Ethnic Minority Rights

The Qinghai-Tibet railway began passenger service on July 1, increasing concerns about the railway's impact on the ecology of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, according to a July 6 Agence France-Presse (AFP) article reprinted on the Yahoo Web site. Environmentalists and the Tibetan government-in-exile are concerned that increased tourism could create demand for wild plant or animal products and contribute to waste that can contaminate rivers, according to a June 30 South China Morning Post (SCMP) article (subscription required).

Official news media reports also rejected the assertions of critics that the railway will result in increased ethnic Han migration into the TAR, or threaten Tibetan culture and the environment. A July 1 Xinhua editorial dismissed claims that "an influx of the Han people" would lead to Tibetan "cultural genocide," countering that the railway will benefit Tibetans by providing them access to "modern civilization." According to another Xinhua report the same day, Lhasa mayor Norbu Dondrub said, "Tibetan culture will not disappear when there is market demand for it." He added that, "The Tibetan culture will not have fundamental changes with the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

The Hohhot Intermediate People's Court tried ethnic Mongol physician Naguunbilig and his spouse Daguulaa on June 12 for crimes related to "practicing an evil cult," "printing and distributing illegal publications," "advocating idealism and superstition," and "conducting illegal business," according to a June 20 report from the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC). Authorities first arrested Naguunbilig and Daguulaa on June 7, 2005 for engaging in what officials labeled "a Mongol version of Falun Gong" and for holding "illegal gatherings." The SMHRIC reported that the court adjourned the trial on the afternoon of the 12th without issuing a decision.

The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) will hire 840 civil servants from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) through its 2006 recruitment exam, of whom 38 will be ethnic minorities and the remainder Han Chinese, according to materials posted June 26 on the XPCC's Personnel Testing Authority Web site. Ethnic minorities make up over 60 percent of the XUAR population, according to statistics cited in a 2003 Tianshan Net article. The positions available include 197 jobs with the public security police, 480 with the prison police, 37 in the court system, and 41 in the justice bureau, as well as positions at other offices within the XPCC.

Authorities in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region closed down an ethnic Mongol bulletin board service (BBS) in April after the BBS posted messages from "overseas separatists," while a Web hosting company shut down another site in Inner Mongolia the same month after it permitted online chatting in the Mongolian language, according to a May 11 report from the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC). The events follow the closing of two Inner Mongolian Web sites in September 2005 for allegedly posting separatist materials.

Chinese authorities arrested Mr. Naguunbilig, a popular ethnic Mongol medical specialist, and his wife Daguulaa on June 7 for practicing what the authorities call "a Mongol version of Falun Gong" and for holding "illegal gatherings," according to the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center. 41-year-old Naguunbilig is the author of 5 medical books and 11 scholarly papers, and a member of the Chinese Mental Health Society and Chinese Medical Qigong Institute. In 2002, he opened the "Inner Mongolia Aztai Mongol Senior's Health Center," which authorities shut down after his arrest in June. A former employee of the center denied any association with Falun Gong, stating that Mr.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports that two monks of Chogri Monastery, Dzokar and Tobden, and layman Lobsang Tsering were detained last July in Luhuo County (Tibetan: Draggo), in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Tibetan: Kardze), Sichuan province. According to RFA's sources, police suspected the three of putting up pro-independence posters on local government buildings. They were sentenced to three years imprisonment.

The men were among 60 Tibetans detained during a reception for a Tibetan Buddhist teacher visiting from Switzerland. Witnesses told RFA that a religious banner was displayed at the ceremony that featured a snow lion motif, thus resembling the banned Tibetan flag. Most were released after a few days, but authorities continued to hold the two Chogri monks and the third man in connection with posters that had appeared the same month.

The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, based in Dharamsala, India, reported on October 27 that Buddhist teacher Sonam Phuntsog has been released from Chuandong No. 3 Prison in Sichuan province. On October 26, police drove him to his residence in Rongpatsang township, Kardze (Ganzi) County, Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. He was detained in October 1999 and sentenced to five years imprisonment in November 2000 on charges of separatism after he led a prayer ceremony for the Dalai Lama.

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