On 10 March, the Tibetan community will gather at Parliament House to mark the 67th anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day and they are inviting Amnesty activists to stand alongside them. This is a community-led rally. It is not an Amnesty-organised event, but we are proudly endorsing it and encouraging our activists to show up in solidarity.

For Tibetans around the world, 10 March is the most important day in their political calendar.

In 1959, thousands of Tibetans took to the streets of Lhasa to resist China’s invasion. The brutal crackdown that followed led to the loss of many lives and forced the Dalai Lama and over 80,000 Tibetans into exile. Today, around 3,000 Tibetan refugees have built new lives in Australia and continue to advocate for human rights in Tibet.

Repression in Tibet continues. Authorities maintain an iron grip through arbitrary detention, torture and invasive surveillance. One of the most alarming policies is the boarding school system, where Tibetan children (some as young as four) are separated from their families and taught only in Mandarin, cutting them off from their language and culture.

Given Australia’s own history of removing children from their families, we understand how devastating this harm can be.

Stand with the Tibetan community on 10 March.