UN rights experts denounce China’s interference in Dalai Lama succession

Five UN experts and working groups have issued a joint statement condemning China’s interference in the Dalai Lama’s succession, saying that is a matter solely for the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan people, and the Tibetan Buddhist community.

Free Tibet welcomes the UN Special Rapporteurs’ intervention, which follows a statement issued by the Dalai Lama on 2 July stating that only his institution, the Gaden Phodrang Trust, will have exclusive responsibility for recognising his reincarnation, explicitly stating that “no external entity has the right to interfere in this profoundly spiritual matter.”

Rabga, Free Tibet Campaigns Lead, said: “The UN intervention underlines the need for the international community to act decisively. Greater preparedness is needed from neighbouring countries, Buddhist regions and international governments to counter China’s oppressive policies in Tibet and its extraterritorial strategies. The UK government should develop a strong position that the Dalai Lama alone has the authority to determine the process of his reincarnation, and that this process is a matter of religious freedom, not state control. It should reject any attempt by the Chinese government to select or impose its own candidate, which would be a direct violation of international human rights law, and support coordinated international efforts to uphold Tibetans’ fundamental right to practice their religion free of interference.”

The UN Special Rapporteurs on cultural rights, freedom of expression, minority issues, freedom of religion and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances also call upon China to provide “prompt and detailed” information about the disappeared Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who has not been seen since he was seized at the age of six in 1995.

In the strongly-worded communication to China, the UN experts state: “Any identification and appointment of the successor of the current (fourteenth) Dalai Lama against the Tibetan traditions and the wishes of Tibetan Buddhist communities will have no cultural, religious or community authenticity or support.”

While Xi Jinping promotes “unyielding Marxist atheism”, China regards control over Tibet’s religious leaders as crucial to maintaining its grip on Tibet, and plans to install its own chosen successor to the Dalai Lama.

The implications extend beyond one religious succession. The Dalai Lama’s spiritual authority reaches across the Indian and Nepalese Himalaya, including Bhutan and Ladakh; Mongolia and the Central Asian Russian Republics of Tuva, Buryatia and Kalmykia; neighbouring countries in Asia and in Europe and America. As such, China’s efforts to seize control over a purely religious process permeates beyond its borders.

Soon after the U.S. government adopted legislation in 2020 rejecting any foreign interference in the selection of the next Dalai Lama, China signalled its intention to escalate its extraterritorial interventions over reincarnation by stating it was ‘illegal’ for incarnate lamas to be born outside the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This paves the way for heightened pressures on foreign governments to acknowledge PRC, rather than Tibetan, authority over the future of the Dalai Lama institution.

Free Tibet further welcomes the UN experts’ focus on the “ongoing enforced disappearance of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima for the past 30 years” which the rapporteurs state contravenes the “absolute prohibition of this crime under international law”.

The Special Rapporteurs’ Communication raises detailed questions grounded in international rights mechanisms for China to answer. Stating that, while they await a reply, they call for the Chinese government “To ensure the rights of Tibetan Buddhists’ to freely practice their religion, traditions and culture without interference, which includes the selection and appointment of their religious leaders, and urge that all necessary interim measures be taken to prevent any irreparable damage to the life and physical and psychological integrity of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, halt the alleged violations, and prevent their re-occurrence.”

Free Tibet calls on the UK government to:

• Support the UN experts position that measures must be taken to ensure that the 14th Dalai Lama’s right to affirm his own legitimate authority on his succession according to the traditions and practices of Tibetan Buddhism, and the broader rights of Tibetan Buddhist reincarnate lamas to select and appoint their own respective reincarnations, remain free from State interference.
• Support the UN Special Rapporteurs’ urgent request to provide prompt and detailed information on the whereabouts, as well as the health and wellbeing, of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, and his family.
• Anticipate and resist coercion by the PRC to gain recognition of a Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-appointed Dalai Lama.
• Approach democratic governments to coordinate a united position, noting that the PRC already uses Tibet as a tool of economic and political coercion in its bilateral relations and in international organisations.
• Upgrade and expand relations with the Central Tibet Administration (CTA) and convey support to Tibetans.
• Vigorously monitor China’s extraterritorial influence efforts over Buddhism and Tibet, and develop robust responses on a case-by-case basis.
• Engage with Tibetan community representatives and the CTA wherever possible with regard to countering China’s transnational repression.
• Desist from stating that Tibet is a part of China. At no point did China inherit or acquire sovereignty over Tibet and Tibet is not legally a part of China today.