Geneva, March 21, 2025 – In a powerful display of international solidarity, 28 European nations have issued a scathing rebuke of China’s relentless human rights abuses in Tibet. During the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Miroslaw Broilo, Poland’s Permanent Representative to the UN, delivered a joint statement demanding accountability from Beijing.
“We are deeply concerned about the situation in China, particularly in Tibet and Xinjiang (East Turkistan),” Broilo declared. “The treatment of human rights defenders, lawyers, and journalists is alarming. China must refrain from transnational repression.”
The statement, endorsed by Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden, underscores mounting global concern over China’s systematic erosion of Tibetan identity and freedoms.
The European bloc highlighted grave concerns over China’s forced boarding school system, where over one million Tibetan children are reportedly stripped of their native language and culture. Reports of mass closures of Tibetan language schools, where instruction in Tibetan is increasingly marginalized in favor of Mandarin, drew strong condemnation.
“The human rights situation in Tibet is dire,” the statement asserted. “Tibetan culture and language are being erased, and Tibetans face systematic persecution for resisting these oppressive policies.”
The European representatives also condemned the suppression of protests against Beijing’s reckless hydropower projects, which devastate Tibet’s fragile ecosystem and displace local communities. “China’s exploitation of Tibet’s natural resources comes at the cost of the Tibetan people’s rights and environmental security,” the joint statement emphasized.
The 28 European countries demanded that China immediately release Tibetan, Uyghur, and Chinese human rights defenders, including Chadrel Rinpoche, Go Sherab Gyatso, Golog Palden, Semkyi Dolma, and Tashi Dorje. They also urged China to allow unfettered access to Tibet for UN human rights monitors and Special Procedure Mandate Holders.
The joint statement was further reinforced by individual interventions from Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Japan, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland, all of which expressed deep concerns about Tibet’s worsening human rights crisis.
Thinlay Chukki, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration at the Tibet Bureau-Geneva, welcomed the bold stance taken by these nations.
“We thank each of these 28 European countries for their unwavering support,” she stated. “The Chinese government must heed these calls to end its repression in Tibet and release all detained Tibetan activists.”
Despite Beijing’s repeated claims that Tibet enjoys stability and prosperity, the stark reality remains unchanged: Tibetans are being forcibly assimilated, denied basic freedoms, and subjected to relentless state surveillance and persecution. With growing international pressure, the Chinese government may find it harder to whitewash its brutal policies before the world stage.
So far, Beijing has dismissed the joint statement as “Western interference,” but the mounting global scrutiny signals that the world is no longer willing to turn a blind eye to Tibet’s suffering. As the UNHRC session unfolds, all eyes remain on China’s next move—will it address these human rights violations or continue its campaign of repression? The world is watching.
