Tibetian women are being sexually assaulted in an organized and systematic way by the Chinese authorities. Reports and allegations of physical assault, sexual abuse and harassment in Chinese prisons in Tibet filter across the Himalayas. The Chinese authorities have themselves acknowledged the use of torture in obtaining confessions. This torture and sexual abuse have led thousands of women to flee Tibet. However it is extremely difficult to assess the full extent of sexual abuse and violence against women in Tibet. The humiliation and social stigma discourage many women from reporting such abuses.
A report issued jointly by LawAsia and TIN in March 1991 stated that:
"Written and oral accounts by nuns of their experiences in prison, particularly in Gurtsa, are strikingly consistent and indicate that nuns have been singled out for special treatment. Torture apparently reserved for nuns include the use of dogs to bite prisoners; lighted cigarettes being applied to the torso and face, and the use of electric batons in the genitals".
The People's Republic of China has ratified the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Criminal Law of the PRC also stipulates that "it is strictly forbidden to extort confession by torture" (Article 136). The Criminal Procedure Law repeats the prohibition of "extortion of confessions by torture" or by other "unlawful means". The Regulations on Detention Centers which came into force in March 1990 provide that "beating and verbal abuse, corporal punishment" and "maltreatment" of "offenders" are "strictly forbidden".
The following are details of specific instances where Tibetan women have been tortured and have lived to tell their stories.
Dawa Langzom , a nun, was arrested in 1989 in Lhasa, after shouting independence slogans during a demonstration. On the police jeep, which took her to Gurtsa Detention Centre, the arresting officers cut off one of her nipples with a pair of scissors, according to nuns who have now fled Tibet.
Ngawang Kyizomwas arrested for shouting slogans like "Long live the Dalai Lama" and "Free Tibet" at the entrance of the Jokhang (the main cathedral in Lhasa). For this outburst, in September 1990, Chinese secret police kicked and beat her, jabbed her with an electric cattle prod on her tongue, breasts and thighs and then jailed her for three years without a proper trial.
Another Tibetan woman, the twenty-six-year old Sonam Dolkar, was arrested in July 1990 on suspicion of her involvement in independence activities. Although she denied any political connections, she was interrogated under torture every other day for six months. She endured a fearsome range of torture techniques. She was stripped naked, slapped and punched. She was wrapped in electric wires and given electric shocks until she fainted. She was prodded with electric batons all over her body and on the face. Electric batons were also pushed into her genitals. She was restrained in handcuffs and leg-irons throughout her ordeal and held in solitary confinement on the days she was not tortured. By early 1991 she was vomiting and urinating blood every day and was in such a condition that a doctor was finally called to see her. She was eventually transferred to a police hospital from where she managed to escape. She left the country clandestinely during the second half of 1991.
Damchoe Pemo, a Lhasa businesswoman in her mid-twenties, was arrested in Lhasa on May 20, 1993. According to unofficial reports, she miscarried her baby a week after police forced her to remain standing for at least twelve hours and beat her with electric batons. At the time of arrest, she was reportedly four or five months into pregnancy. According to one source, she was tortured for refusing to reveal the names of Tibetan underground activists. She was apparently arrested on suspicion of being a member of an independence organization. Her release was officially announced on October 29, 1994 to European ambassadors during a meeting in Beijing.