Tibet
January 29, 2021
(Washington, D.C.)—Representative James P. McGovern (D-MA) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) released the following statement on Tashi Wangchuk (Wangchug), who was released yesterday after serving a five-year prison sentence for “inciting separatism” after advocating for Tibetans’ educational and language rights.
December 22, 2020
(Washington)— Representative James P. McGovern (D-MA) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), the Chair and Cochair, respectively of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) welcomed final passage of Tibetan Policy and Support Act, legislation that demonstrates the U.S. government’s clear and bipartisan commitment to advocating for the rights of the Tibetan people.
Amid the worsening human rights climate in China, Tibetans continue to experience egregious human rights abuses, as Chinese officials have increased harsh restrictions on religious and cultural life and maintain extensive limitations on access to Tibet by foreign diplomats, journalists, and visitors. Repressive policies pioneered in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) are now being implemented in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR), where new limits on Mongolian-language instruction recently sparked large-scale demonstrations.
(Washington)— Representative James P. McGovern (D-MA) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), the Chair and Cochair, respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China, issued a statement on the 25th anniversary of the 11th Panchen Lama's disappearance.
On April 14, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) will convene a hearing to examine China’s systemic use of torture and maltreatment in the criminal justice system. Torture experts have concluded that the lack of a definition of torture in China’s legal code is highly problematic. There are also well-documented cases of the frequent use of “tiger chairs” during interrogation and other forms of torture to coerce confessions from criminal defendants and political prisoners alike; reports of deaths in custody and the lack of adequate medical treatment in detention; and the abuse and mistreatment in detention of individuals from China’s ethnic minorities, including Tibetans and Uyghurs.
As President Obama prepares to host Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 24-25, 2015, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) will hold a hearing to examine the critical human rights and rule of law issues that deserve frank and robust discussions during the planned state visit.