EXPLAINED: What is Tibet Matters March?

The Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) has started a month-long Tibet Matters March from Sikkim’s Gangtok to Assam’s Tezpur. Over 80 volunteers from the TYC regional chapters in India and Nepal have joined the march since it began on April 29, according to Tibet Rights Collective (TBR).

The march, according to TYC President Gonpo Dhundup, was organised to mark the forced signing of the "Seventeen-Point Agreement" by Tibetan delegates and Chinese representatives on May 23, 1951, which eventually resulted in China occupying Tibet.

TYC activists urged international leaders and China to take the required steps to resolve the Sino-Tibet conflict during the march. According to TBR, they asked the G20 leaders to bring up the matter at their summit in September 2023.

Tibet Matters March is a campaign that seeks to raise awareness about the human rights situation in Tibet and to promote Tibetan independence. The campaign involves a series of marches and demonstrations in different parts of the world, as well as online activism and advocacy.

The Tibet Matters March was launched in 2021 by a coalition of Tibetan organizations and activists, and it aims to draw attention to the ongoing oppression and cultural genocide faced by the Tibetan people. The campaign also seeks to mobilize support for Tibet's independence from China, which has occupied Tibet since 1951.

The marches and demonstrations organized as part of the Tibet Matters March have taken place in various countries, including India, the United States, and the United Kingdom. They involve Tibetans and supporters carrying flags, banners, and placards, and chanting slogans calling for freedom for Tibet.

The campaign also includes online activism, such as social media campaigns and petitions calling on world leaders to support Tibetan independence and pressure China to respect the human rights of Tibetans.

The Tibet Matters March organizers aim to build a global movement in support of Tibet and to hold China accountable for its actions in Tibet.

The campaign highlights the ongoing struggle of Tibetans for their basic human rights, including freedom of speech, religion, and assembly, and calls for an end to China's occupation of Tibet.

They also requested that the Chinese government address the deteriorating human rights situation in Tibet under its oppressive control and promptly close colonial boarding schools that assault and eradicate Tibetan culture and identity.

Almost 2 billion people rely on freshwater supplies that come from the Tibetan plateau. In view of this, TYC activists emphasised the importance of Tibet in settling the rising tensions between China and numerous Southeast Asian nations.

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According to TBR, China's ongoing exploitation of the Tibetan environment, scenery, and natural resources will have a detrimental impact on downstream nations for a very long time.

The TYC activists also expressed worry over the Chinese colonial educational system, which forcibly enrolled more than a million Tibetan students in state-run boarding schools and removed them from their families. This is a genocidal policy meant to alienate Tibetan kids from their heritage.

The campaigners also decried China's extensive surveillance programme, which targets the identity and privacy of Tibetans by collecting DNA samples from them, even those of children as young as five.

According to the TYC, after more than 60 years of forcible and unlawful occupation, Tibet has become the least free nation in the world, ranking alongside South Sudan and Syria at the bottom of Freedom House's worldwide freedom rankings. According to TBR, the current state of human rights in Tibet is among the worst in recent memory, and China's oppressive actions are intended to erase Tibetans' basic identity.

Tibet Matters March intended to increase understanding of the Sino-Tibetan conflict and compelled international leaders to respond appropriately. The TYC emphasised the importance of Tibet in fostering long-term stability and security in Asia and requested that China take action to improve the situation with respect to human rights and close the colonial boarding schools that target Tibetan culture and identity.

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