Outraged Activists Call On G7 To Do Better 

15 March 2025 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

[LONDON] Tibet activists are outraged about the failure of G7 Foreign Ministers to raise concern about the human rights situation in occupied Tibet in the 2025 joint statement. Just weeks before the summit Tibet was ranked as the ‘least free’ place on earth, scoring lower than North Korea and Sudan.  

Ahead of the summit, global Tibet groups called publicly for the G7 Foreign Ministers to “take firm joint action concerning China’s relentless crackdown on Tibet and attempts to eradicate Tibetans’ distinct identity”.  

The failure to speak out about Tibet comes as the situation continues to worsen. At least one million Tibetan children have been separated from their families and placed in state-run boarding schools where they are made to speak and study in Chinese and subjected to intense political indoctrination. Numerous incidents of abuse, neglect, and even death at these institutions have come to light. Children as young as four are losing their ability to speak Tibetan and communicate with their parents and grandparents. 

By intentionally uprooting Tibetan children from their families and culture, and placing them in state-run institutions, the Chinese authorities are using one of the most heinous tools of colonisation to attack Tibetan identity. 

Lhadon Tethong, Tibet Action Institute, “As China rips a generation of Tibetan children from their families in a blatant effort to erase their identity, world leaders cannot simply look away. Ignoring this crisis hands Beijing a free pass to expand its colonial boarding school system and deepen its repression. G7 leaders must have the courage to call out China’s abuses in Tibet.”

Tesla Zoksang, Students For a Free Tibet “The G7 Ministers’ failure to address the situation in Tibet, especially in light of their previously outspoken stance, marks a dangerous regression in their commitment to human rights. Silence on Tibet is not neutrality; it is a tacit endorsement of China’s human rights violations and growing disregard for international law.”

Sherap Therchin, Canada Tibet Committee “The G7’s silence on Tibet is a betrayal of the Tibetan people’s trust and their failure to condemn China’s atrocities is a shameful abdication of moral leadership. We will not stand idly by while they continue to sacrifice the Tibetan people’s freedom on the altar of economic interests with China.”

John Jones, Free Tibet “The dire state of political freedoms in Tibet and the placement of nearly a million children in colonial boarding schools deserved at the very least a mention in the G7’s latest statement. As did the Chinese government’s sweeping and reckless megadevelopment policies across Tibet, which have displaced millions of rural Tibetans and have implications for the rest of Asia. The silence on this is deafening and damning.”

Rashi Jauhri, International Tibet Network, “What does it take for G7 Ministers to speak up about Tibet? One million Tibetan children have been taken from their families and housed in colonial boarding schools. How can this atrocity go unchallenged by the G7? For too long now, China has been allowed to act with impunity, suppressing the rights and freedoms of the Tibetan people- the G7’s silence will only fuel Beijing’s relentless efforts to destroy Tibetan identity, culture, and way of life.” 

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. 

The G7’s silence on Tibet comes months after 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”. The Tibet groups stated that the  G7’s silence on the issue at the Foreign Ministers meeting is a missed opportunity. By not reiterating their concerns, the G7 is effectively backtracking on their commitment to holding China accountable for its human rights abuses in Tibet.

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For further information or comments, contact:
Global: Rashi Jauhri, International Tibet Network: +44 (0) 7587094876, rashi@tibetnetwork.org
US: Lhadon Tethong, Tibet Action Institute: +1 (917) 418 4181, lhadon@tibetaction.net
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. Joint Letter to G7 Foreign Ministers: https://tibetnetwork.org/g7jointletter/ 
  2. The joint letter called 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 urged 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. Tibet Action Institute, 2021, Separated From Their Families, Hidden From the World: China’s Vast System of Colonial Boarding Schools Inside Tibet, pg. 24, https://s7712.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2021_TAI_ColonialBoardingSchoolReport_Digital.pdf 
  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 was 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:

G7 2025 Press Kit: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1a19T-mETHBdDQWMsD1OSN4klyK4zKd9M?usp=sharing