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Tenzin Dorjee, Senior Researcher and Strategist at Tibet Action Institute, made a powerful statement during the United Nations' 18th Forum on Minority Issues, as reported by Phayul.
Addressing UN officials, diplomats and representatives from over 26 nations, including China, the seasoned activist began by recounting his personal journey as a Tibetan refugee in India, a minority student in Delhi and ultimately an immigrant in the United States. These experiences, he explained, led him to understand that minorities "do not deplete a state's resources, nor do they jeopardise societal stability." Rather, they enhance societies through their contributions of food, culture, labour, innovation and, most critically, a unique perspective that provides "a window and a mirror" for nations to understand themselves better, as cited in the Phayul report. Shifting focus from the global context to the pressing issues in Tibet, Dorjee stressed that Tibetans, Uyghurs and Southern Mongolians should not merely be seen as minorities in the traditional sense, but rather as peoples with an intrinsic right to self-determination as recognised by international law. He contended that their current situation stems from China's intentional campaign of erasure. He proceeded to outline China's extensive colonial assimilation policies, detailing the mass internment of over a million Uyghurs, the implementation of broad bans on the Mongolian language in Inner Mongolia and the systematic dismantling of Tibetan culture through a widespread system of colonial boarding schools, as highlighted in the Phayul report. Referencing research by Tibet Action Institute, he pointed out that approximately three out of every four Tibetan children, accounting for between 800,000 and 900,000 students aged 6 to 18, are currently separated from their families and placed in state-operated residential schools where their language, culture and identity are systematically eradicated. "These children are being systematically transformed into Chinese," he cautioned, urging the closure of these colonial institutions and the reopening of local schools that enable children to be nurtured within their family and community settings, as reported by Phayul. He also questioned the erroneous belief, endorsed by some governments, that diversity undermines national unity. He argued that it is not multiculturalism that causes instability, but rather the enforced imposition of cultural uniformity. "If you have one terrorist, you have a problem," he asserted. "If you have a million terrorists, then perhaps you are the problem," emphasising that it is repression, not diversity, that incites radicalisation and separatist feelings. Despite two attempts by the Chinese delegation to interject during his speech, Dorjee remained resolute, delivering his remarks with confidence and without pause. He concluded his intervention with a plea for all countries, including the PRC, to respect the rights of national minorities to sustain and develop their languages and cultural practices, as noted in the Phayul report. (ANI)
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