The European Parliament adopted a resolution on “the abduction of Tibetan children and forced assimilation practices through Chinese boarding schools in Tibet” during its session on December 14, 2023 in Strasbourg.
The resolution (RC-B9-0510/2023) adopted with 477 voices in favor and 14 against notes that “Chinese authorities have established an expansive system of de facto compulsory, highly politicised boarding schools for children aged 4 to 18, requiring them to undergo mandatory education in Mandarin without any opportunity for substantive study of the Tibetan language, history or culture; whereas approximately 80 % of Tibetan children, totalling around one million, have been separated from their families by this system, which aims to forcibly assimilate them culturally, religiously and linguistically into the Han majority; whereas there are almost no private alternatives to these government schools, which are reportedly heavily surveilled.”
The European Parliament “strongly condemns the repressive assimilation policies throughout China, especially the boarding school system in Tibet, that seek to eliminate the distinct linguistic, cultural and religious traditions among Tibetans and other minorities, such as Uyghurs,” and “calls for the immediate abolishment of the boarding school system imposed on children in Tibet and the practice of family separations, as highlighted by UN experts in February 2023.”
