These included local initiatives for environmental protection, language preservation, and dispute mediation, some of which the notice claimed secretly encourage support for the exiled Dalai Lama or for Tibetan independence. To our knowledge, this is the first time such activities and opinions have been officially listed as crimes by a provincial-level body in Tibet. Environmental groups and other community initiatives are still allowed in some eastern Tibetan areas, but the publication of the police notice indicates high-level endorsement for officials in the TAR, the western half of the Tibetan plateau, to restrict informal initiatives to protect the environment, defend Tibetan culture, or provide social welfare.
As a United Nations member state, China has affirmed acceptance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose provisions are broadly considered reflective of customary international law.
These include the rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly, expression, and to participate in the cultural life of the community. The police notice is the latest evidence that China is systematically violating these rights in Tibet. While other provinces in China have focused their versions of the anti-mafia drive on crimes such as gun-running and gambling, authorities in the TAR have used the campaign, which is expected to last for three years, to target suspected political dissidents and to suppress civil society initiatives.
This common Tibetan social practice has now been categorized as illegal, and only government or Party officials are now allowed to mediate disputes in the TAR. In addition, informal welfare associations, known as kyidu, which are a traditional feature of Tibetan communities, are now treated as illegal, apparently because they are considered a threat to the dominance of the Party. This report examines the February police notice and its consequences, including the outlawing of community-based mediation and welfare organizations.
It also examines the context of the notice through previous regulations criminalizing social activism in Tibet. The first wave of these moves dealt mainly with individuals involved in demonstrations or with distributing unauthorized information, but by , policymakers had moved to strengthen CCP organizations and presence at the grassroots level throughout the region.
