COP18: World must rise up to protect Tibetan women and nomads

COP18: World must rise up to protect Tibetan women and nomads

COP18 (4/12/12) – Tenzin Choedon, Women’s Environment & Development Desk Officer at the Tibetan Women’s Association, outlines the difficult situation facing Tibetan nomads and herders as they are displaced by urban expansion.

Choedon explains that two million Tibetan nomads and herders have been displaced from their grasslands due to urban expansion under various Chinese policies beginning in the 1980s.

Choeden stresses that settling in new urban environments is very hard for these people as they do not have the skillsets to find employment in the city. She makes clear that women are essential for keeping the culture of the nomads in tact and so it is imperative that they can find stable livelihoods.

Choeden is categoric in stating that the lack of freedom in China makes it hard to raise the voice of these nomads. She tells RTCC of the desperation felt in Tibet at the lack of human rights, exemplified by the desperation of the 92 Tibetans that have self-immolated in protest at their lack of rights.