Geneva – The United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk has expressed his concerns over China's education policies in Tibet, restrictions on freedom of expression and religion of Tibetans. China has forcibly placed over a million Tibetan children in Chinese colonial boarding schools and taught them only Chinese language and culture, with the aim of eliminating Tibetan identity.
Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, addressed the 58th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, on March 3, 2025, to update its members on the human rights situation worldwide. The 58th session of the Human Rights Council is taking place from February 24 to April 4, 2025.
Referring to the human rights situation in Tibet, the High Commissioner said: "I am concerned about the impact of education policies and the continuing restrictions on freedom of expression and religion in the "Tibet Autonomous Region". I will take up these issues as part of our ongoing engagement."
The UN's human rights chief, Volker Türk, also urged China to release human rights defenders, lawyers and other detainees. He also called on China to implement the recommendations of the Human Rights Council and other human rights policies concerning laws, policies and practices that violate fundamental rights, notably in Xijiang (Eastern Kurkistan) and Tibet.
Tibetan activists and supporters welcomed UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk's acknowledgement of the worsening human rights situation in Tibet in his report to the Human Rights Council. However, they criticised the fact that his speech did not address the China-imposed coercive boarding school system in Tibet, in which China has forcibly placed over a million Tibetan children in these Chinese colonial boarding schools.
The Tibetan activists and Supporters said, "Until now, Tibet has largely been absent from his oral updates. Today’s statement marks an important step forward – but it is not enough given the scale and severity of repression in Tibet. Notably, Volker Türk’s remarks referred only to the "Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR)", ignoring the fact that China’s coercive boarding school system is imposed across all of historic Tibet, including in what China calls Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces. By limiting reference to the TAR, Türk overlooked the majority of Tibetans affected by these policies."
“We cannot afford diplomatic caution when an entire generation of Tibetan children is being systematically cut off from their language, culture, and families,” said Gloria Montgomery, UN Advocacy Director, Tibet Justice Center. “While we welcome the High Commissioner’s statement as progress, his failure to explicitly name China’s colonial boarding schools is a missed opportunity. The Chinese government will interpret broad statements as a sign that it can continue these assimilationist policies unchecked.”
Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director, Tibet Action Institute said: “The High Commissioner had a crucial opportunity to take a stand against China’s forced assimilation policies, yet he shied away from directly condemning the residential boarding schools. If the UN is serious about defending human rights, it must be willing to call out China’s blatant violations without hesitation. We urge Türk to make this a priority in his direct engagement with Beijing and in every international human rights forum.”
Mandie McKeown, Executive Director, International Tibet Network, added: “This is a step forward, but not the decisive action that Tibetans desperately need. The High Commissioner must directly name and condemn these colonial boarding schools in Tibet, just as UN human rights experts have already done. Anything less lets Beijing off the hook.”
Pema Doma, Executive Director, Students for a Free Tibet said: “Tibetan activists and our global allies will not stop until these colonial boarding schools are abolished. The High Commissioner’s statement today was progress, but he must take more urgent, concrete action to hold China accountable. Every day that he hesitates, more Tibetan children are forcibly assimilated.”
Karma Gahler, Co-President, Tibetan Youth Association in Europe: “We welcome the High Commissioner’s recognition of the human rights crisis in Tibet, but his statement falls short of what is needed. After months of advocacy and over 350,000 people calling on him to break his silence, he still failed to directly name China’s residential boarding school system. These coercive schools are the single greatest threat to Tibetan identity today, and if the High Commissioner truly wants to see human rights progress, he must call them out explicitly and demand their closure.”
"Over 350,000 people and 140 organisations worldwide urged the High Commissioner to explicitly condemn China’s vast network of residential boarding schools in Tibet, where at least one million Tibetan children are systematically separated from their families subjected to political indoctrination and alienated from their culture, including the Tibetan language. Yet, despite the growing global alarm, Türk failed to directly call out this policy—one of the most egregious tools of forced assimilation in Tibet today. This omission is a missed opportunity for meaningful pressure on the Chinese government to abolish these coercive institutions and uphold Tibetan children’s fundamental rights," the Tibet Advocacy Coalition declared.
"Tibet Advocacy Coalition urges the UN High Commissioner to build on today’s statement by making Tibet—and the boarding school crisis—a priority in all his global updates and during all his bilateral discussions with Chinese authorities. If the world’s leading human rights official does not take a clear stand, Beijing will only accelerate its systematic attempt to erase Tibetan identity," the Tibetan activists concluded.
