On 22 December 2024, the Chinese government issued sanctions against the Canada Tibet Committee and five individual Tibetan human rights defenders.

The sanctions appear to be issued as “countermeasures” in retaliation for the sanctions imposed by the government of Canada on eight former and current senior Chinese officials known to be responsible for grave human rights violations in Tibet and East Turkestan (CH: Xinjiang) on 9 December 2024.

International Tibet Network, a global coalition of 140+ Tibet-related organisations, of which Canada Tibet Committee is a member, is united in the condemnation of the Chinese government’s sanctions intended to threaten and silence individuals, civil society organizations and the wider Tibetan and Tibet support community as well as in allied community networks like the all those associated with the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project who were also sanctioned on 22 December 2025.

We stand in solidarity with the Canada Tibet Committee and the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project and vow to continue to do everything we can to speak out for the Tibetan people and all those oppressed by the Chinese government.

Furthermore, we call on the government of Canada and all democratic governments to do everything in their power to defend the rights and safety of their citizens to speak out and advocate for human rights and freedom without fear of threats or intimidation and to urgently review attempts by the Chinese government to undermine and intimidate rights advocates through harassment or threats of violence against them or their families, including setting up a dedicated body for the reporting and investigation of acts and campaigns of transnational repression.