TWA's President speaks at University of Poland
March 8, 2007 is being celebrated globally for being the International Women’s Day; IWD is the global day to celebrate women around the world and inspiring them to achieve their full potential. While many women in the world are rejoicing today and looking forward to a brighter future, women in Tibet do not enjoy such luxury. In Tibet, women are still discriminated against due to their race and gender. China’s state sponsored family planning (population control) policy is imposed upon Tibetan women. The U.S. State Department, United Nations, international NGOs and independent researchers have acknowledged that China’s state-sponsored population control policies are implemented in violent and discriminatory ways throughout the Tibetan community in Tibet.
Furthermore, the vast amount of evidence collected since 1995 regarding reproductive rights’ violations against Tibetan women in Tibet, proves that the aim of such practices is solely to reduce the size of the Tibetan population in Tibet. This constitutes an act of genocide.
Lately, increasing number of prostitutes in Tibet is another critical issue to the international discussion on the problems of Tibetan women. Economic hardship, discrimination and lack of opportunity have pushed Tibetan women into the prostitution trade. In 1998, it was estimated that over 658 brothels existed on the 18 main streets of Lhasa. By 2005, it has increased to 1,600 according to a reporter (name withheld).
Every year over 3000 Tibetans escape to India risking their lives to seek better educational opportunities and more freedom to practice their religion. Many of them become victims of gang rape or targets of shooting spree by the Chinese or Nepalese border police and never make it to India.
Tibetan women are relentlessly demoralized. Their basic human rights are denied to them. The Chinese have entered every home in Tibet and plundered it of all that was held to be valuable. In the name of liberation, Tibetan women are enslaved to a country and an ideology to which they do not belong. Remembering the sacrifices of so many courageous women, those we know of and the thousands who remain nameless, those of us living freely in exile pledge ourselves to do everything we can to bring justice to Tibet. Tibetan Women’s Association deems it very important to expose China of its gross inhuman treatment of Tibetan women in Tibet and Dr. B. Tsering, in an effort to do so and to seek international awareness on plight of Tibetan women in Tibet, will conduct a presentation at University of Poland today.