Tibetan activists from four significant NGOs in Dharamshala marked International Justice Day and demonstrated against China’s abuses of human rights and atrocities on Tibetian people on Sunday.

The importance of securing accountability for some of the most serious crimes—such as genocide, murder, forced detention, and unfair imprisonment—as well as punishing offenders and bringing those who have been tortured by others justice are highlighted by International Justice Day.

Tenzin Passang, the campaign director for Students for Free Tibet, said it is important to recognise the unfair human rights conditions that exist in Tibet under the Chinese communist party’s oppression as we mark this day. Since 2009, more than 159 Tibetans have self-immolated in Tibet; the vast majority of them have perished.

According to activists, Chinese authorities have deliberately closed down native schools in Tibet over the past ten years and replaced them with colonised residential schools, even those for young children. The Chinese government is attacking Tibetan identity by forcibly removing Tibetan children from their families and culture and placing them in state-run boarding schools, one of the most horrific instruments of colonisation.

On this International Justice Day, Lhamo Chozom, an activist with the Tibetan Women’s Association, urged world leaders, governments, organisations, and citizens to hold China responsible for its failure to provide justice to Tibet and other occupied territories.

The event was jointly organised by four Tibetan NGOs, including the Tibetan Women’s Association, the National Democratic Party of Tibet, Gu Chu Sum Movement Association of Tibet, and Students for a Free Tibet.

DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.