Are ethnic minorities free to practice their religion, culture and language?
The recent crackdown in Tibet is the latest episode of Chinese repression in this region. In Tibet, Chinese authorities still view the Dalai Lama, in exile in India since 1959, as the lynch-pin of the effort to separate Tibet from China, and view Tibetan Buddhist belief and Tibetan culture as supportive of those efforts. Suspected “separatists,” many of whom come from monasteries and nunneries, face imprisonment and torture. Those who are found in possession of a photo of the Dalai Lama are often imprisoned. In spite of plans for economic development of Tibetan regions, the opening of the Qinghai-Lhasa railroad in July 2006 exacerbated concerns among Tibetans that they would be unable to compete economically with an even greater influx of Han Chinese migrants. Human Rights Watch has documented how since 2000, the Chinese government has carried out a campaign to forcibly relocate Tibetan herders to urban areas and farmland, destroying their livelihoods and way of life, and denying them
