170 Tibetans detained for opposing confiscation of their lands
GHRTV
17.05.2022
Mandakini Jathavethan
Tibet and Human Rights Researcher,
Global Human Rights Defence.
Over 170 Tibetan herders have been detained for questioning by the police and other authorities of Golok Prefecture of Qinghai Province. Upon Chinese occupation of Tibetan lands, the ownership of the pastoral lands of these herders had reverted to the government. Herders were issued permits to use those lands for a period of 50 years. The government issued orders to investigate the grassland-use certificates and to confiscate lands from those herders whose certificates had expired.
Local Tibetans opposed these orders and demanded that their land belong to the people themselves, instead of being put under government control. Consequently, the resistors were “summoned, detained and questioned at one of the county’s police stations” (Lhamo, 2022).
Similar orders had already been put to practice in the neighbouring Yushul Prefecture in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. This resulted in their conclusion that the grasslands were owned solely by the Chinese government, and the confiscation of the lands of local nomadic Tibetans. It was observed that the grassland-use certificates of Tibetan herders from Machen County, Maduo County, Darlek County, Pema County and Chigdril County in Golog prefecture are currently under scrutiny. It is not clear whether any of these herders received any compensation or alternative source of livelihood.
China and 143 states voted in favour of the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2007 at the United Nations General Assembly. It recognises the rights of indigenous people to ownership over their own lands. Article 10 of this Declaration specifically prohibits their forcible removal from their lands without their “free, prior and informed consent”, and an agreement on fair compensation. China stands in violation of its international human rights law obligations towards its Tibetan citizens in arbitrarily confiscating the lands of its indigenous citizens.
Sources and further reading:
Lhamo, C., (2022, May 16). 170 Tibetans detained over land grazing orders in Gade County. https://www.phayul.com/2022/05/16/47118/
Tibetan Review, (2022, May 14). China detains 170 Tibetan herders for opposing confiscation of their grassland. https://www.tibetanreview.net/china-detains-170-tibetan-herders-for-opposing-confiscation-of-their-grassland/
United Nations General Assembly, (2007, October 2). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, A/RES/61/295.
