Welcome to Tibet

Increase Access

From 1959 to the 1970’s, the borders of Tibet were completely closed under China’s occupation. Starting in the 1980’s, a few thousand Tibetans have been able to escape China’s oppression annually by fleeing their beloved homeland. But Chinese security forces reacted to widespread peaceful protests in 2008 by ratcheting up highly technical surveillance methods and closing down the borders.

Getting out of Tibet involves dangerous treks through snowy mountain passes guarded by heavily armed Chinese police. ICT has documented numerous instances of Tibetans dying before reaching freedom.

This tragic toll includes a 17-year-old Tibetan nun who was shot and killed in 2006 by Chinese police as she attempted to cross the Himalayas on her way to neighboring Nepal. She was just a 20-minute walk from the border when she died in reddening snow.

ICT is making encouraging progress in promoting more independent access to Tibet and bringing hope to 6 million Tibetans imprisoned in their own land. Congressional passage of the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act in 2018 was an important breakthrough. This law denies entry to the US by Chinese government officials responsible for denying access to Tibet to US citizens. Ongoing ICT activism is also making headway for similar measures across Europe.

But to keep the momentum going, we need allies like you to take a stand for human rights. Will you show your support by signing up as an Ally for Tibet and calling for access to the Land of Snows?

Save The Environment

“Our planet is our house, and we must keep it in order and take care of it,”

– HIS HOLINESS THE 14th DALAI LAMA

China has forcibly occupied Tibet for more than 70 years. But that doesn’t mean the Chinese Communist Party can legally exploit Tibet’s natural resources without input from Tibetans.

The need for sustainable development policy on the Tibetan plateau is more urgent than ever. There is growing scientific consensus, including in China, that environmental stewardship by Tibetans is crucial to the health of the land, water and air. But Chinese officials continue to force Tibetan nomads—people with the most knowledge and experience of living in harmony with Tibet’s environment—to leave their pastures to be forcibly trained in low skilled labor and live in small concrete housing packed into crowded urban settlements.

Pushing nomads off their land and excluding all Tibetans from environmental policy decisions is China’s way of literally paving the way for highways and railways through pristine grasslands, more dams on major rivers and large-scale mining, among other destructive projects.

ICT is sounding a worldwide alarm about this largely overlooked environmental crisis that is putting the entire planet in peril. By working with friends on the ground in Tibet, climate change activists around the world and allies at the United Nations, ICT will keep pressure on China’s leaders to give Tibetans a voice in deciding the future of their environment.

But to save the Tibetan plateau, we need allies like you to take a stand for Tibetans’ right to preserve their homeland. Will you show your support by signing up as an Ally for Tibet and calling for environmental protection in the Land of Snows?

Protect Religious Freedom

Chinese Communist Party officials view Tibetan Buddhism as a major obstacle to controlling Tibetans’ lives. That is why they constantly demonize His Holiness the Dalai Lama and persecute any Tibetan who dares to honor him as their spiritual leader.

Tibetan Buddhism focuses on a system of rigorous study that is being severely restricted by China’s policies in Tibet. Monks and nuns have been forbidden to travel within Tibet for religious teachings. Already heavy police presences are increased in the days leading up to religious holidays. And major centers of Buddhist learning in Tibet are being demolished to make way for tourist attractions to entertain Chinese citizens.

The Larung Gar Buddhist Institute is a recent casualty of China’s anti-religion fervor. Once home to more than 1,000 monks and nuns, Larung Gar’s buildings were demolished by order of Chinese authorities.

ICT rallies people from around the world and diverse religious backgrounds to stand up for religious freedom in Tibet. We are all united by the belief that Tibetans should have the right to worship according to their own personal beliefs.

But to safeguard the Tibetan religion, we need allies like you to take a stand for Tibetans’ right to practice their faith. Will you show your support by signing up as an Ally for Tibet and calling for religious freedom in the Land of Snows?

Safeguard Succession

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is, for Tibetan Buddhists and people around the world, an incredibly important spiritual leader. But he was forced to flee his homeland of Tibet over sixty years ago in the face of China’s invasion. He has never been allowed to return.

We know the Dalai Lama as a Nobel Peace Prize winner and an ambassador of compassion, human rights and environmentalism, whose philosophy has inspired Buddhists and non-Buddhists the world over. But in the Chinese government’s propaganda, the Dalai Lama is an enemy of the state because of his outspokenness on behalf of his people.

Chinese officials refuse to accept the authority of the Dalai Lama on the recognition of his own reincarnation. In an effort to control Tibetan Buddhism, they are falsely claiming authority to name the next Dalai Lama in an outrageous contradiction of Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

ICT has long warned about and strengthened international opposition to this despicable scheme, which becomes a greater threat with each passing year. That’s why we’ve supported the Tibetan Policy and Support Act, which became US law in December 2020 and puts the US officially on record as opposing China’s interference in the succession process.

But to keep the Dalai Lama’s succession in the hands of Tibetan Buddhists, we need allies like you to step up. Will you show your support by signing up as an Ally for Tibet and calling for protection of the Dalai Lama's succession?