(TibetanReview.net, Jul19’26) – The Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), with its more than 40 chapters in around 14 countries, has launched a relay 24-hour hunger-strikes campaign to press for greater international action, especially from the United Nations, on China’s continuing occupation rule and repression in Tibet, and for global support for the Tibetan independence campaign.
The campaign has been launched in memory of Lobsang Palden, known by his activist name of Lobga Rangzen, who on Jul 2 self-immolated in front of the UN Headquarters. He had accused China of being out to destroy Tibet and its ethnic identity as its Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law – decried internationally as a forced assimilation move – came into force on Jul 1. He called for unity among the Tibetan people to fight for their national independence in recorded messages he left behind.
The inaugural relay hunger-strike was launched near the main gate of the Tsuglakhang, outside the Tibetan Refugee Market, in McLeod Ganj on Jul 19 morning and will continue till Aug 20, when 49 days will have passed since Lobga Rangzen’s self-immolation and death. Tibetan Buddhists believe a person remains in the intermediate state of existence after his death for a maximum period of 49 days.
Those taking part in the first 24 hours of the relay hunger-strike are six former Central Executive Committee members of the TYC – Tenzin Lhamo, Penpa Tsering Ngoche, Lobsang Yeshi, Karma Yeshi, Lobsang Tsering Kongra, and Gonpo Dhondup. Each 24-hour hunger-strike will have a minimum of five participants on any given day.
This will be followed by a plan to launch an unto-death hunger stroke in New Delhi, and further on other Hunger-strike protests before the UN Headquarters in New York City and then other places around the world having TYC Chapters and Tibet Support Groups possibly totalling some 20 countries, said TYC Vice-President Tashi Dhargyal at the launch of the campaign in Dharamshala.
The hunger-strike campaign highlights a set of five demands, the first of which is that the UN Should adopt a responsible attitude towards Lobga Rangzen’s sacrifice for the cause of Tibetan independence with concrete actions.
The hunger-strike protesters are also demanding that the Chinese government take full responsibility for the deaths of all the Tibetans, including Lobga Rangzen, who had immolated themselves for the Tibetan national cause.
The hunger-strike protesters are also urging the international community at large to recognize Tibet’s historical status as an independent country and the Tibetan people’s right to it even now.
The TYC has dismissed China’s so-called Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law as illegal, entirely incompatible with its objectives, and is calling for an immediate end to its implementation in Tibet.
The TYC is also demanding that China release all Tibetan political prisoners forthwith and without conditions, including the one-time world’s youngest political prisoner Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, along with political, human rights, and environmental activists; as well as artists, writers, and other persecuted and jailed Tibetans.