Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy

Description

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, or TCHRD, is a Tibetan non-governmental human rights organization working in exile. It was founded in January 1996 and is based in Dharamshala, in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It was the first Tibetan human rights group established outside Tibet and is registered as an NGO under Indian law.

TCHRD works to advance human rights and democracy in Tibet and among the exiled Tibetan community. It monitors, documents and campaigns against human rights abuses, and empowers Tibetan advocates to do the same. It investigates issues such as censorship and discrimination faced by Tibetans, and keeps databases on political prisoners, self-immolations and deaths in detention. It publishes reports, thematic studies, briefings and yearly human rights updates.

Its staff are Tibetans living in exile with direct knowledge of conditions inside occupied Tibet. TCHRD is a member of the World Organisation Against Torture, the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network and the International Fellowship for Reconciliation, and it partners with the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. It has worked with human rights organizations, researchers and universities worldwide.