacefully liberated” the rugged plateau in 1951 and brought education and infrastructure to the previously underdeveloped region. However, many exiled Tibetans accuse China’s ruling Communist Party of repression, torture and eroding their culture. The UN experts urged Beijing to clarify how Tibetans could opt out of the programmes and to monitor their working conditions in new places of employment.
The special rapporteurs are mandated by the UN Human Rights Council but are unpaid, independent experts who do not speak for the United Nations. The panel consisted of special rapporteurs on contemporary slavery, people trafficking, contemporary racism, cultural rights, minority issues and the right to development.
