Free Tibet Campaign
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| Founded | 1987 |
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| Type | Non-profit |
| Location | |
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Key people
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Daniel Russell, Chair Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren, Director |
| Website | http://www.freetibet.org/ |
Daniel Russell, Chair
Free Tibet is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation, founded in 1987 and based in London, England. Free Tibet, according to their mission statement, advocates for “a free Tibet in which Tibetans are able to determine their own future and the human rights of all are respected.”
The organisation is a member of the International Tibet Network (ITN), a worldwide group of affiliated organisations campaigning for human rights and self-determination in Tibet.
According to their website Free Tibet campaigns for an end to China's occupation of Tibet and for international recognition of Tibetans' right to freedom. They mobilise active support for the Tibetan cause, champion human rights and challenge those whose actions sustain the occupation.
As a result of China’s censorship, many political dissenters are arrested and imprisoned for promoting or expressing religious, social, economic, and political principles the Communist Party of China (CPC) disapproves of. Free Tibet seeks the release of political prisoners through lobbying political leaders, circulating petitions, and organising Urgent Action Campaigns. This approach has been successful in securing the early release of prominent political prisoners such as Phuntso Nyidon, reducing Tenzin Delek Rinpoche's sentence from a death sentence to life in prison and was possibly influential in ensuring Runggye Adak's relatively low-length sentence in 2007. Free Tibet maintains a list of current prisoners, released prisoners, and those that have received death sentences.
In June 2016, Free Tibet received reports that Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in eastern Tibet was soon to undergo a series of evictions and demolitions. An order issued by the government of Serta County stated that the population was to be reduced to a maximum of 5,000 residents over the next 15 months, down from the well over 10,000 living there at the time. The order also imposed a system of joint management on the monastery, with Chinese Communist Party officials outnumbering monastic officials three to two under the new regime. The monastery was also required to hand over financial management to Chinese authorities. The work at Larung Gar began on 20 July 2016, as residents were moved out and their residences demolished. Free Tibet was able to garner media attention for the situation at Larung Gar with stories in the BBC,The Times and [[The New York Times]] among others. Free Tibet helped to organise a series of world-wide protests at Chinese embassies and also initiated an online petition and various emailing campaigns directed at the United Front Work Department, Chinese Embassies and Foreign Ministers. Following on from these, the situation at Larung Gar was brought up by the US State Department, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission as well as various Canadian and British MPs.
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Wikipedia