Lhasa (AsiaNews) – The Chinese authorities are forcing nomadic tribes to move into the cities to “clear” the lands for industrial development; in doing so they are uprooting them from their ancestral land forcing them into poverty It was denounced by Human Rights Watch (Hrw), the international organisation which monitors respect for human rights throughout the world.
According to Hrw, Herders have been forced to slaughter herds of yaks, sheep and goats, ahead of their forced deportation, while officials have paid minimal compensation for the destruction of the local economy. Hundreds of thousands have been affected by this policy.
According to one deportee, “they are destroying our Tibetan [herder] communities by not letting us live in our area and thus wiping out our livelihood completely”. According to Beijing, the manoeuvre – which hits the provinces bordering with Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai – is part of a project to develop the poor, backward west of the country.
The communist regimes moves have also been denounced by the Dalai Lama who during an official visit to Australia, last week declared: “China has almost completed its aim to totally destroy Tibet”.