GENEVA, Switzerland — Chinese state policies in Tibet are eroding the foundations of Tibetan civilization and threatening the survival of Tibetans as a distinct people, according to a new report presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The findings were outlined by the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Nicolas Levrat, who warned that state-led measures in Tibet go beyond discrimination and amount to the gradual eradication of Tibetan identity through systemic and institutional means.
Central to the report is China’s extensive boarding school system for Tibetan children. The report states that the system is designed to erase Tibetan language and identity by separating children from their families and communities and placing them in environments dominated by Mandarin Chinese, state ideology, and enforced cultural assimilation.
According to the report, these policies disrupt the intergenerational transmission of language, culture, and religion, a process that can ultimately lead to the disappearance of a minority group as a distinct population within the state. The Central Tibetan Administration, citing the report, said the education system prevents Tibetan children from maintaining meaningful connections to their cultural and religious heritage.
Levrat warned that the destruction of a people does not require mass violence to constitute a grave human rights violation. He noted that targeting language, culture, and religion can be as devastating as physical force. The report said such practices violate Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees minorities the right to practice their culture, religion, and language in community with others.
The report places these policies within a broader political framework, stating that China has pursued an aggressive nation-building strategy since 2012 that has marginalized minority communities and led to severe discrimination against non-Han populations, including Tibetans. It said Tibetan identity has increasingly been subordinated to a single, state-defined national identity.
The report also highlighted strict state control over religious life, noting that all religious groups are required to register with government-controlled patriotic associations. Communities that refuse to comply are denied legal status, criminalized, and subjected to surveillance, including the closure of places of worship. The policy effectively places monasteries, religious education, and spiritual leadership under direct state oversight.
The Central Tibetan Administration said the Special Rapporteur strongly criticized assimilation policies that offer equality only if minorities abandon their distinct identities. Such approaches, the report stated, run counter to the principle that states must recognize and protect the existence and identity of minority populations. (Source: IANS)
