Founded 1989 (1989) Focus Human rights activism Website www.tibetjustice.org | Founder Eva Herzer Location Oakland, California | |
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Type Non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable corporation | ||
Tibet Justice Center, (TJC, formerly International Committee of Lawyers for Tibet, ICLT) is an American legal association founded in 1989 that advocates human rights and self-determination for the Tibetan people.
Contents
- Profile
- Members
- Release of Gendun Rinchen
- Participation in the World UN Conference on Women in Beijing
- Participation in the Habitat II Conference in Istanbul UN
- Campaign of Resolutions by cities and states in the US
- Report on the torture of children in Tibet
- Analysis of association of political autonomy
- Reports to the UN
- Publications
- References
Profile
The association is a non-governmental organization in Oakland, California, United States, defending human rights and self-determination for the people of Tibet. Through legal and educational activities ICLT promotes human rights, environmental protection, and peaceful resolution of the situation in Tibet.
Founded in the U.S. in 1989 as the International Committee of Lawyers for Tibet, it is historically the first and only association legal to support the cause of Tibet. The creation of the association was suggested by Michael van Walt van Praag, legal advisor to the 14th Dalai Lama, and John Ackerley, an attorney member of International Campaign for Tibet. Through meetings in Northern California held in the four main schools of law and two general conferences, fifteen lawyers and law students and a dozen of other interested people joined the new association.
Members
In 1999, the association had 1,200 members, of whom one third are lawyers .
In 2000, Robert D. Sloane, a professor at the Boston University School of Law, joined the association and became Chairman of the Board.
Release of Gendun Rinchen
Working with Amnesty International, the TJC was able to obtain the release of Gendun Rinchen, a Tibetan guide in Lhasa jailed in 1993 for passing reports on the violation of human rights in Tibet. In March 1996, he participated with Jerry Brown, Harry Wu and Orville Schell to an event in San Francisco in favor of TJC.
Participation in the World UN Conference on Women in Beijing
A delegation of six members of the TJC, Chimi Thonden, Yoden Thonden, Tenki Tendufla, Lisa Tracy and Eva Herzer, participated in the NGO Forum at the World Conference on Women in Beijing UN in 1995.
Participation in the Habitat II Conference in Istanbul UN
The TJC participated in the Conference Habitat II (en) of the United Nations Programme for Human Settlements in Istanbul, Turkey on 5 June 1996, Eva Herzer, then President of TJC, gave a lecture entitled The destruction of Holy Lhasa: A case study. On 10 June, the association organized a workshop on Housing Rights Violations in Tibet: a case study of the application of international law.
Campaign of Resolutions by cities and states in the U.S.
In 1999, TJC conducted a campaign to adopt resolutions by cities and states across the United States asking the Government of China to respect the human rights of Tibetans and to negotiate an acceptable solution to the issue of Tibet with Tibetan representatives, based on the will of the Tibetan people.
Report on the torture of children in Tibet
In November 1999, the TJC sent three lawyers and two psychologists interviewed 57 children in a Tibetan refugee camp in India. In June 2000, the Association published a report stating that Tibetan children older than six years are detained and tortured for political and religious offenses in China. According to refugee children in India interviewed beatings and electric shocks administered to children imprisoned for offenses ranging from writing the word independence in a school for the use of photos of the Dalai Lama's book.
Analysis of association of political autonomy
According to Mayank Chhaya, if the concept of self-governance by the autonomy has been studied for some time, it was not until about the 2000s that lawyers have seriously examined the different models that could be applied to Tibet. Eva Herzer, the founder of TJC, worked with the Tibetans in exile to consider a model of self-governance. Dagmar Bernstorff and Hubertus von Welck note that publication on the subject by TJC prompt a conference that brought together experts in international law, ministers, parliamentarians and Tibetan leaders in November 1999 in New Delhi evaluating opportunities agreement between Tibet and China.
According to Michael C. Davis, Professor of Law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the analysis by the association of indexes among 34 cases of territorial autonomy in the world reveals that Chinese policy of autonomy in Tibet is only nominal. A severe deficiency of real autonomy appears in the system established by the Chinese government. The TJC report highlights areas of autonomy in the world: cultural affairs, education, health and social services, taxes, economy, natural resources, environmental policies, posts and telecommunications, transport and the judicial police. These areas are covered by local autonomies in Chinese politics at Hong Kong, Macao, and that promised to Taiwan. In all these areas, the Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region is subordinate to the central government. For J. M. Mukhi, lawyer at the Supreme Court of India, the study of Eva Ezer, encyclopedic in scope, shows that there is little hope that Tibetans can benefit from self-governance without democratic change China.
Reports to the UN
In 1995, the association has submitted a report to the UN on women's rights. In this report, the association said that Tibetan women are often forced to undergo abortions and sterilization operations. These women are also constrained by threats by the People's Republic of China to arrest and imprison their husbands if they do not submit to abortion and sterilization.
In 1999, the association has conducted a survey on children's right and produced a report to the UN.