Racial Discrimination in China’s Lockdown Relaxation in Tibet

Fleur Harmsen

Tibet and Human Rights Researcher,

Global Human Rights Defense.

Chinese authorities have relaxed the COVID-19 lockdown in part of Tibet, allowing Tibetans living temporarily in Lhasa for work or other reasons to return to their hometowns. The lockdown measures were put in place in August 2022 due to a wave in coronavirus infections that hit the country. Tibetans have protested the severe lockdown that came as a result of China's “zero-COVID” policy. 

Authorities are now allowing Tibetans living in Lhasa whose hometowns are Shigatse, Kongpo, Lhoka, Nagchu, Chambo or Ngari to return to their homes. However, they can also do so after getting in touch with their respective points of contact and they are prohibited from returning on their own.

Tibetan sources have noted that Chinese government officials treated Tibetans differently in comparison to Chinese migrant workers seeking to return home as they accommodated their requests. 

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, ratified by China in 1981, defined “racial discrimination” as any “distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin.” Article 2 of this same convention writes that states must actively pursue appropriate means to eliminate such discrimination. In this regard, China is seen to violate the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination as it is directly discriminating Tibetans through its COVID policies and lockdown relaxation methods.

Sources and further reading:

Staff Reporter. (2022, October 27). Authorities allow Tibetans in Lhasa to travel in the region amid COVID wave. Radio Free Asia. Retrieved November, 1, 2022, from https://tibet.net/authorities-allow-tibetans-in-lhasa-to-travel-in-region-amid-covid-wave/