United Nations human rights experts have raised grave concerns over widespread and systematic forced labour imposed on Tibetans living in Tibet, warning that policies enforced by the Chinese state under the pretext of “poverty alleviation” are coercive in nature and are accelerating the destruction of Tibetan society, culture, and traditional livelihoods.
In a press release issued from Geneva on January 22, UN Special Procedures experts stated that Tibetans, alongside Uyghur and other minority peoples, are subjected to State-imposed labour transfer programmes that involve coercion, surveillance, and the absence of meaningful consent. The experts warned that the severity of these practices may amount to forcible transfer and, in some cases, crimes against humanity.
Forced Labour Targeting Tibetans in Tibet
According to the UN experts, Tibetans in Tibet are increasingly compelled into labour transfer schemes such as the Training and Labour Transfer Action Plan, which mandates the systematic training and transfer of so-called “rural surplus labourers.” These programmes reportedly involve military-style training, constant monitoring, and political pressure, leaving Tibetans with no real option to refuse participation.
The experts estimate that nearly 650,000 Tibetans were subjected to labour transfers in 2024 alone, highlighting the rapidly expanding scope of these coercive programmes across Tibet.
Rather than voluntary employment, the UN experts noted that these labour schemes operate through fear of punishment, threats of detention, and administrative pressure, effectively eliminating free choice.
Forced Relocation and the Dismantling of Traditional Tibetan Life
The UN experts also expressed serious concern over long-standing policies that forcibly relocate Tibetan communities from their ancestral lands. Between 2000 and 2025, an estimated 3.36 million Tibetans were affected by State programmes requiring nomads and rural families to abandon traditional livelihoods and resettle in fixed locations. Official figures indicate that around 930,000 rural Tibetans were relocated through village-wide or household-level schemes.
These relocations are reportedly enforced through repeated home visits, implicit threats, bans on criticism, and the threat of cutting access to essential services — tactics that manufacture compliance rather than reflect genuine consent.
Cultural Erasure Under the Guise of Development
The UN experts warned that labour and land transfer policies imposed in Tibet are not merely economic measures but part of a broader strategy to forcibly re-engineer Tibetan society. By uprooting Tibetans from agriculture-based and nomadic livelihoods and compelling them into wage labour in unfamiliar environments, these policies erode Tibetan language, religious practice, community bonds, and cultural continuity.
The experts cautioned that the loss of traditional livelihoods results in “irreparable harm” to Tibetan ways of life, undermining identity, dignity, and self-determination.
Global Supply Chains and International Responsibility
The experts further warned that goods produced through forced labour in Tibet may enter global supply chains indirectly through third countries, raising serious concerns about corporate complicity and the effectiveness of existing human rights safeguards.
They urged businesses and investors sourcing from areas under Chinese control to conduct strict human rights due diligence in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and reiterated their call for unrestricted access to Tibet for independent UN human rights mechanisms.
A Warning That Reflects Long-Standing Tibetan Reality
For Tibetans inside Tibet and in exile, the UN experts’ statement echoes long-standing warnings that policies imposed by the Chinese state in Tibet are designed not to alleviate poverty, but to consolidate control, dismantle Tibetan identity, and suppress resistance through economic coercion.
As access to Tibet remains tightly restricted and independent scrutiny continues to be denied, the UN experts’ findings underscore the urgent need for sustained international pressure, accountability, and action to address systematic human rights violations in Tibet.