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Mission Statement and Projects
The International Committee of Lawyers for Tibet (ICLT) advocates self-determination for the Tibetan people. Through legal action and education, ICLT promotes human rights, environmental protection, and peaceful resolution of the situation in Tibet. A non-profit membership group, ICLT is supported by attorneys, other concerned individuals, and organizations.
The International Committee of Lawyers for Tibet (ICLT) was created in 1989 at the request of representatives of the Tibetan people. We are the only international organization devoted solely to legal advocacy for Tibet. ICLT (1) monitors China's compliance with human rights law and its own law in Tibet; (2) documents China's violations of these laws; (3) publicizes these violations as widely as possible; (4) demands, in appropriate forums, that China cease these violations and negotiate the status of Tibet with Tibetan representatives; (5) assists the development of Tibetan democratic institutions; and (6) provides immigration and refugee rights assistance to Tibetan refugees in the US and abroad.
International Committee of Lawyers for Tibet
Project Summary - 2000/2001
I. PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS INVESTIGATIVE MISSIONS
A. Tibetan Children's Rights Project - China has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, that requires China to ensure that children in Tibet have basic human rights. ICLT has received reliable reports of serious violations of these rights, including the imprisonment and torture of children. In November 1999, ICLT undertook a fact-finding mission to investigate and document these abuses. We are currently preparing reports for the United Nations and the general public.
B. Tibetan Women's Rights Project China has ratified a number of international conventions and treaties that guarantee the human rights of women. Yet, Tibetan women continue to be subject to flagrant gender-specific forms of human rights abuse under Chinese occupation. In 1998, ICLT carried out a fact-finding mission to document these abuses, and submitted an official report to the United Nations. The UN Review Committee subsequently adopted some of ICLT's recommendations. ICLT networks with other women's rights organizations, and sponsors Tibetan delegations to relevant international forums to promote Tibetan women's rights.
II. ECONOMIC TRADE & DEVELOPMENT
A. Environmental Protection Project - ICLT is working to stop Chinese development harmful to Tibet's environment. We are currently mobilizing support to protect Tibet's watersheds -- watersheds that impact over one billion people in the region. A resolution will be presented at this year's World Conservation Union (IUCN) conference in Jordan. This project will help build a Southeast Asia regional coalition that recognizes that neighboring countries have a national interest in what happens in Tibet. In 1996, ICLT was responsible for passage of a precedent-setting resolution at the 1996 IUCN conference calling on China to address Tibetan concerns about a hydroelectric project at the Tibetan sacred lake of Yamdrok Tso. We continue environmental research, and networking with major environmental organizations.
B. Economic Rights Project - China is removing precious natural resources from Tibet and is developing infrastructure projects that support a massive illegal migration of Chinese into Tibet. As a result, Tibetans are now a minority in their own country, and Tibet is being developed contrary to the wishes of the Tibetan people. ICLT is working to help return control of Tibet's economic development to Tibetans. In 1998, we began a campaign, based on the South Africa Anti-Apartheid model, that seeks passage of legislation supporting Tibet and Tibetans right to control development in Tibet. In 2000, we will launch our Trade & Development Program, which includes a corporate responsibility forum to promote human rights while promoting good business.
III. LEGAL SERVICES:
A. Immigration and Asylum Project - ICLT's Asylum & Immigration Legal Services Project provides legal assistance to Tibetans, and referrals to pro-bone or low-cost attorneys. We maintain a legal "brief bank" to support Tibetan political asylum cases, and provide specialized information to law firms and individual attorneys handle cases. This project is expanding as demands for services increased by over 300 percent during 1998/99.
IV. DEMOCRACY BUILDING
A. Assisting the Tibetan Government to Develop Democratic Institutions: In 1998, at the request of the Tibetan Government, we began a 3-year training program of Tibetan legislative counsel. In 1998, we sponsored a U.S. by the Chief Justice of the Tibetan Judiciary to familiarize both Tibetans and American lawyers and jurists on how aspects of the Anglo-American system might contribute positively to the administration of civil and criminal justice in Tibetan institutions. In 1997, at the request of the Tibetan Government, we assisted in rewriting the Tibetan Constitution for consistency with both Indian law (the host country of the Tibetan government) and Tibetan's legal needs
B. Preparing for Negotiations and Self-Governance: In 1998, ICLT completed and published a unique legal brief on "Tibet's Sovereignty and the Tibetan's Right to Self-Determination," that is now used worldwide to promote the Tibetan cause, and that provides the legal basis for Tibetans right to independence. In November 1999, we completed a "Self-Governance Study" examining 35 cases around the world in which a people has gained some form of self-governance within the framework of a state. This study is being used by the Tibetan Government to develop a model, with legal precedents, to take to the negotiating table. ICLT also publishes and updates, "Legal Materials on Tibet.
In 2000, at the request of the TGIE, we will expand our Self-Governance project with respect to the implementation of autonomy arrangements, especially in situations where the arrangements were the product of difficult negotiations following years of conflict between contending parties. This expanded Project includes: (a) further research on agreements of autonomy and self-government arrangements with the intent to focus on ensuring implementation of agreements. This will be prepared in partnership with the Peace Action Council and the European Academy in South Tyrol, Italy; (b) preparation of a manual: "Asymmetric negotiations; a guide for non-state actors in intrastate conflicts (joint project with The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. This negotiations "guide book" will address especially the issue of unequal negotiating parties, and the fact that all parties to a conflict and the world at large have an unquestionable interest in seeing negotiations between conflicting parties lead to agreements that genuinely satisfy the interests of all sides; and (c) Community Education: A training-of-educators to assist the TGIE in educating the Tibetan community on their options for a future political, economic, social and cultural status.
V. INTERNATIONAL ADVOCACY AND RESEARCH
A. United Nations Advocacy Project - ICLT assists the Tibetan Government, through their diplomatic-equivalent office in New York and Geneva, to expand lobbying at the United Nations. In addition to helping develop strategy and fundraise, ICLT prepares official interventions for submission to the UN Human Rights Commission and other relevant committees, and participates in international conferences to advocate for the Tibetan cause.
B. Torture Accountability Project - Although China has ratified the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Chinese government policy still promotes the torture of Tibetan men, women, and children political prisoners. ICLT believes that one way to stop torture, in addition to publicizing it widely, is to hold torturers legally responsible for their actions. We are currently conducting legal research to determine whether two US laws, the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victims Protection Act, can provide Tibetan torture victims with the right to sue their torturers in US courts, and will then work with volunteer attorneys to prepare such a lawsuit. This project will remain in a research-only stage during 2000.
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