Since Xi Jinping was appointed General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, the situation has deteriorated dramatically for Tibetans and Uyghurs in China. Xi is pursuing a strict policy of assimilation, which strives to bring Tibetans and Uyghurs into line with mainstream Han Chinese society by any means necessary.
Ever since the violent annexation of Tibet in 1950, the Chinese government has been relentlessly crushing the Tibetan protests that have repeatedly flared up. Over the past years, hundreds of thousands of Tibetans have been uprooted from their traditional way of life and forcibly resettled, often under the pretext of combating poverty. Tibetan people are also being dispossessed and displaced to make way for large-scale dam projects. Valuable cultural assets are being demolished under the pretext of renovation, or amid claims that this serves the energy transition. Whenever the local population puts up resistance, the government retaliates brutally and imposes long prison sentences, among other things. Any criticism of the Chinese occupation or any public statements in favour of the Dalai Lama are punished very severely. Tibetan schools have been systematically closed down and Tibetan families forced to send their children, from the age of four, to distant boarding schools, where the teaching is in Mandarin only. This generation receives no instruction on Tibetan history or culture. Lessons in Tibetan during the school holidays are also forbidden. As a result, the cultural identity of Tibetans is gradually being erased.
Under Xi Jinping, the oppression of the Uyghur community has also intensified greatly: In a large-scale campaign, over a million Uyghurs, as well as members of other Turkic-speaking communities, have been detained in so-called ‘re-education camps’. Political indoctrination, rape, forced sterilisation and torture have been systematically carried out at these camps. Following international pressure, the Chinese government has closed some of these establishments or converted them into prisons. However, the situation remains precarious for Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China. Like in the case of the Tibetans, the aim of the government’s strategy is to eradicate the Uyghurs’ distinct cultural identity in the long term. According to estimates, millions of Uyghurs are subjected to forced labour. This takes place in state camp systems or prisons, for example, but also in state-run programmes outside these institutions, under the pretext of combating poverty. It is highly likely that goods produced under forced labour are also sold on the European market, particularly products such as cotton, tomatoes and solar panels.
Eyewitness Gulbahar Haitiwaji reports on the torture and violence she experienced in the so-called ‘re-education camps’.
Switzerland and China: Profit before human rights?
While the human rights situation in the People’s Republic of China continues to worsen, Switzerland is determinedly expanding its trade relations with China: In autumn 2024, for instance, the Swiss Federal Council officially reopened negotiations with the People’s Republic of China on expanding the bilateral free trade agreement that had come into force in 2014. In September 2024, with a petition signed by over 14,000 people, the STP called for human rights to be substantially incorporated into the agreement – which, in its current wording, does not mention human rights at all.
Whenever faced with criticism of its closer economic ties with the People’s Republic of China, the Swiss government always points to the human rights dialogue between the two countries, in which sensitive topics are allegedly also discussed. This dialogue takes place behind closed doors though, so it is not publicly known what exactly gets talked about. As the STP finds the effectiveness of these bilateral talks questionable, it is calling for an independent appraisal of the dialogue.
Not only official Switzerland, but also the Swiss business community, likes to argue that Switzerland’s human rights policy towards the People’s Republic of China should be limited to this dialogue and kept separate from economic relations. For the STP, however, it is clear that human rights constitute an essential foundation for business. Human rights must be bindingly enshrined in any trade relations with a regime that systematically violates the rights of entire population groups. Only if human rights are incorporated into economic and trade relations, will Switzerland’s human rights policy be worthy of its name.
Switzerland must not prioritise economic profit over human rights!
Tibetans and Uyghurs in Switzerland
While trade relations with the People’s Republic of China have kept intensifying, Tibetans and Uyghurs are finding that less and less attention is being paid to their concerns in Switzerland. In a 2018 report, the STP and Tibetan organisations documented how the basic rights of Tibetans were coming under increasing pressure, five years after the free trade agreement had come into force. Restrictions on the right to freedom of expression, the right to a distinct identity and the right to freedom of movement, as well as the surveillance of Tibetans and Uyghurs in Switzerland by the Chinese regime, are particularly worrying.
With around 8,000 Tibetans, Switzerland is home to one of the largest Tibetan exile communities in Europe. Several hundred Uyghurs also live in this country. No exact figures are available for either of these two groups though, because when it comes to designation of origin, Switzerland now lists all of their members under ‘People’s Republic of China’. ‘Tibet’ was permitted as an indication of origin on foreigners’ identity cards up until 2014, but the Swiss Confederation has since applied one standard designation of origin across the board. For many of those affected, this change was a painful encroachment on their personal identity, as they do not see themselves as Chinese and have had to leave their homeland because of repression by the Chinese government.
On top of that though, this designation of origin also affects the freedom of movement of Tibetans and Uyghurs in Switzerland, as it makes them dependent on the Chinese embassy whenever they need to obtain official documents. The Chinese government also uses its presence abroad to exert pressure on diaspora communities, for instance, as well as on their family members in the People’s Republic, thus preventing them from speaking out against China in Switzerland.
Action and petition handover of the Society for Threatened Peoples photographed on Wednesday, 18 September 2024 in Bern. (VOLLTOLL / Jana Leu)
Rights for Tibetans. Photo: Franziska Rothenbühler © Franziska Rothenbuehler
In einer Petition fordert die Gesellschaft für bedrohte Voelker gemeinsam mit dem Uigurischen Verein Schweiz und Campax, dass die Schweiz das Freihandelsabkommen mit China neu verhandelt Franziska Rothenbuehler
What the STP is doing
Together with its Tibetan and Uyghur partner organisations, the Society for Threatened Peoples is working to ensure that human rights are finally observed in the People’s Republic of China. Moreover, the increasingly close economic ties between Switzerland and the People’s Republic of China must not be allowed to impinge on the rights of the Tibetan and Uyghur exile communities in Switzerland. Switzerland must protect these Tibetan and Uyghur exile communities from Chinese interference. The STP is actively committed to the following demands:
Insistence on human rights in China policy
Switzerland must consistently demand universal human rights at all hierarchical levels and in all matters, in a coherent China policy. This also includes economic policy regarding the People’s Republic of China: Human rights must also be enshrined in any bilateral economic accords or cooperation. Human rights, workers’ rights and minorities’ rights must be explicitly incorporated into negotiations, as well as the wording of any agreements.
Action against transnational repression
Switzerland must take tangible steps to ensure that members of the Tibetan and Uyghur communities can live safely and freely in Switzerland. They must be protected from surveillance and intimidation carried out by Chinese agents.
Guaranteed freedom of expression in Switzerland
Switzerland must unconditionally guarantee freedom of expression on the situation in Tibet and East Turkestan (chinese: Xinjiang), as well as on the general human rights situation in the People’s Republic of China.
Human rights due diligence
Swiss companies must conduct independent human rights due diligence on their own firms in the People’s Republic of China, as well as on any imports, exports, financing and investments in firms connected with the People’s Republic of China. They must also use their influence on partner firms in the People’s Republic of China to persuade them to observe human rights. Whenever substantial concerns arise, such as suspicion of forced labour, firms should terminate cooperation if no improvement is achieved.
Advocacy of human rights at international level
Advocacy of human rights at international level: Switzerland must proactively and internationally, within a strong alliance of like-minded states, take a stand vis-à-vis the People’s Republic of China, to ensure that the Chinese government observes human rights, especially with regard to the rights of Tibetan and Uyghur communities.
Achievements of the STP
Over the past years, the STP, together with its Tibetan and Uyghur partners, has achieved a number of successes in campaigning for the rights of Uyghurs and Tibetans.
2024: Demand issued by 14,000 people: No expansion of free trade without human rights!
On the 18th of September, the STP, together with Campax, the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe, the Swiss-Tibetan Friendship Association, the Tibetan Community in Switzerland & Liechtenstein, the Tibetan Women’s Organisation Switzerland and the Swiss Uyghur Association, presented the Federal Chancellery with a red line measuring 140.63 metres in length: one centimetre for each of the 14,063 signatures on the petition ‘Red line for Switzerland: No free trade with China without human rights’.
2022: Uyghur survivors of ‘re-education camps’ give testimony
At the invitation of the STP, the two Uyghurs Gulbahar Jalilova and Gulbahar Haitiwaji visited Switzerland. They spoke at several panel discussions about the situation of Uyghurs in East Turkestan, and called on politicians and civil society to take action.
2021: Pressure on National Council successful
Together with the STP, the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe and the Swiss-Tibetan Friendship Association had submitted a petition in 2018, calling for more protection of Tibetans in Switzerland from the influence of the Chinese government. In 2021, the National Council responded to the concerns by calling on the Federal Council to write up a report on the situation of Tibetans and Uyghurs in Switzerland, and to finally evaluate the bilateral human rights dialogue with the People’s Republic of China.
2020: Uyghurs, Campax and the STP submit petition
Together with over 23,000 signatories, the Swiss Uyghur Association, Campax and the STP submitted a petition to the Federal Council, calling for renegotiation of the free trade agreement with China.
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