Abuses in Tibet Against Followers of Dalai Lama Grow, Group Says

Human rights abuses by Chinese authorities in Tibet increased in the last year, in a campaign to break Tibetans’ loyalty to their exiled religious leader, the Dalai Lama, a monitoring group said Saturday.

“Beijing’s obsession with stability and control in Tibet was the predominant theme of the year 2000,” said the annual report by the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

The independent group is based in Dharmsala in northern India, where the Dalai Lama has been living in exile since 1959. Its report is based largely on accounts by Tibetan refugees arriving in Dharmsala.

During 2000, the government expanded a ban on possessing pictures of the Dalai Lama from public workers to the entire population, the report said. Raids conducted on private homes resulted in fines and the destruction of altars, said Lobsang Nyandak, the group’s executive director.

The report said 715 monks and 147 nuns were expelled from monasteries and convents as part of a “patriotic reeducation” campaign meant to quash political activity. Four institutions were closed during the year, bringing the total number of closures to 22 since the campaign began in 1996.

“One of the core objectives of this campaign has been to combat the deep devotion of the Tibetan populace to the Dalai Lama,” Nyandak said.