ICT Research
Research that breaks the silence on Tibet
Our approach
ICT’s research follows the evidence from inside Tibet to the people who can act on it. Each step is designed to work around China’s information blockade and produce findings that hold up to scrutiny.
Monitor
ICT tracks human rights, environmental, and political conditions in Tibet, including what Beijing says in its own state media and official documents.
Gather & verify
With outsiders barred from Tibet, ICT gathers testimony from Tibetan refugees in Nepal and India and weighs it against official sources and satellite imagery.
Analyze in context
ICT places each finding against Chinese law, international human rights standards, and Tibet’s history to reveal the pattern behind it.
Most recent reports
Why research matters
An article tells you what happened. A report shows the evidence, sets it in context, and gives decision-makers something they can use. In Tibet, that evidence is hard to come by. The Washington Post and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China have said it’s even harder for journalists to enter Tibet than North Korea. ICT’s research fills that gap, so governments, journalists, and the public can see what Beijing works to keep hidden.
The research team
ICT’s research network is led by Bhuchung K. Tsering, who joined ICT in 1995. Born in Tibet, he previously edited the Central Tibetan Administration’s official journal and served on the team that supported the Dalai Lama’s envoys in their 2002 to 2010 talks with Chinese leaders. In 2023, ICT made his team central to its work, prioritizing research and reporting as repression, surveillance, and censorship in Tibet intensify. Researchers hold expertise in Chinese law and policy, Tibetan language, human rights documentation methodology, and UN advocacy mechanisms.
FAQs about our research
How does ICT find out what’s happening in Tibet if outsiders can’t get in?
ICT combines several kinds of sources. Its researchers conduct fact-finding missions in Nepal and India, where many Tibetan refugees live, and the work also draws on on-the-ground testimonies, satellite analysis, and legal expertise.
Does ICT use Chinese government sources?
Yes. Official Chinese material is often the most direct evidence of what Beijing plans. ICT’s Tibet Roundup draws on Chinese state media, official Chinese documents, briefings, information reported by Tibetans in Tibet, and international commentary. ICT states that presenting this material is not meant to amplify Chinese political rhetoric. It’s a catalog for deeper research. In one case, ICT and a partner organization cited Chinese government media reporting that at least 1.8 million nomads have been forced into sedentary housing since 2001.
What topics does ICT’s research cover?
ICT monitors human rights in Tibet, along with racial discrimination, environmental destruction, and nuclear activities on the Tibetan plateau. Its reports range from climate change to political prisoners, and from religious repression to the destruction of Tibetan culture.
Who uses ICT’s research?
The primary audiences are journalists, government officials, ICT members, and the public. ICT also submits evidence to the UN. Ahead of China’s 2024 review at the UN Human Rights Council, ICT and the International Federation for Human Rights submitted a joint report on systematic rights violations in Tibet. ICT has also filed submissions with the UN Committee against Torture and given written testimony to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
Rigorous research takes sustained support.
Your donation helps ICT monitor conditions in Tibet, verify what it publishes, and put that evidence in front of the people who can act on it.
Thank you.