In 1997, there were alarming reports of forced birth control policy being implemented in many places throughout Tibet. The increase in forced birth control has terrible portents for the Tibetan population, as it coincides with the mass population transfer of Chinese settlers into Tibet, which is already marginalising the Tibetan population to an insignificant minority.

International Law

The People's Republic of China is a State-Party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)(50)50, by virtue of which, it is bound to uphold its provisions. CEDAW reaffirms faith in the fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women.

Article 1 of CEDAW declares:

... the term "discrimination against women" shall mean any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on the basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.

Despite its international obligations to prevent and protect women from discrimination and to safeguard women's rights, China continues to violate these standards. In 1997 alone, there have been numerous reports of arrest, detention and torture of women in Tibet.

Torture and Ill-treatment of Women Prisoners

While gender-based violence is not specifically referred to in the CEDAW provisions, the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women has formally extended the general prohibition on gender-based discrimination to include gender-based violence, which it defined as :

...violence that is directed at a woman or that affects women disproportionately. It includes acts that inflict physical, mental or sexual harm or suffering, threats of such acts, coercion and other deprivations of liberty

Gyaltsen Choezom , a 29-year-old nun of Garu Nunnery, Lhasa City, was arrested on August 22, 1990 for staging a protest in the Norbulinka Palace (the Dalai Lama's summer residence), Lhasa. She was detained in Gutsa Detention Centre, Lhasa, for four months after which she was sentenced to four years and transferred to Drapchi Prison. Her sentence was later increased by five years for singing and recording patriotic songs in prison. In 1992, whilst in prison, she participated in Tibetan New Year celebrations by wearing new clothes and was severely beaten by members of the People's Armed Police (PAP). Today her right leg is permanently damaged as a result of the beatings she sustained. She is presently serving a nine year sentence.

Ngawang Choekyi, a 23-year-old nun from Garu Nunnery, Lhasa City, was arrested on June 14, 1993 and was detained in Gutsa Detention Centre for six months. While in prison she became very ill due to torture and poor prison diet. She suffered badly from diarrhoea passed with blood. She was sentenced to four years and transferred to Drapchi Prison. Her left leg was badly damaged due to torture and she suffered from a sore stomach which might have been an ulcer. In 1996, when Tibetan doctors conducted a urine test for her, they confirmed that she may not live long.

Choekyi Wangmo is a 28-year-old nun from Phenpo, Lhasa City, who was sentenced to five years imprisonment after her arrest in 1993 for participating in a demonstration. She was detained in Gutsa for five to six months during which time she was subjected to severe torture. When she was transferred to Drapchi Prison after her sentencing, she was in a very weak condition. She was constipated most of the time and passed a lot of blood in her faeces. Despite her deteriorating condition, she was made to perform the running exercises along with the rest of the political prisoners. During her stay in Drapchi Prison, she was allowed to meet with relatives and visitors on only four occasions. She is reportedly in very poor health as a result of torture in prison.

Ngawang Rigdrol, a nun from Garu Nunnery, was arrested in 1992 after her participation in a pro-independence demonstration around the Potala Palace, Lhasa. For the first 42 days following her arrest, she was kept in solitary confinement in Gutsa Detention Centre, Lhasa City. During interrogation sessions she was reportedly stripped naked and tied to a chair. After six months in Gutsa she was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and subsequently transferred to Drapchi Prison, Lhasa. Now 24 years old, she is almost blind and with the little vision she retains objects appear severely blurred. This damage could be from the solitary confinement in a darkened room in 1992. She has suffered regular beatings in prison and her right arm has been so badly damaged that she is not able to lift a mug. She was also refused visitation rights and was unable to see her mother prior to her mother's death.

Rinzin Choenyi, a 26-year-old nun at Shugseb Nunnery, Lhasa City, who spent six years in Drapchi Prison, reported on the ill-treatment of nuns in the prison. She was expelled from the nunnery because of her participation in a demonstration in Lhasa along with 11 nuns and two monks. She was arrested on September 22, 1989, along with five other nuns of Shugseb Nunnery for her participation in a demonstration. Held in solitary confinement at Gutsa Detention Centre for two months, she experienced severe ill-treatment and torture. For the first three days she was interrogated three times a day during which she was suspended from the ceiling for one hour or more with her hands tied behind her back. While in this position, she was rotated and beaten with twisted jute rope. Custom-made electric wires were wrapped around her fingers and she was subjected to electric shocks. She recalled that while in prison, if the nuns were caught reciting Buddhist texts, they would be subjected to electric shocks in the mouth with an electric baton, and if caught prostrating, they were forced to prostrate in water and ice. After her release in September 1995 she fled to exile in India.

A hunger strike in Drapchi Prison which reportedly took place on April 19, 1996, substantiated reports of ill-treatment in prison. Out of the 145 female political prisoners in Drapchi, 81 participated in the strike to protest against the poor prison diet and the prison order forbidding the families of the prisoners from bringing them food. The remaining 64 female political prisoners did not participate in the hunger strike because they are reportedly segregated from the rest of the prisoners and could not be informed of the proposed action by their fellow inmates.

Deaths as a Result of Torture

Four cases of death as a result of severe torture in prison were received in 1997(52)52: Phuntsok Yangkyi, a 20-year-old nun of Michungri Nunnery, Lhasa City, died on June 4, 1994. Gyaltsen Kalsang, a 24-year-old nun from Garu Nunnery, Lhasa City, was sentenced to two years after being arrested on June 14, 1993, for her involvement in pro-independence activities. She died on February 1995 due to torture and medical neglect while in prison. Rinzin Choedon, a 25-year-old nun of Shugseb Nunnery, Lhasa City, was arrested on March 8, 1989. She died reportedly as a result of kidney damage due to severe torture while in detention. Choekyi Wangmo, a 27-year-old nun from Phenpo, Lhasa City, died after she was made to perform running exercises despite her critical health condition caused by torture. Miscarriage While in Detention

The special needs of pregnant women under detention are recognised by the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the treatment of Prisoners(53)53 which clearly states under Medical Services 23 (1) that

...there shall be special accommodation for all necessary pre-natal and post-natal care and treatment.

Reports received in July this year confirmed the case of Damchoe who miscarried while in detention. At the time of the arrest in June 1993 she was three months and 17 days pregnant. The night of her arrest she was reportedly kept standing in a cold room while being interrogated about her activities. Damchoe told her interrogators that she was pregnant and was feeling weak, but her pleas were ignored and the questions continued. By the next morning she had been kept standing for 14 hours in a row because she had not responded to the satisfaction of her interrogators. It was reported that the following day, while trying to go to the toilet, she was suddenly struck with dizziness and fell unconscious. Damchoe later said that she had realised before losing consciousness that she had lost the baby.

Following the miscarriage Damchoe was hospitalised for one week from June 12, 1993. Although still not completely well, she was then taken back to prison where she was once again lectured and interrogated. Despite testifying in court about losing her baby due to the maltreatment of the prison officials and pleading with the prosecutor to speak to the doctor of the hospital who had treated her, she was sentenced to three years imprisonment. She now lives in exile.

Cases of New Arrests

Two nuns, Yeshi Palmo and Tenzin Yeshi were arrested in January 1997 for protesting against Chinese work-team officials during its "re-education" sessions at Reting Samtenling Nunnery, Phenpo, Lhasa City.

In February 1997, 20 nuns from a nunnery in Lhoka Choenkye County, "TAR", were arrested for refusing to obey orders of the County People's Government and the Public Security Bureau to denounce the Dalai Lama.

A nun, Ngawang Choekyi from Dranag, Lhoka, "TAR", was arrested in March 1997 for pasting pro-independence posters on the wall of Sangak Simbuk Nunnery in Lhoka.

Pema Choedron, and Lhakpa Tsamchoe from Kyiray, Lhasa, and Migmar Dolma, from Dranakshol, Lhasa, were arrested in 1997 prior to the July 1 Hong Kong handover and July 6 birthday celebrations for the Dalai Lama because the authorities feared that they might stage pro-independence activities during this time. Lhakpa Tsamchoe was released after three days and the whereabouts of the other two are not known.

Yangzom, 31 years old, was arrested around the end of September 1997. She is from Lhasa Rabsel and was arrested on suspicion of being involved in political activities. She had travelled with legal document to India for pilgrimage in August 1997. She is reportedly held in Gutsa Detention Centre. Nothing is known of her present condition. She was arrested along with her husband.

Birth Control Policy

There were 833 known cases of forced abortion and sterilisation of Tibetan women received in 1997. Three women gave birth to dead babies and one died after forced abortion. Reports of strict birth control measures being implemented in Drayab County, in villages surrounding Jamdoon town, Dingri Dzong and Shigatse have been received but the figures of women affected are not known.

Article 16 (e) of CEDAW obliges States Parties to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women:

The same rights to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights

Article 12 of CEDAW also states that:

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of health care in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, access to health care services, including those related to family planning.

... States Parties shall ensure to women appropriate services in connection with pregnancy, confinement and the post-natal period, granting free services where necessary, as well as adequate nutrition during pregnancy and lactation.

The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to which the PRC is a State Party, defines genocide as meaning any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethical, racial or religious group, including: .

Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group

In an attempt to hide the ongoing birth control policy in the "Tibet Autonomous Region", Chinese health authorities have forbidden the official use of words relating to birth control,(54)54 stressing the use of scientific terms instead. Words such as "drug induced abortion" or "surgical abortion" should be replaced by "out patient operation clinics", "family planning centres" and "operation hospitals" for any media broadcast, leaflets or signboards. The Family Planning Commission(55)55 ordered health and family planning offices in all regions and cities to strictly investigate all hospitals, women and child-care centres and operation theatres. Their reports were to be submitted to the "TAR" Family Planning Office and "TAR" Health Department before October 15, 1995. Many cases of women being fined for pregnancy, being forced to terminate their pregnancy or being forced to undergo sterilisation were reported from throughout Tibet in 1997. Forced sterilisation is an alarming situation because the results of such actions by the Chinese authorities threaten the survival of the Tibetan people, a population that is already being pushed into minority status in their own land by the massive population transfer of Chinese settlers into Tibet. Reproductive rights have to be sought from officials and special quotas are reserved which fix the number of children a women is allowed to bear. If people fail to keep within the limited quotas they are liable to be punished with heavy fines. A child born out of the quota maybe denied facilities, such as school and employment opportunities.

Between September and October of 1996, 308 Tibetan women in the sub-district of Takar in Chushur County, Lhasa City were sterilised over a period of 22 days. There are about 23 villages under the sub-district of Takar, making up a total of 5,210 residents. Prior to this, 100 women had already been sterilised in Chushur County Hospital. In September 1996, officials and doctors from Chusur, the Mother Child-Care Office in Lhasa City, and the Lhasa City Women's Hospital arrived at the Takar sub-district and instructed Takar government officials to similarly take strict measures. All women with three children were to be forced to undergo sterilisation. Each sterilisation operation took between one to two hours and in each day, over a period of 22 days, about 14 sterilisations were carried out.

The oldest of the 308 women sterilised was aged 38 and the youngest 24. Thirty-five-year-old Nyima was forced to abort her three month old child before also being sterilised.

Nyima Dolma, aged 27 from Takar, died in Chushur Hospital, Lhasa City, three days after her forced sterilisation. Married with two children, Nyima Dolma was in good health and free of any sickness. Chinese officials announced her cause of death as 'ill health'.

Yangzom Dolkar, a 29-year-old woman from Takar, Lhasa City, was similarly in very good health before she too was forcibly sterilised. She subsequently fell ill and faced with extensive health expenses, is now reported to be struggling for her and her family's livelihood. All of the expenses related to Chinese imposed sterilisation in Tibet must be covered by the individual.

In the case of both Nyima Dolma and Yangzom Dolkar, both women were reported as a result of the operation to have lost large quantities of blood and to have become weaker and weaker each day. Although Chinese national regulations specify that women must have a minimum of seven days hospital rest after a sterilisation operation, the women in Takar were allowed a rest period of only three days. An informant, who was employed as a health worker in Takar Hospital for several years before fleeing into exile, said he was one of seven Tibetans working in the hospital and he, like four of the others, had received only one year's medical training in Lhasa. He had been approached in his village by a member of the Chinese Communist Party who knew of his family's poor economic situation and had asked if he would be interested in doing medical work as a way out of his poverty.

Jampa Tenzin, from Jamdoon, Drayab County in the "Tibet Autonomous Region", reported that the Chinese authorities have been implementing birth control measures in his village since February or March, 1997. He reported on the systematic insertion of a long-term contraceptive in all Tibetan women in his area above 16 years of age. "I saw a woman who lives next door to my uncle who was inserted with a contraceptive and then four months later she brought home a dead baby," he says. From his description of a rubber tubing inserted in the upper arm, the device seems to work like the contraceptive 'Norplant', which works through the gradual release of hormones into the body via the tubing.

Jampa has heard of three cases of women from his village who, after being forced to undergo such an operation while they were pregnant, gave birth to dead babies. "Many Tibetan women must undergo this operation even in the later stages of pregnancy," he says. Jampa personally saw one of the three women. She was the daughter-in-law of the Paikok family who lived next to his uncle's house. She was almost five months pregnant when the officials operated on her, inserting the contraceptive into her arm. Later when she went to Chamdo for her delivery, it was a still born baby. Jampa saw the dead child when the mother brought it home. The Chinese officials later threatened the Tibetans in the area with dire consequences if anyone dared to speak of the delivery of the dead child.

Jampa also reports that in the 10 villages surrounding Jamdoon town: Chon-go, Dzo-ku, Go-tu, Re-li, Da-do, Lho-lung, Lha sung, Tse-sung, La-phag Gon and Yong-po, all females below the age of 16 were inserted with the rubber tube in the arm. If women refused, they were likely to be fined between 1,500-3,000 yuan (US$ 200-400). This is an exorbitant amount for poor farmers and therefore many are unwillingly obliged to accept this type of contraception.

As of the end of 1997, 83 Tibetan women had been sterilised since the beginning of the year in Chukok Sonak town, Rebkong County, Amdo (Ch: Qinghai Province), where Chinese authorities have launched a strict birth control policy. In 1996 alone, nine Tibetan women were sterilised and 32 were required to use contraceptives.(56)56 In conjunction with extensive propaganda, six general meetings were held in Rebkong County calling on officials in the area to implement the birth control policy.

On February 12, 1997, a meeting on birth control in the province was called in Siling (Ch: Xining), Qinghai's capital.(57)57 During the meeting, the birth control policy for 1996 was analysed and plans for 1997 were concluded. The meeting also fixed strict regulations to control the birth rate and the population of the province. Economic sanctions and prizes were to be given to officials and couples who followed the regulations and those who refused to comply would be punished. The head of Siling City and the "Tibet Autonomous Prefectures" of Tso-Lho, Malho, Tso-Jang, Tso-Nub and Tso-Shar were each given incentives to encourage the implementation of the birth control policy in their respective regions.

A Tibetan woman, aged 19 years, from Dingri Dzong, Shigatse Region, who arrived in Dharamsala in September 1997, has reported the implementation of birth control policies in three rukhag (units) in the county and also reported the growth of Chinese business and prostitution. The source was told by her mother that the Chinese had arrived in the area about six months ago and announced that from then onwards the farmers were to be allowed only three children and government officials only two children. Pregnant women who had already reached these prescribed quotas were advised to have an abortion or they would be fined 1,000 yuan (approx. US$120). Where a couple had exceeded the limit but the children had been born in previous years, no fine was imposed.

The Chinese officials announced that this policy had been implemented in the three rukhags (part of a village) of Dingri (Tingri), Lhoka Region: Maenthu Rukhag, Sharlung Rukhag and Dongma Rukhag. Maenthu is very small, comprising only 30 families, while the other two rukhags are much bigger. The Official Chinese authorities have claimed that they have so far collected about 40,000 to 50,000 Chinese yuan (approx. US$4,900 to US$6,200) during 1997 in fines from those who had exceeded the birth limits. The source also reported that she had heard of many women in Maenthu Rukhag having fled into the local forest for fear of the Chinese birth control policy. "The Chinese birth control policy is very strict and the fine has to be paid in a limited period," she added.

In Madiu township in Nagchu Region, "TAR", 291 women have undergone sterilisation. In 1996 alone, 52 women were sterilised.(58)58 Of the 11 villages in Madiu township area, 50 per cent of the female population are of the child-bearing age. The birth control office has established a special committee for the implementation of this policy and this committee has honoured those women who have "accepted to conform to the principles of the policy".

In Chabcha district in Tso-Lho (Ch: Hainan) "TAP", in Tso-ngon Province (Ch: Qinghai), Chinese authorities have also launched a strict birth control policy: 85 Tibetan women were sterilised "through various means" and 113 were reportedly aborted since the beginning of 1997.(59)59 The Chinese authorities in and around Chabcha District passed a resolution to commence strict birth control measures in the region and to award those authorities and individuals who abided by the rules. Under the birth control policy, the Chinese authorities have sterilised 31 women and forced 18 Tibetan women to be inserted with contraceptives in Sadrushi village(60)60 and 14 Tibetan women were sterilised in the Chanshe village of the Chabcha District.

A recent arrival monk from Shigatse reported that Chinese medical teams have sterilised women aged 16 to 45 by various means. Those who refused were fined up to 500 yuan (approx. US$ 62)

Another refugee who arrived in exile during October 1997 reported on the negligence of post-sterilisation and birth control practices carried out on Tibetan women. Many women in her village who were compelled to have an intrauterine device inserted suffered internal injuries as they were not given proper information nor educated on the implications of the device. This contrasts with China's obligation under Article 10(h) of CEDAW to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women :

Access to specific educational information to help to ensure the health and well-being of families, including information and advice on family planning.

The informant was concerned about these women who had suffered bad cramps since the IUD was inserted, and in some cases the coil had become rusted or flesh had begun to grow around it.

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Last updated: 1-Feb-98