Global Tibet Groups call on G7 leaders to jointly tackle escalating crisis in Tibet

7 March 2025- FOR IMMEDIATE MEDIA RELEASE 

[LONDON] Tibet campaigners are calling on G7 Foreign Ministers to “take firm joint action concerning China’s relentless crackdown on Tibet and attempts to eradicate Tibetans’ distinct identity”. 

As the G7 leaders meet, at least one million Tibetan children remain in China’s colonial boarding schools – a barbaric system that tears children as young as four years old from their families, language, and culture, cutting them off from their parents, communities and their Tibetan identity.

Occupied for over seven decades, China’s rule in Tibet is one of the last remnants of 20th-century colonialism, and G7 countries must take a stand. In February 2025, Freedom House gave Tibet a global freedom score of zero out of a hundred; scoring lower than North Korea, Sudan and the Gaza Strip. This is an explicit charge of the worsening situation in occupied Tibet under China’s failed policies and another clear sign that G7 leaders must take stronger action.  

In the last two years, multiple UN human rights bodies have raised the alarm at the escalation of human rights violations in Tibet, including the colonial boarding school system; an extensive labour transfer programme; the relocation of millions of rural Tibetans from their lands; the imprisonment of Tibetan environmental defenders; and increased restrictions on the provision of Tibetan-language education. Tibetans who criticise or protest these policies or even peacefully express their Tibetan identity continue to face arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture, and death in custody at the hands of the Chinese state. 

In October 2024, 15 UN member states, including six G7 countries, delivered a joint statement at the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee expressing serious concern about “credible reports detailing human rights abuses in Tibet” and stressed that China has had multiple opportunities to meaningfully address the widespread concerns about human rights in Tibet but it has systematically failed to do so. 

The G7 must build on the concerns they raised at the UN. As representatives of the world’s most powerful nations, G7 Foreign Ministers must take responsibility to address the Sino-Tibetan conflict and push for a lasting solution.

Sherap Therchin, Canada Tibet Committee:
“As Tibetans in Tibet face an existential threat, the G7 must go beyond rhetoric and take concrete, unified action to hold China accountable for its systematic abuses in Tibet. We urge G7 leaders to stand firm and ensure Tibet is not sidelined in global human rights and justice discussions.” 

Pema Doma, Students for a Free Tibet:
“As China’s full-scale assault on the Tibetan people continues, the G7 must take decisive, coordinated action to hold China accountable. Failing to act now would not just be a betrayal of the Tibetan people but a dangerous signal that Beijing’s growing belligerence can continue unchecked.”

Tsering Dorjee, Students for a Free Tibet- Japan
“Tibet is under the threat of dirty CCP education policy in Tibet. Nearly 1 million Tibetan Children from the age of 4 to 18 are in Chinese colonial boarding schools where they are forced to speak and study in Mandarin and Tibetan children are not able to learn their own language and culture. As the world’s most powerful nations,  G7 leaders must take a strong stand against this cultural genocide and demand that China immediately close these boarding schools and respects the rights of Tibetan children to their language, culture, and religion.

Dott. Claudio Cardelli of Associazione Italia-Tibet:
“China’s suffocating grip on Tibet’s freedom of religion is a stark reminder of the regime’s disdain for human rights and cultural identity. Xi Jinping’s attempt to control the sacred institution of reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism is a brazen assault on the faith and traditions of the Tibetan people. G7 leaders must  take a stand for religious freedom and call for an end to China’s meddling in the selection and installation of Tibetan Buddhist leaders, including the future reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, which must be determined solely by the Tibetan people, following international human rights law.”

John Jones, Free Tibet
“Under China’s occupation, everything in Tibet is being turned into a commodity and nothing is sacred. Rural Tibetans have been forced off their land in their millions, Tibet’s land is being dug up for precious minerals and homes and monasteries are being flooded to make way for hydropower dams. Tibetans who speak out risk arrest, so those with the freedom to speak must take responsibility and call for a halt to mega development in Tibet. The G7 governments must find their voice and push an end to these reckless policies that are ravaging Tibet.”

Tenzin Yangchen, Students for a Free Tibet- France:
“It’s unconscionable that no meaningful visit by independent UN human rights monitors has been allowed to Tibet in over 20 years. The G7 must push China to grant immediate and unfettered access to Tibet for independent UN human rights monitors- so that the true extent of China’s human rights abuses in Tibet is finally exposed for the world to see. 

Tenzyn Zöchbauer, Tibet Initiative Deutschland:
“China’s brutal imprisonment of Tibetan political prisoners is a shameful indictment of the regime’s utter disdain for human rights. The unjust detention of Tsongon Tsering, Jampa Choephel, A-Nya Sengdra, and countless others is a stark reminder of Beijing’s ruthless suppression of dissent and free speech. G7 leaders must condemn China’s appalling human rights record and demand the immediate and unconditional release of all Tibetan political prisoners, as well as urgently clarify the whereabouts of 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima who’s now been missing for 30 years.

Mandie Mckeown, International Tibet Network:
“Given the extremity of the situation in Tibet, which can only be described as ‘cultural genocide, it is simply not good enough for the Foreign Ministers to only include Tibet as a word point. It is time for the G7 to use this multilateral forum to hold Beijing accountable for its atrocities in Tibet, including the attack on Tibetan children.” forced to live in colonial boarding schools.”

The joint letter has been mailed and hand-delivered to all G7 Foreign Offices ahead of Foreign Ministers’ departure to Canada. 

 

For further information or comments, contact:
Global: Mandie McKeown, International Tibet Network: +44 (0) 7748 158618, mandie@tibetnetwork.org
US: Topjor Tsultrim, Students for a Free Tibet: ⁨(610) 745-1022⁩, topjortsultrim@studentsforafreetibet.org
UK: John Jones, Free Tibet: +44 7591 188383, john@freetibet.org
Canada: Sherap Therchin, Canada Tibet Committee: , sherap23@gmail.com
France: Tenzin Namgyal, Students for a Free Tibet- France: tenams@gmail.com
Germany: Tenzyn Zöchbauer, Tibet Initiative Deutschland: zoechbauer@tibet-initiative.de
Italy: Claudio Cardelli, Associazione Italia-Tibet: cardellic04@gmail.com
Japan: Tsering Dorjee, SFT- Japan: studentsforafreetibet.japan@gmail.com   

NOTES TO EDITORS: 

  1. The upcoming G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will be held in Canada from 12-14 March 2025. The event will bring together Foreign Ministers of the seven-member States of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US, as well as the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission representing the European Union. Official G7 website: https://g7.canada.ca/en/ 
  2. Joint Letter to G7 Foreign Ministers: https://tibetnetwork.org/g7jointletter/
    The joint letter calls for furthermore robust action against China’s flagrant disregard for fundamental human rights and its violent and systematic assault on the Tibetan people. The letter urges G7 states to

    • Echo the UN human rights experts’ recommendations and call on China to immediately abolish the coercive colonial boarding schools for Tibetan children and call on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to address the increased repression in Tibet, including raising concern about the residential boarding schools.
    • Call for meaningful and unfettered access to Tibet for independent UN human rights monitors – no meaningful visit has been allowed in over 20 years.
    • Call for an end to China’s interference in the selection and installation of Tibetan Buddhist leaders, including any future reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, which must be determined solely by the Tibetan people, following international human rights law. 
    • Call for the release of all Tibetan political prisoners, including Tsongon Tsering, Jampa Choephel, and Anya Sengdra, and urgently clarify the whereabouts of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his missing family members. 
    • Press China to immediately stop all megadevelopment projects in occupied Tibet until Tibetans are given the right to free, prior, and informed consent to decide upon the future of projects. 
  3. Freedom House, 2023, Global Freedom Score, https://freedomhouse.org/country/tibet/freedom-world/2025 
  4. In the last two years, multiple UN human rights bodies have raised the alarm at the escalation of human rights violations in Tibet, including the colonial boarding school system; an extensive labour transfer programme; the relocation of millions of rural Tibetans from their lands; the imprisonment of Tibetan environmental defenders; and increased restrictions on the provision of Tibetan-language education. Tibetans who criticise or protest these policies or even peacefully express their Tibetan identity continue to face arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture, and death in custody at the hands of the Chinese state.  Linked to Highlight-  https://tibetnetwork.org/g7jointletter/#:~:text=In%20the%20last,face%20extreme%20repression. 
  5. The UN Joint Statement was presented by Australia on behalf of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Lithuania, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America – https://unny.mission.gov.au/unny/241022_UNGA79_Joint_statement_on_the_human_rights_situation_in_Xinjiang_and_Tibet.html
  6. Joint Letter delivered to – Hon Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Canada; Mr Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister of Foreign Affairs, France; Hon. Annalena Baerbock, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany; Mr Antonio Tajani, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Italy; His Excellency Takeshi Iwaya, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Japan; Hon David Lammy, Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs, UK; Hon Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, United States of America;  Hon. Kaja Kallas, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy & Vice-President of the European Commission
    Delivered by: