Tibetan nuns who have been illegally detained into China’s state run re-education centers face brutal gang rapes and sexual abuses according to the recent reports by Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). China has been carrying out various programs to force their party education into the Tibetans, especially engaged in religious institutions.
“A first-hand account written by a former detainee reveals the horror that goes on in the name of ‘legal education’ inside the secretive walls of ‘re-education centres’ established by Chinese authorities in Tibet.” reports the TCHRD document which records the testimony of an anonymous monk who was illegally detained at the behest of his family’s safety and put into one of the state run re-education centers.
According to the monk’s testimony, the aim was to “brainwash” them on political and ideological grounds by forcing them to memorize “red” (Communist) songs, make them undergo Chinese military training, and instructing them to criticize and denounce their peers and spiritual leaders, including the Dalai Lama according to the report in International La-croix by Sang Jiepa.
The report details the account of the monk who has witnessed on many occasions in the center during which the severe drills led to most of the nuns losing consciousness and in the Chinese officers would indulge in taking advantage of those nuns sexually.
“Many nuns would lose consciousness during the [military] drills. Sometimes officers would take unconscious nuns inside where I saw them fondle the nuns’ breasts and grope all over their body.” recalls the Tibetan monk in the report, adding “During one of the drills, all nuns collapsed, losing consciousness. In no time, the officers rushed forward to take the nuns inside. Who knows what else they did to the nuns? But I have heard about some officers lying in the nuns’ bedroom pressing unconscious nuns underneath.”
Since China invaded Tibet in 1950s, Tibetans were subjected to severe human rights violations. In the recent political scenarios, China has intensified it’s crackdown of Tibetan social groups, facing severe consequences for engaging in any sort political activism.