As the 2026 Elections of Sikyong and Members of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile draw near, the Election Commission of the Central Tibetan Administration has received numerous inquiries and observed considerable public discussion and speculation regarding the electoral process. Therefore, the Election Commission deems it necessary to clarify and inform the general public about this important matter.

In accordance with the Article 97(3)(5) of the Charter of Tibetans-in-Exile and Article 2 of the Election Rules and Regulations, which stipulates that “As and when the elections of Sikyong and Members of the Tibetan Parliament are to be conducted, two Additional Election Commissioners shall be required and their tenure shall be from the announcement of the start of the electoral process until the declaration of the final election results…”, the electoral process officially begins on the day the two Additional Election Commissioners take their oath of office. Accordingly, the Election Commission has sought for their appointment and assumption of office by the two Additional Election Commissioners w.e.f. 1 October 2025. After the assumption of office by the two Additional Election Commissioners, the Election Commission will announce the detailed electoral process and dates of the preliminary and final elections. Subsequently, the Chief Election Commissioner and the two Additional Election Commissioners will undertake official visits to the Tibetan Diaspora communities to create awareness of election rules and regulations from 1 October 2025.

Therefore, we strongly appeal to the Tibetan public to remain vigilant and not to be misled by the rumors and misinformation circulating in society about the election.

13 August 2025

Election Commission

Central Tibetan Administration

*Note: This is the translation of the Tibetan statement. Should any discrepancies arise, please treat the Tibetan version as final and authoritative.

Following the passage of the bill in the House, Sikyong states, “On behalf of Tibetans in occupied Tibet and in exile, I extend gratitude to Representative Jim McGovern and Representative Michael McCaul for introducing the bill along with all the members for supporting this bill in the house. This achievement moves us closer to making the bill into law. We are now positively looking forward to the bill’s approval by the Senate.” Sikyong further adds, “This success reflects the collaborative advocacy efforts of the CTA, the International Campaign for Tibet, Tibetan associations and NGOs, Tibet Support Groups and individuals.”

The enactment of this bill will strengthen and reinforce the Middle Way Approach policy and the Central Tibetan Administration’s commitment to dialogue to resolve the Tibet-China conflict in the best interest of both the Tibetan and Chinese peoples.

Dharamshala: The Central Tibetan Administration welcomes the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s (HFAC) approval of the Tibet bill, H.R. 533 Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Conflict Act.  The HFAC voted unanimously at a markup hearing today on 29 November 2023 to approve the bipartisan “Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Conflict Act”, also known as the Resolve Tibet Act.

The HFAC-approved bill is an amended House version of the legislation introduced earlier by Reps. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, alongside Senators Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Todd Young, R-Ind. The bill is a reiteration of the US official policy of supporting direct negotiation between the People’s Republic of China and His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s representatives or with democratically elected leaders of the Tibetan people, without preconditions, in order to resolve the Tibet-China conflict.

Following nine rounds of dialogues between China and His Holiness’s representatives from 2002-2010, Beijing has stalled the dialogue and instead conducted a series of colonial policies and programs in Tibet to annihilate the Tibetan language, religion, culture, and way of life posing an existential threat to the very identity of the Tibetan people.

The bill dismisses the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) claim of Tibet being a part of China since ancient times as historically inaccurate, and it empowers the State Department to actively counter China’s disinformation about Tibet’s history, culture and institutions including the institution of the His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Sikyong Penpa Tsering visited Washington, DC from October 16 to 20 this year in an effort to move forward the Resolve Tibet Act and he expressed high hopes for the passage of the Tibet bill in the 118th US Congress. Sikyong says, “The PRC’s claim over Tibet as a part of China is fictitious as it lacks historical truth. We Tibetans have suffered enormously under the PRC government over many decades, yet we have always sought to settle our differences through nonviolent and peaceful dialogue.”

Sikyong further asserts, “This bill will allow the United States to address its consistent calls for dialogue with more force and urgency while giving voice to Tibetans in their own country. This will not only help the cause of Tibetans, but also champion democracy, dialogue, and the cause of peace around the globe. Therefore, we are confident that this bill will advance through both houses of Congress and onto the President’s desk.”

“We thank HFAC Chair Michael McCaul, ranking member Gregory Meeks, and all the members of the committee for approving the Tibet bill, which builds on the incredible bipartisan support that the United States has always shown for our just cause.”

Click here to access the proceedings of the bill approval on YouTube.

Geneva: A group of three UN independent experts strongly condemned China for forcibly separating over “1 million Tibetan children from families” and assimilating Tibetan culture at colonial style boarding schools, in a strongly worded press release, earlier today. Recently, the UN Experts had made public their communication with the Chinese government expressing serious concerns over the situation.

In the press release, the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Mr. Fernand de Varennes; Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education Ms. Farida Shaheed and Special Rapporteur in the field of Cultural Rights Ms. Alexandra Xanthaki jointly voiced concern over Chinese policies aimed at “assimilating Tibetan people culturally, religiously and linguistically through a residential school system.” The experts warned around a million Tibetan children had been affected by the policies.

The experts said they were “disturbed” by “the residential school system for Tibetan children appears to act as a mandatory large-scale programme intended to assimilate Tibetans into majority Han culture, contrary to international human rights standards”, in recent years.

While describing the mandatory compulsory education curriculum in Mandarin without any access to Tibetan language, history and culture in China led residential schools for Tibetan children, the UN experts said “as a result, Tibetan children are losing their facility with their native language and the ability to communicate easily with their parents and grandparents in the Tibetan language, which contributes to their assimilation and erosion of their identity”.

The experts also highlighted the share of residential schools in Tibet is “much higher” compared to other parts of areas under China, and this has been increasing in recent years. The forced closure of rural schools in Tibetan populated areas and replacement by township or country-level schools which exclusively use Chinese in teaching and communications has further added to the share of residential schools in Tibet, said the UN Experts.

The experts expressed alarm at the Chinese policies of “forced assimilation” of Tibetan cultural identity into “dominant Han-Chinese majority, through a series of oppressive actions against Tibetan education, religious and linguistic institutions”. And further noted China’s relentless persecution of Tibetan individuals advocating Tibetan language and education. The UN experts said they are in contact with the Chinese authorities regarding the aforementioned issues also raised in its communication to China in November 2022.

Representative Thinlay Chukki noted that “this is one of the first press releases by the UN experts on Tibet, detailing the egregious human rights violations in Tibet and we hope many will follow especially given the dire situation in Tibet, which remains the least free regions in the world. As noted by the experts, even though there are many residential schools in other parts of China their numbers are much higher in Tibet. This points to the concerted and systematic efforts of China to destroy Tibetan language, culture and religion. While communicating with China, we call upon the experts to press China to close down these so-called residential schools and to provide detailed reports on the same.”

-Report filed by the Tibet Bureau in Geneva.

The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) Welcomes the Introduction of Tibet Bill in the US Senate Declaring the Tibet–China Conflict as Unresolved 

The CTA welcomes the introduction of the bipartisan Tibet bill called “Promoting a Resolution to Tibet–China Conflict” in the US Senate on 20 December 2022. Senator Jeff Merkley, Co–chair of the Congressional Executive Commission on China; Senator Todd Young, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and Senator Patrick Leahy, a long–time supporter of Tibet and a dear friend of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, have introduced the bill. 

The bill will make it a policy of the United States that the Tibetan People are a people entitled to the right to self–determination under the international law and that their ability to exercise this right is precluded by the current People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) policies; and that the conflict between Tibet and the PRC is unresolved, and that the legal status of Tibet remains to be determined in accordance with international law. The legislation makes it clear that the only path ahead is to embrace His Holiness‘ Middle Way approach, which is based on negotiation in good faith and without pre–conditions, to establish genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people within the framework of the constitution of the People’s Republic of China. 

Sikyong Penpa Tsering of the Central Tibetan Administration, welcoming the bill’s introduction in the Senate says: 

“We Tibetans have always felt immense gratitude to the United States for its leadership in advancing a peaceful resolution to the Sino–Tibetan conflict emanating from China’s illegal occupation of Tibet and continued implementation of its repressive policies against the Tibetans inside Tibet. With this bill, the US not only raises its commitment to promoting the Tibet cause to an even greater level, but it also serves as a beacon of hope for those striving for peace, democracy and freedom through dialogue and negotiation. The CTA remains firmly committed to the Middle Way Approach of seeking genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people as a way forward to resolve the long–standing Sino–Tibetan conflict. Therefore, I urge the members of US Congress to support and endorse the successful passage of the bill through both Houses of Congress and from the President’s desk. I sincerely thank Senator Leahy, Senator Merkley and Senator Young for introducing the bill, which builds on the incredible bipartisan support the United States has always shown for our just cause“. 

Representative Namgyal Choedup of the Office of Tibet, Washington DC looks forward to the bill’s passage through both the Houses of Congress and says: 

“China’s rule in Tibet clearly lacks historical legitimacy, popular opinion and diplomatic support. We have suffered enormous abuse from the PRC government over many decades, yet we have always sought to settle our differences through peaceful dialogue. This bill would allow the United States to back its consistent calls for dialogue with more force and urgency while giving a renewed sense of hope to Tibetan people inside Tibet who continue to suffer under the Chinese rule”. 

For further information, contact CTA Spokesperson Mr. Tenzin Lekshay @ diir.asir@tibet.net 

Department of Information & International Relations 

Central Tibetan Administration 

Dharamsala 

December 20, 2022 

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This convention, organised by the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, is in continuation of the previous seven sessions of WPCT aimed to strengthen and coordinate support by parliamentarians from different countries to resolve the Tibet issue. The first WPCT was held in New Delhi (1994) honouring the foundational role India has played in the survival of the Tibetan identity after the Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet. Subsequent conventions have been held in Vilnius, Lithuania (1995); Washington D.C.USA (1997); Edinburgh, Scotland (U.K.) (2005); Rome, Italy (2009); Ottawa, Canada (2012); and Riga, Latvia (2019).

Despite decades of repression by the Chinese government in Tibet, Tibetans strive to preserve their religion, culture, identity, and environment and continue to advocate for human rights and freedom in Tibet through non-violence all over the world.

By holding the 8th WPCT in the United States, a country with fundamental values of democracy and equality, we honor the important role played by the United States Congress in formulating policy initiatives on Tibet, including institutionalising support through several legislations. We also draw attention to our exile government’s commitment to democratic norms and values. With the farsighted vision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in exile, we have a democratic and popularly elected leadership that is accountable to the Tibetan people through the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile.

This WPCT will have panel discussions and briefing sessions on various issues facing Tibet by the honourable members of parliament of different countries, experts and activists. The highlights of the 8th WPCT will be a video message from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and greetings from Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives honourable Nancy Pelosi.

The main objectives of holding the World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet are:

1. For parliamentarians to take a leading role in the international area on the question of survival of the Tibetan identity and its rich cultural heritage which has the potential to contribute for a more peaceful world.
2. For parliamentarians to join the world leaders in expressing concern over human rights violation and religious repression in Tibet.
3. For parliamentarians to consider initiatives in their respective countries to support early resumption of dialogue between the representatives of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and People’s Republic of China, for a negotiated solution on Tibet.

Place: Washington D.C

Date: 20 June, 2022

                                                                                                          Media Contact: Tenzing Jigme, +1 763-316-8881

                                                                                                          Tibetan Parliament Member from North America

                                                                                                          Thondup Tsering, +1 413-687-3477

                                                                                                          Tibetan Parliament Member from North America

As India host the second informal summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Mamallapuram near Chennai from 11th to 12“ October 2019 to discuss upon overarching issues of bilateral, regional and global importance, the Core Group for Tibetan Cause – India, being the Apex body of all the Indian Tibet Support Groups in India, bring this to the kind attention of concerned agencies that Tibetan students who have been living and pursuing their studies in that region have been unnecessarily put on house arrest, blockading their usual movement and unwantedly questioned their motives and aspiration.

The Constitution of India ensures us the right to protest against the injustices prevailing hitherto despite any indulgence of political and social powers. The same rights are equally applied to Tibetans as well. Over 60 years of their existence in India as refugee, the successive Indian Government have never crushed their voices, protest in the street against injustices impinged upon Tibetans inside Tibet by Chinese Communist Government and imposed restrictions upon their movement. Whereas, it has been reported in the media (all forms of media) that those aforementioned incidents have been randomly carried out in that region before the happening of Second Informal Summit.

Towards this unwanted act of State Government, the Core Group for Tibetan Cause – India strongly condemn such illicit show of power and administrative machinery that crushes the common people’s voice against prevailing injustices.

The Core Group for Tibetan Cause – India also strongly urges the concerned State Government to release those Tibetan students or people immediately without any pre-conditions being levied upon them.

RK Khrimey (Mr.)
National Convener
Core Group for Tibetan Cause-India

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70th Founding Anniversary of People’s Republic of China Marks 60 years of Occupation of Tibet

On 1 October 2019, the People’s Republic of China is celebrating its 70th founding anniversary with great pomp and fanfare, the main highlight being an unprecedented military parade in a brute show of force to demonstrate country’s emergence as a global superpower. Its message is very clear: “China has the capability to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity and any country that attempts to provoke China and threaten China’s territorial sovereignty and integrity should think twice,” China’s state tabloid Global Times reported earlier.

As Beijing gears up for huge national celebrations, because of the ongoing unrest in Hong Kong as well as the gross violation of human rights in Tibet and East Turkestan, the PRC’s founding anniversary has been dubbed by some as a “Day of Grief”.

As far as Tibet is concerned, to put in the words of the late X Panchen Lama, “Tibet has lost more than gained under Chinese rule.” China’s military conquest of what was once a peaceful, independent country was followed by decades of gory death and destruction. Over 1.2 million Tibetans have perished within three decades following China’s invasion of Tibet in 1949/50. Nearly 6,000 monasteries were ransacked and destroyed. China’s so-called development projects in Tibet have induced a massive influx of Chinese population along with a wanton destruction of its pristine ecology. In what many view as a form of cultural genocide, China’s policy of Sinicization has resulted in a wholesale assault on all vestiges of Tibetan national identity, most notably their language, religion and culture. 

Severe restrictions of basic human freedoms, arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detentions and torture and unnatural deaths have all become the hallmarks of Chinese rule in Tibet. The grim human rights situation inside Tibet is nowhere more starkly evident than the fact that since 2009 over 153 Tibetans have committed self-immolation in a desperate act of protest against the repressive policies of Chinese government. No wonder Freedom House has ranked Tibet as the second least free region after Syria consistently for four consecutive years.

If recent developments inside Tibet are any indications, China’s repression has only scaled new heights, including the ongoing destruction in Larung Gar and Yarchen Gar religious complexes; forced eviction of monks and nuns from their monasteries and nunneries; and indoctrination and intimidation of monks and nuns. China’s atheist Communist Party is not just controlling the daily life inside the monasteries, but also willfully meddling and manipulating the centuries old Tibetan Buddhist tradition of reincarnation for their own political gains. Worst of all, the so-called grid management system of surveillance has turned entire Tibet into an Orwellian police state. 

Despite the seemingly insurmountable odds stacked against the Tibetan people, China has thus far failed to stifle their indomitable spirit and resilience. The past 60 years of Chinese occupation of Tibet is in a way also a story of 60 years of Tibetan people’s peaceful resistance against what has been one of the most brutal regimes on this planet. 

Tanks and guns will not silence the voices of brave Tibetans. Force and might will not suppress the spirit and truth of Tibet. As Shri Jayaprakash Narayan rightly said, “Tibet will never die, because there is no death for the human spirit. Communism will not succeed because man will not be a slave for ever…”

Tsewang Gyalpo Arya (Mr.)

Secretary (Information)

Department of Information and International Relations

The world in recent times has witnessed China’s attempts to derail democracy or even a semblance of it across its empire. Even the lip-service to words like ‘liberty’ and ‘freedom’ is out the window with the Communist Party of China’s obsession for absolute control. Their fear and intolerance towards diversity pervade the religious persecution and cultural genocide of Tibetans within Tibet, which is being carried out unabashedly. 

Amidst such alarming conditions in Tibet, U.S. Representative James McGovern (D-MA) and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, the Chair and Cochair respectively of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) introduced Tibet Policy and Support Act of 2019 (H.R. 4331 and S.2539), a legislation to update and strengthen the Tibet Policy Act of 2002. The legislations cosponsors are U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Ed Markey (D-MA) and U.S. Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), and Mark Meadows (R-NC)

“On behalf of the CTA and the Tibetan people, I want to express my deepest gratitude to the Chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and to all the co-sponsors for introducing the Tibet Policy and Support Act of 2019. This legislation sends a powerful message of support for the Tibetan people and sheds clear light on the repressive policies and hostile intent of the Chinese government in Tibet. I hope this legislation will deter the Chinese government and officials from carrying on with their hard-line and counterproductive policies in Tibet and move them towards dialogue and a peaceful resolution of the Tibet issue,” said President (Sikyong) Dr Lobsang Sangay. 

President Dr. Sangay was recently in Washington DC drumming up support for the bill and met many Congresspersons including Sen. Feinstein, Congressman Jim McGovern, Congressman Andy Levin, Congressman Vern Buchanan, one of the members of the CODEL, Congressman David Price, Congresswoman Judy Chu, Congresswoman Terri Sewell, Congressman Ted Yoho, Congressman Gerry Connolly and speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Statement of Policy on Reincarnation of Dalai Lama

The bill is a landmark show of support by the US to the Tibetans and sends out a clear message of deterrence to China which plans to meddle with the ‘spiritual traditions and practices of Tibetan Buddhism’. The bill categorically states that interference of the People’s Republic of China in decisions regarding His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation would amount to violation of the fundamental religious freedoms of Tibetan Buddhists and the Tibetan people. It further calls for sanctions against any Chinese government official who are complicit in identifying and installing His Holiness the 15th Dalai Lama against the Tibetan Buddhist traditions.

Celebration of Tibetan Democracy-in-Exile

One of the major tasks undertaken by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on arrival into exile was the democratization of Tibetan polity which led to the establishment of three pillars of democracy- the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, the Kashag (Cabinet) and the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission. In 2001 His Holiness called for first direct elections of the Kalon Tripa (now Sikyong), executive head of Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) and later in 2011 transferred all the political authorities to a democratically elected head of CTA.

The bill not only enumerates this chronology but also commends the efforts of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, CTA and the Tibetan community in exile for establishment of self-governing democratic system with free and fair elections across the exile community. 

Acknowledgement of Central Tibetan Administration and Middle Way Approach

The bill builds on the unanimously approved US House of Representatives’ House Resolution 337 (2015) which was one of the first US resolutions acknowledging Central Tibetan Administration and the electoral process of Sikyong. Taking a step further, the bill recognizes the Central Tibetan Administration as the legitimate representative reflecting the aspirations of Tibetan people around the world. It further recognizes the Sikyong as the President of the Central Tibetan Administration. The bill mandates the US Special Coordinator for Tibet to continue to maintain close contacts with the Sikyong and CTA. 

Even in the field of negotiations on Tibet, the bill recognizes CTA’s role and Middle Way Approach, the official policy of CTA seeking genuine autonomy for the six million Tibetans in Tibet. As a matter of policy, the bill calls upon the President and the Secretary to encourage China to enter into unconditional dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama or his representatives or the CTA representatives. 

The bill also recognizes the efforts of exiled Tibetan communities settled in South Asia for the preservation of culture, religion and language and directs for developmental assistance for the sustainability of these settlements.

Preservation of Tibetan Plateau

The bill recognizes the key role of Tibetan plateau, often called as the third pole, in determining global climate change. The change in temperature of Tibetan plateau impacts the glaciers, the monsoon cycle and the flow of rivers. Around 1.8 billion people are dependent on the freshwater supplied by the Tibetan rivers. But the so-called developmental activities by the Chinese government including the continuous damming of the Tibetan rivers for the Chinese hydroelectric power, the continuous diversion of rivers and the coerced resettlement of Tibetan nomads who often play the role of environmental stewardship have led to environmental degradation of the Tibetan plateau.

The legislation, therefore, calls for collaborative efforts to monitor the environment on the Tibetan plateau and also calls for participation of Tibetan nomads and other Tibetan stakeholders in preservation of the Tibetan plateau. Most importantly the bill calls for cooperative agreements among all riparian nations for transparency related to any kind of activities on rivers flowing from Tibetan plateau.

Diplomatic Channels

To promote access to Tibet as enumerated in the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, 2019, the bill mandates for the establishment of US Consulate in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Until such establishment, the bill mandates the creation of a separate Tibet section at the US Embassy in Beijing which shall monitor the political, economic and social development in Tibet. As a matter of policy, the bill calls upon the Secretary to not authorize any new Chinese consulate in the US.

Tibetans, friends of Tibet, and supporters of democracy and human rights will be rooting for the passage of the Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2019 into law.