HUMAN “They Say We Should RIGHTS Be Grateful” WATCH Mass Rehousing and Relocation Programs in Tibetan Areas of China “They Say We Should Be Grateful” Mass Rehousing and Relocation Programs in Tibetan Areas of China Copyright © 2013 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-62313-0336 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. We stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom, to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice. We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold abusers accountable. We challenge governments and those who hold power to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law. We enlist the public and the international community to support the cause of human rights for all. 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For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org JUNE 2013 ISBN: 978-1-62313-0336 “They Say We Should Be Grateful” Mass Rehousing and Relocation Programs in Tibetan Areas of China Map: Tibetan Autonomous Areas within the People’s Republic of China ............................... i Glossary ............................................................................................................................. ii Summary ........................................................................................................................... 1 Key Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 30 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 31 I. Overview of the Human Rights Situation ........................................................................ 33 Tibetans in China ..................................................................................................... 34 The 2008 Protests and Their Aftermath ..................................................................... 35 II. Origin of Rehousing and Relocation Policies ................................................................. 38 The Great Development of the West (2000) ............................................................... 39 The New Socialist Countryside and the Comfortable Housing Campaign (2005-present) .. 40 The Leapfrog Development Strategy (2010) ............................................................... 42 The Chinese Government’s Response to the 2007 Human Rights Watch Report on Tibetan Herder Relocation Programs ......................................................................... 48 III. Applicable Legal Standards ......................................................................................... 50 International Standards ............................................................................................ 50 Domestic Standards ................................................................................................. 58 IV. Coercion in Relocation and Rehousing Programs ......................................................... 62 Challenges to Government Claims that Relocation and Rehousing are Voluntary ........ 63 Convicted for Protesting Relocation .......................................................................... 64 V. Inadequate Consultation and Remedies ........................................................................ 68 Inadequate Consultation .......................................................................................... 68 Lack of Remedies ..................................................................................................... 71 VI. Inadequate Compensation and Subsidies .................................................................... 73 Adequate Compensation .......................................................................................... 74 Compensation Calculations ...................................................................................... 75 Compensation and Subsidies for Relocation and Housing ......................................... 76 Allegations of Corruption .......................................................................................... 79 VII. Housing Quality and Suitability Issues ....................................................................... 81 Main Problems Identified by the 2009 State Council Study ........................................ 85 VIII. Increased Financial Burdens ...................................................................................... 87 House Construction and Renovation Costs Borne by Individual Households (Unit: 100 million yuan) ............................................................................................................ 91 Asset Transfers as “Self-Financing”........................................................................... 94 IX. Other Cultural and Economic Impacts .......................................................................... 95 Loss of Farmland Crops and Livestock ....................................................................... 98 Increased Living Costs ............................................................................................ 100 The Caterpillar Fungus in the Tibetan Economy ........................................................ 102 Limited Employment Opportunities ......................................................................... 104 U.N. Special Rapporteur Urges End to Relocation or Rehousing ................................ 106 Difficulties Integrating into Urban, Commercial Economies ...................................... 107 X. Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 110 To the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) ...................................... 110 To International Donors, including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank ..... 111 To the UN Human Rights Council and Other UN Bodies ............................................. 111 To Chinese and International Infrastructure Companies Investing in Tibetan Areas .... 112 Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................... 114 Appendix I: Chinese Terms .............................................................................................. 115 Appendix II: Tibetan Autonomous Areas of China (Official Transcription) ......................... 116 Map: Tibetan Autonomous Areas within the People’s Republic of China I Glossary TAR Tibet Autonomous Region PRC People’s Republic of China ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ICERD International Covenant on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CAT The International Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment CRC The Convention on the Rights of the Child ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights NHRAP National Human Rights Action Plan 2009-2010 ABoC Agricultural Bank of China II Summary and Key Recommendations Human Rights Watch | June 2013 Today I am living in new house with a comfortable life. I am so happy. All of my fortunes do not come from my prayers, but rather from the Communist Party. —Dekyi, China’s Tibet Magazine, March 2009 People in the village are desperate about abandoning their homes and having to resettle. They don’t have any other skills than farming, and won’t have any herds or land worth speaking of anymore. How is the next generation going to survive as Tibetans? —Human Rights Watch interviewee from Gyama (Jiama), Tibet Autonomous Region, July 2012 “They Say We Should Be Grateful” Mass Rehousing and Relocation Programs in Tibetan Areas of China Local residents walk past a row of newly built houses at Jiangcun Village in Chushur (Qushui) County, Tibet Autonomous Region, January 2006. © 2006 Associated Press Since 2006, the Chinese government has implemented large-scale programs to “rehouse”—through renovation of existing houses or construction of new ones—a majority of the rural population of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) under a policy called “Comfortable Housing.” In parallel, the government has accelerated the relocation and sedentarization of nomadic herders in the eastern part of the Tibetan plateau, mostly in Qinghai province, and laid the ground for similar policies in other parts of the plateau. Both policies are a component of the government’s effort to “Build a New Socialist Countryside” in Tibetan areas, which the government says is designed to rapidly increase the living standards of rural Tibetans and boost the local economy. The scale and speed at which the Tibetan rural population is being remodeled by these policies is unprecedented in the post-Mao era. According to official figures, under the Comfortable Housing policy, 2 million people—more than two-thirds of the entire population of the TAR—were moved into new houses or rebuilt their own houses between 2006 and 2012. Twenty percent of those rehoused between 2006