At the Geneva human rights meeting, a former Tibetan political prisoner provides testimony.
Former Tibetan political prisoner Namkyi delivered a powerful testimony at the 17th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, shedding light on the severe human rights abuses under Chinese rule in Tibet on Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland. The conference, held annually alongside the UN Human Rights Council’s General Assembly, brings together activists from around the world to advocate for justice and fundamental freedoms.
“I personally witnessed how Chinese military forces cracked down on Tibetans in my region and on Kirti Monastery. My heart was filled with sadness and suffering, which compelled me to rise up and raise my voice,” she said.
Namkyi, who was arrested at the age of 15 in 2015 for protesting against Chinese policies in Tibet, recounted her harrowing experience of spending 13 months in detention without trial before being sentenced to three years on trumped-up charges of undertaking “separatist acts against the nation” and supporting “the Dalai clique” by the court of Trochu County.
Her testimony was accompanied by video footage of her and her cousin, Tenzin Dolma, protesting in Ngaba County’s “Martyr Street.” During the protest, she carried a portrait of the Dalai Lama and called for his return to Tibet before being violently arrested by Chinese police.
Recalling her arrest, Namkyi stated, “About 10 minutes into our protest, we heard a loud noise from behind, and a group of police officers rushed at us. They forcefully grabbed the photos from our hands, muffled our voices, pinned us to the ground, and eventually handcuffed us.”
Namkyi further detailed the conditions of her imprisonment, citing physical assaults by male officers, political indoctrination, forced labour, and inadequate access to food and medical care.
Even after her release in 2018, she remained under strict surveillance, with her movement severely restricted. Her family and community also faced collective punishment, a tactic frequently employed by Chinese authorities to suppress dissent.”This is not just a story about me but of thousands of Tibetans who have suffered and continue to suffer in jails of China under Chinese repressive policies,” Namkyi told attendees at the summit.
In 2023, Namkyi managed to escape Tibet, undertaking a 10-day journey through the snow mountains of Tibet to Nepal before finding refuge in Dharamshala, India, where she currently resides and studies. Her primary mission in exile, she stated, is to bring global awareness to the ongoing oppression of Tibetans and to advocate for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet.
Namkyi concluded her testimony with an appeal to the international community to support the Tibetan cause and the wish of Tibetan people for the return of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to Tibet. Her visit to Geneva included advocacy meetings with officials from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), UN permanent missions, and special rapporteurs. She was accompanied by representatives from the Central Tibetan Administration and the Office of Tibet in Switzerland, working to garner support for the Tibetan cause among UN member states.
Tibetan voices have been a consistent presence at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy over the years. At the 16th Annual Summit, Tibetan activist and youth leader Chemi Lhamo highlighted how global inaction enables dictatorial regimes like China to silence dissenting voices. In 2023, activist and educational sociologist Dr. Gyal Lo testified about China’s use of colonial boarding schools to erase Tibetan identity.
Prior to him, Tibetan activist and poet Tenzin Tsundue spoke about the systematic repression of Tibetans and faced censorship when attempting to display the Tibetan national flag at the UN headquarters. In 2019, Dhondup Wangchen, a Tibetan filmmaker and activist who spent six years in a Chinese prison for “subversion of state power” after documenting life in Tibet under Chinese rule, testified at the 11th Annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy after receiving the Summit’s Courage Award.
