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Tibet Facts

Why it matters

Tibet is a country in the Himalayan mountains that borders Nepal, India, and China. It has a population of 3.4 million people, a diverse culture, and a native Tibetan language.

The Chinese government severely restricts the rights of Tibetans including the freedom of speech, press, association, and religion. Reading an autobiography of the Dalai Lama or talking about freedom to friends in Tibet can be classified as "endangering state security".

China began it's invasion of Tibet in 1950 in order to expand it's control over Tibet's territory and natural resources. China's occupation as led to the death, torture, and imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of Tibetans, and the destruction of over 6,000 monasteries, nunneries, and temples.

Five of Asia’s great rivers start in Tibet and half the world’s population lives downstream. Deforestation in Tibet has already been linked to severe floods in the lower reaches of the Yangtze in China. The high plains, forests and mountains of Tibet are home to rare and endangered wildlife such as the snow leopard, blue sheep and Tibetan antelope (chiru). Due to extensive resource extraction, poaching and unsustainable development, these ecosystems and many of their species are now endangered.

Tibet is one of the top repressed countries in the world, with 7 out of 7 ratings for lack of freedom, placing it with other antidemocratic countries like North Korea and Syria.

This vibrant cultural and ethnic identity is at risk of being lost forever.

Please, join us in our fight against oppression for Tibetans around the world.

Source: The Tibet Post International, 29 June 2012, www.thetibetpost.com/en/outlook/reviews/2640-chinas-hidden-cultural-genocide-in-tibet-crimes-against-humanity.

Australia New Zealand Tibetan Youth (ANZTY), www.anzty.com/tibetan-issues-today.html

.Friends of Tibet (INDIA) Data-Base, www.friendsoftibet.org/databank/tibethistory/tibeth2.html.

Freedom House, www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/tibet.

Tibet Nature Environmental Conservation Network, www.tibetnature.net/en/current-situation/.

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