The State Department’s latest annual report on the conduct of the Chinese government in Tibet, published on August 12, leaves too much out, says the International Campaign for Tibet (August 14, 2025).
Included in the report
“As in previous years, the State Department’s 2024 Country Report on Human Rights Practices for Tibet confirms ongoing and serious human rights abuses against the Tibetan people, including disappearances, torture, arbitrary arrest, and restrictions on religious freedom.”
Omitted from the report
“Alarmingly, however, this report lacks the deep substance of past years.” The relative brevity of the 2024 update—at 15 pages, less than half as long as the 37-page 2023 report—is explained by a substantial reduction in what is covered.
There are no details on government corruption in China-ruled Tibet this time, says ICT.
Also, “The section on political prisoners has been removed, and the previously robust sections on internet freedom, the right of assembly and [the right of] movement, [and reports on other issues] have been greatly reduced.
“Excluding these sections does not change the fact that Tibetan political prisoners continue to be imprisoned and mistreated and that those with relative ‘freedom’ continue to have their internet activity surveilled and their ability to assemble, move, and even speak heavily restricted.”
Why this happened
The Trump administration withdrew funding from Radio Free Asia, “one of the few media organizations able to report on human rights abuses in Tibet,” so that the U.S. State Department had less information that it could include in the report. The RFA site states that it can now provide only “limited news updates on our website and social media.”
ICT argues that “The credibility of RFA’s reporting is precisely the reason why the State Department has historically used it in their human rights reports, and the shuttering of RFA means that the State Department diplomats who prepare the 2025 report will have to do so without this unique and singular resource. Removing this critical source of information does not mean these human rights violations no longer occur, it simply provides China another layer of opacity to hide behind.”
What should happen
The advice is to restore RFA’s funding so that it can again do the job that State has relied upon. The International Campaign for Tibet “calls on the State Department to restore the prior and more comprehensive structure of the human rights report to support US and international advocacy” and efforts to hold the Chinese government accountable for its abuses.
Also see:
U.S. Department of State: “Tibet 2024 Human Rights Report”
U.S. Department of State: “Tibet 2023 Human Rights Report”
The Atlantic: “Chinese Tyranny in Tibet” (June 1961)
