Dharamshala, 26th April: Every year on April 25th, Tibetans all around the world are reminded that one of their most important spiritual leaders was abducted when he was a little boy(six-year-old). Every year on the Panchen Lama’s birthday, Tibetans in exile demonstrate Panchen Lama’s freedom from Chinese captivity. Every year, though, our protests go unnoticed around the world or have little effect. On the 33rd anniversary of Tibet’s 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima’s birthday, as usual, we Tibetans around the world demand that the Chinese government grant the Panchen Lama, the world’s youngest political prisoner, and his family the freedom to which they are entitled under international law and treaties to which China is bound.

The current Panchen Lama who is present by the Chinese government is selected by the Chinese government by ignoring His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s recommendation. The Chinese government named Gyaltsen Norbu, the son of a Communist Party member, the 11th Panchen Lama on November 11, 1995. He was enthroned at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in December 1995, under heavy security and over 500 military personnel positioned across the monastery compound.

The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances voiced worry about the Panchen Lama’s whereabouts in November 1995 and encouraged the Chinese government to share information on the situation. Since then, several human rights organizations, including the United Nations Committee Against Torture, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, and the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, have pushed the Chinese government to reveal the Panchen Lama’s whereabouts.

To this day, China has turned a deaf ear to these pleas and continues to deceive the world by alleging that “the Panchen Lama is an ordinary citizen, living a perfectly normal life and does not wish to be disturbed”. Therefore, the Panchen Lama’s case continues to remain one of the longest cases of enforced disappearance in the world.

China’s influence in the Panchen Lama’s selection and disappearance was motivated by a desire to assert control over Tibet and to create the groundwork for its manipulative goal in the future selection of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Given the Panchen Lama’s important cultural and religious position in Tibet, it’s imperative that he has a spiritual upbringing free of political intrusion.

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