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Refugees walking from Nangpa-la pass towardsthe lower Himalayan foothills in Nepal.FLEEING TIBETIn 1991, the UNHCR established an office in Kathmandu and beganregistering Tibetans fleeing Tibet as “persons of concern.” Since thattime, the annual count has averaged to roughly 2,500 Tibetans seekingUNHCR protection, with some years peaking significantly. The reasonsTibetans leave their homeland are varied and can be as simple as a desireto see the Dalai Lama or as complex as life in Tibet’s contemporarysociety where Chinese influence threatens to marginalize the Tibetanidentity and basic human freedoms are curtailed or denied.Depending on their point of departure in Tibet, the journey to the Tibet/Nepal border region can take weeks or months. Most Tibetan refugeescross the high mountains along commonly used escape routes, primarilycrossing through the Nangpa-la pass separating Tibet and Nepal. Inthe first weeks of 2002, news circulated widely of increased Chinesepatrols in the area around the Nangpa-la pass. i According to a Chinesenews agency (Xinhua) story on October 2001, Chinese police working inthe border areas in the eight months since February “tracked and apprehendedmore than 2,500 people trying to cross the border.” This numberwould presumably include Tibetans returning to Tibet from exile as well asTibetans detained in border areas without valid documents. Concurrently,the number of new refugees arriving from Tibet dropped substantially in2001 and was comparably low in 2002, as recorded by the UNHCR.2
An ICT human rights monitor travels theroute that refugees follow out of Tibet andthrough Nepal.An open plain 2 days from Tibetis easy walking in good weatherbut can turn treacherous in afoot of new snow.The Xinhua report attempted to portray a sympathetic picture of Chineseoperations around Nangpa-la.“During the Strike Hard Campaign officers and men of the Tibetanborder patrol units have had to brave freezing conditions and extremediscomfort in order to carry out their duties of preserving stability inthe border regions of the Motherland. As a crossing point, Nangpa-lamountain pass has always been a ‘golden route’ for people trying tosteal across the border. Patrolling the mountain pass at Nangpa-la is aduty that has to be carried out every night by the officers and men of theunit and involves a two-hour walk from the unit’s temporary station toNangpa-la. Wearing leather hats and thick padded greatcoats, they haveto wade through three waist-deep steams and traverse two mountainsthat are snow-capped even in summer.” iiXinhua set its report in the context of China’s anti-crime “Strike HardCampaign” re-launched in the spring of 2001. While the Strike HardCampaign is ostensibly focused on violent crimes, there is a strongpolitical dimension to the campaign in Tibet, where it is linked to the“anti-splittist struggle.”3
Page 1 and 2: dangerous crossingConditions Impact
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Page 7 and 8: Once Tibetan refugees successfully
Page 9 and 10: Most Tibetan refugees are so obviou
Page 11 and 12: Nepal is not a party to internation
Page 13 and 14: Dili Bazaar prison, Kathmandu’sma
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Page 17 and 18: The Tibetan community has reciproca
Page 19 and 20: not only detrimental to China,” c
Page 21 and 22: July 25A press conference called by
Page 23 and 24: In the 2001 report, Dangerous Cross
Page 25 and 26: 10. Provide an identification card
Page 28: 1825 K Street, NWSuite 520Washingto

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