(TibetanReview.net, May15’25) – Human Rights Watch has on May 15 reiterated its call on China to release the 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his parents, ahead of the completion of 30 years since it abducted them on May 17, 1995. The New York-based international rights group said the issue had become all the more urgent as the Dalai Lama marks his 90th birthday on Jul 6, 2025 and the two top spiritual leaders of Tibet have historically played key roles in recognizing each other’s reincarnations. This is an opportune moment for Buddhist nations especially to raise their voices, the group said.
Noting that the question of the current, 14th Dalai Lama’s succession—and the future of Tibetan Buddhism and the Tibetan people—is becoming increasingly urgent, the group said the Chinese government forcibly disappeared the then six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima three days after the Dalai Lama recognized him as the 11th Panchen Lama. Even his pictures, along with those of the Dalai Lama, are prohibited in Tibet.
The kidnapping and disappearance of the six-year-old and his family for 30 years thus far was meant to “control the selection of the next Dalai Lama and thus Tibetan Buddhism itself,” Yalkun Uluyol, the group’s China researcher, has said.
The human rights situation only worsened since then, with the Chinese government tightening its grip over Tibet, which includes the Tibet Autonomous Region and the neighbouring Tibetan autonomous areas within Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces, especially since 2008, the group’s May 15 statement noted.
“Since 2008, when a massive crackdown on popular protests swept the Tibetan plateau, Chinese security forces have maintained a heavy presence in Tibet and tightly restricted access and travel to Tibetan areas. Any questioning of government policies, however mild, can result in arbitrary detention or long-term imprisonment, prosecution, enforced disappearance, and even instances of torture. Authorities maintain highly intrusive mass surveillance systems in Tibet, require Tibetans to use Mandarin Chinese as the medium of instruction in schools, and pressure many to relocate en masse from their long-established villages to new government-built settlements. Authorities also make it extremely difficult for Tibetans to travel abroad or to obtain passports and punish people severely for contacting relatives or others outside the country.”
After imposing regulations in 2007 to assume the ultimate authority to recognize reincarnate lamas, China further tightened control on monasteries in Tibet. In 2012, nearly all Tibetan monasteries were placed under the direct control of permanently stationed Chinese government officials.
Since 2018, Chinese authorities have required all monastics to meet the “Four Standards,” including “political reliability” and “being dependable at critical moments.” These standards are believed to involve support for the Chinese government’s choice of the next Dalai Lama and any other reincarnate lama, the statement said.
The group has expressed disappointment over China’s lack of response to repeated international calls, including from the UN and the European Parliament, for information on, access to, and release of the 11th Panchen Lama.
The statement suggested that concerned governments, especially those with significant Buddhist populations, such as Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, Taiwan, and India, should mark the 30th anniversary of the Panchen Lama’s enforced disappearance by speaking out publicly and by asserting the rights of Tibetans to exercise their religious freedom., saying this is an opportune moment.