[14. May 2012] BBC

The Dalai Lama has said he is giving away to charity £1.1m in prize money that has been awarded to him. The Tibetan spiritual leader received the annual Templeton Prize in London for exceptional contributions to “affirming life’s spiritual dimension”.

About £900,000 is going to Save the Children in India, with £125,000 set aside for The Minds and Life Institute. Money is also going towards a fund to educate Tibetan monks about science.

The 76-year-old was awarded the prize for encouraging “serious scientific investigative reviews of the power of compassion”, and its potential to address world problems. Read more

On April 29, 2012, delegates of the Sixth World Parliamentarian Convention on Tibet unanimously adopted the Ottawa Declaration on Tibet.

More than 45 Parliamentarians from 23 different countries had gathered in Ottawa, Canada for three days of intensive deliberations on the situation in Tibet from April 27-29. The delegates from Australia were MPs Michael Danby, Harry Jenkins and Warren Entsch.

The convention was addressed by both His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Kalon Tripa Lobsang Sangay and included a panel discussion on the Inter-dependence between China and the World with Jayadeva Ranada, from the Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi; Sharon Hom, Executive Director, Human Rights in China, New York and Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy, Washington which was chaired by long-time friend of Tibet and Chair of International Campaign for Tibet, Richard Gere.

The declaration reaffirmed strong commitment to the people of Tibet and called upon the Government of China to end repression in Tibet, provide access to Tibetan areas and resume the dialogue with the Envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The declaration urged leaders of all governments and related international organizations to support and promote this dialogue and to engage the government of China on the potential for serious consequences should it scrap its constitutional and legal provisions on autonomy.

The complete Ottawa Declaration on Tibet can be viewed here.

[01. May 2012] International Campaign for Tibet

An official Chinese government directive in eastern Tibet where numerous protests - including by self-immolation - have taken place calls on the public to inform on individuals engaged in “splittism”, warns that officials will “severely crack down” on Tibetans who engage in these activities, and aims to curtail information from leaving Tibet.

The public directive, issued in Tibetan and Chinese, was reportedly posted on March 9, 2012, one day before many Tibetans observe the anniversary of their Uprising Day in 1959. Original official Chinese documents, even those publicly posted, rarely make it out of Tibet. Read more

[19. April 2012] International Campaign for Tibet

Two Tibetan men in their twenties set fire to themselves today close to a local government office in Barma township near Jonang Dzamthang Gonchen monastery in the Tibetan area of Dzamthang (Chinese: Rangtang) county, Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan. An 18-year old layperson called Nangdrol set fire to himself and died in Dzamthang on February 19, and on January 26, a 20-year old Tibetan was shot dead during a peaceful gathering of local Tibetans in the area connected to the self-immolations.

The two Tibetans who self-immolated today were named by two exile Tibetan sources as Choepak Kyap and Sonam. Although paramilitary troops were deployed immediately, local people managed to prevent them from taking away the bodies of the two Tibetans, who had died following the self-immolation, according to the same two sources. According to the exile Tibetans, who are in contact with Tibetans in the area, the bodies were taken to the monastery in order to carry out prayers, and many other Tibetans are gathering there. It is expected that a cremation and funeral services will be held soon. Read more

[4. April 2012] Voice of America

Much has changed under Chinese rule over the last two decades in Tibet. Over the past 25 years in Tibet, repression has grown. But so has resistance.

More than two decades ago, during two trips to Lhasa, I witnessed resistance to Chinese rule and heavy policing of the Tibetan capital. Today as before, the Chinese government is attempting to control the region through arrests, censorship, nationalistic “reeducation” campaigns, restrictions on monasteries, and on occasion the use of lethal force.

Of course, much has changed since I covered Lhasa in 1987 and 1988. The Han Chinese presence in the city has grown. A new railroad brings in more Chinese. Tibetans are now a minority in their own capital. Read more

[2. April 2012] The Huffington Post

Dozens of Tibetans have set themselves on fire over the past year to protest Chinese rule, sometimes drinking kerosene to make the flames explode from within, in one of the biggest waves of political self-immolations in recent history.

But the stunning protests are going largely unnoticed in the wider world - due in part to a smothering Chinese security crackdown in the region that prevents journalists from covering them. Read more

[30. March 2012] International Campaign for Tibet

Two Tibetan monks in their early twenties from Tsodun monastery set themselves on fire today outside the prefectural government offices in Barkham (Chinese: Maerkang), Ngaba (Chinese: Aba).

According to Kirti monks in exile in Dharamsala, India, one of the monks died, but one may still be alive. Both 22-year old Tenpa Darjey and Chimey Palden, age 21, were taken to the government hospital. Following the incident, monks from Tsodun monastery, a branch of Kirti monastery, set out for Barkham in three vehicles, with the intention of claiming the body of one of the monks if dead, or taking care of the other monk if still alive. They were stopped around 30 kilometers away from the monastery by armed police and special forces, who sent them back to the monastery.

The area is now under lockdown by armed troops and no further information is known about the two monks’ survival or current whereabouts, according to the Kirti monks in exile. Read more

[28. March 2012] Hindustan Times

A day after a man set himself ablaze to protest against the Chinese President’s visit to India for the BRICS summit, the Delhi Police started cracking down on Tibetan activists with the detention of prominent Tibetan activist and poet Tenzin Tsundue from a seminar being held at the Indian Habitat Centre on Tuesday.

After that, scores of activists were detained from several locations across Delhi. Cops also issued orders of house arrest for all Tibetans till March 31. They said that this was a precautionary measure since Tibetans had come out on the streets despite being denied permission for protest. Read more

[24. March 2012] The New York Times

A state-run Chinese website has launched a bitter attack on the Dalai Lama, accusing the exiled Buddhist leader of “Nazi” racial policies and of inciting Tibetans to set themselves on fire.

The commentary on China Tibet Online, also carried Saturday by the official Xinhua News Agency, is one of the strongest reactions from Beijing to a string of protests in ethnic Tibetan areas of China. About 30 Tibetan monks, nuns and lay people have set themselves on fire in the past year to protest what they say are repressive government policies toward their religion and culture. Many seek the return of the Dalai Lama. Read more

[26. March 2012] Washington Post

A Tibetan exile lit himself on fire and ran shouting through a demonstration in the Indian capital Monday, just before a visit by China’s president and following dozens of self-immolations done in China in protest of its rule over Tibet.

Indian police swept through the New Delhi protest a few hours later, detaining scores of Tibetans.

The man, later identified as Jhamphel Yeshi, apparently had doused himself with something highly flammable and was engulfed in flames when he ran past the podium where speakers were criticizing China and President Hu Jintao’s visit.

The economic summit Hu will be attending this week involves the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, who form a grouping known as BRICS.

Police in New Delhi were already bracing for protests by the tens of thousands of Tibetan exiles who live in India. Security around the summit location has been tightened, and roads leading to the hotel will be closed to the public a day ahead of the meeting. Read more