DANGEROUS CROSSING: - International Campaign for Tibet

INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET
birthday celebrations were banned, a celebration in Kathmandu of the birthday
of the Karmapa, another important and popular Tibetan lama, was also
disrupted by Nepali police, with observers reporting hundreds of police in riot
gear deployed in every corner of the Boudha area.
b) Tibetan New Year or Losar
Based on the Lunar calendar, Tibetan new year or Losar falls in February or
March each year. Tibetans celebrate Losar usually over a three-day period
through religious programs, community events and activities in their own
homes. Losar is also celebrated by ethnic groups throughout Nepal’s mountainous
region. Although inherently apolitical, a ‘no Losar’ movement in 2009
called by Tibetans inside Tibet was taken up by Tibetans in exile as a mark of
respect for those who had suffered the violent crackdown following protests
across Tibet in 2008. 185 By not celebrating Losar that year, Nepal’s Tibetan
community stood in solidarity with Tibetans inside Tibet. Although the most
political of new years, no incidents were reported that year in Nepal. However,
increases in Chinese pressure meant that Losar became a sensitive date
on Nepal’s radar. This was obvious the following year, when on February 13,
2010, 14 young Tibetans (five females and nine males) were arrested from a
noodle cafe after having celebrated Losar in a bar in Thamel, the tourist district
of Kathmandu. Wrongly accused by the Nepal Police of planning a “Free
Tibet” protest, the 14 were detained and only released when they had paid a
considerable amount for bail.
Civil and Political Challenges Faced by Tibetans in Nepal
“OHCHR-Nepal [the Office in Nepal of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights]
continued to be concerned at the manner in which the police, under clear direction
from the Ministry of Home Affairs, have prevented members of the Tibetan community
from exercising their rights to freedom of movement, assembly and association”
186
-- OHCHR- Nepal’s final report to the UN Human Rights Council, December 2011.
The year 2008 saw an unprecedented assault on Tibetans’ civil liberties in Nepal,
which has paved the way for continued and escalating breaches of internationally
recognized civil and political rights in the years since. Where once Tibetans were
able to protest, assemble and carry out religious ceremonies freely, constraints on
these freedoms have been marked since 2008. Although the RC issued to Tibetans
promises freedom of movement s within Nepal, bar sensitive border areas, Tibetans’
freedom of movement are increasingly curtailed. In conjunction with a crippled economic
outlook, these serious infringements on civil and political rights strike at the
83