Source description last updated: 6 June 2021
 
In brief: The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is a non-governmental organization based in Dharamsala, India, that seeks to protect the human rights of ethnic Tibetans in China.
 
Coverage on ecoi.net:
Annual Reports (Periodical Report), Thematic Reports (Special or Analytical Report), Human Rights Updates (Periodical Report)
Covered monthly on ecoi.net, for China.
 
Mission/Mandate/Objectives:
“Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is a registered non-governmental human rights organisation established in January 1996 in Dharamsala (India) with the mission to protect the human rights of the Tibetan people in Tibet and promote the principles of democracy in the exile Tibetan community. […] The centre is entirely run and staffed by Tibetans in exile.” (TCHRD website: About Us, undated)
 
“Our work entails monitoring, researching, translating and exposing human rights violations to the international community […].” (TCHRD website: About Us, undated)
 
“Every year, we bring out [an] annual report, thematic reports, testimonies of victims of human rights violations, biweekly newsletters, press releases and briefings on human rights issues that confront Tibetans inside Tibet.” (TCHRD website: About Us, undated)
 
Funding:
No information was found regarding the TCHRD’s sources of funding; a 2015 report on the organisation’s financial status is accessible here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwculgtwGW3nQUtIdGVCdjFWSG8/view
 
Scope of reporting:
Geographic focus: Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and other Tibetan-populated regions of China
Thematic focus: Human rights situation of ethnic Tibetans (arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, restrictions of religious and cultural freedoms, state mass surveillance, forced relocation, etc.)
 
Methodology:
“The centre enjoys direct and immediate access to information from Tibetan refugees escaping Tibet via Nepal to Dharamsala. […] The centre conducts regular, systematic investigation of human rights situation in Tibet and monitors human rights policies of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).” (TCHRD website: About Us, undated)
 
TCHRD publications draw on information from public sources (see, for example, TCHRD: Prisoners of conscience in Tibet, April 2017 and TCHRD: Inevitable Imprisonment; Arbitrary Detention and Its Effect on the Exercise of Universal Rights in Tibet, 17 May 2017) as well as, in some instances, interviews conducted with Tibetans who have fled China (see, for example, TCHRD: Human Rights Situation in Tibet: Annual Report 2016, 24 February 2017 or TCHRD: Surveillance and Censorship in Tibet, September 2020)
 
Language(s) of publications:
English, Tibetan and Chinese
 
All links accessed 6 June 2021.

Methodological note:

ecoi.net's source descriptions contain background information on an organisation’s mission & objective, funding and reporting methodology, as well as on how we cover the source. The descriptions were prepared after researching publicly accessible information within time constraints. Most information contained in a source description was taken from the source itself. The aim is to provide a brief introduction to the sources covered regularly, offering information on relevant aspects in one place in a systematic manner.