A MOMENT FOR EUROPE TO LEAD
A Tibetan appeal during the Stand for Tibet: European Alps Tour 2026
Following the death of Lobsang Palden (Lobga Rangzen) outside UN Headquarters
WHY WE ARE SPEAKING OUT
WHO WE ARE
Tenzin Dakpa is an independent researcher and Tibetan entrepreneur based in London. He runs restaurants and remains actively engaged with the wider Tibetan community.
Dawa Tsering is a Tibetan community advocate and former Council Member of the Tibetan Community in Britain. Based in Hertfordshire, he runs his own real estate business.
Together, as two Tibetans who have built our lives and livelihoods in Britain, we are undertaking the Stand for Tibet: European Alps Tour 2026 to bring renewed attention to Tibet’s unresolved political question and to encourage European leaders and institutions to help reopen the path towards meaningful dialogue and a peaceful political settlement.
Our initiative is supported by friends, including the Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities, which is facilitating our engagement with European institutions and supporting our efforts to bring the Tibet question back into international discussion.
THE QUESTION WE ASK EUROPE:
Will Europe allow Tibet to disappear from the international agenda — or help reopen the path to dialogue and a peaceful political solution?
TIBET IS NOT ONLY A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE
For more than seven decades, the Tibet question has remained unresolved.
Tibetans continue to face serious concerns over:
- Language and cultural assimilation
- Restrictions on religious freedom
- Separation of children from their families through residential schooling
- Restrictions on freedom of expression and movement
- Political repression and the absence of meaningful dialogue
- Pressure on Tibetans and other affected communities living abroad
- Attempts to replace the name “Tibet” with “Xizang” in international discourse
These are not isolated concerns. They are part of a wider question about the right of a people to preserve its identity, culture, language, religion and collective future.
The international community must not confuse the absence of dialogue with the absence of a political problem.
A NEW WARNING: THE TIBET–NEPAL FLOOD DISASTER
The devastating flooding and glacial-collapse disaster in Kyirong, Tibet, and downstream Nepal in August 2026 has shown once again that what happens on the Tibetan Plateau does not remain within Tibet.
More than 1,000 people have been reported dead across the affected areas, with thousands still missing, while rescue and recovery operations continue.
Beyond the immediate humanitarian tragedy, the disaster highlights an urgent regional issue:
TRANSBOUNDARY WATER SECURITY
The Tibetan Plateau is the source of some of Asia’s great rivers.
Millions of people downstream in Nepal, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand depend upon these waters for their lives and livelihoods.
When dangerous changes occur upstream, timely and reliable information can save lives downstream.
The international community must therefore ensure that transboundary rivers are treated as a matter of shared human security and humanitarian responsibility, not simply as a matter of national interest.
WE CALL FOR:
- Transparent and timely sharing of hydrological and meteorological data
- Real-time or near-real-time downstream flood warnings
- Early-warning systems for glacial lake outbursts, landslides and sudden river surges
- Independent scientific access and verification
- Regional disaster-prevention and emergency-response cooperation
- Greater transparency concerning disasters occurring in Tibetan areas
WATER DATA IS NOT A POLITICAL WEAPON.
IT IS A HUMANITARIAN NECESSITY.
WHAT WE ASK OF EUROPE
We call upon the European Union and European governments to:
1. PUT TIBET BACK ON THE INTERNATIONAL AGENDA
Raise Tibet systematically in EU-China relations and at relevant international forums.
2. HELP RESTART DIALOGUE
Use European diplomatic influence and, where acceptable to the parties, offer its good offices to help create conditions for meaningful China–Tibet dialogue.
3. PROTECT TIBETAN CHILDREN
Oppose policies that undermine Tibetan language, family life, culture and religious identity.
4. DEFEND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Tibetans must be able to determine their religious leadership and preserve their religious traditions without political interference.
5. END TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION
Protect Tibetans, Uyghurs, Southern Mongolians and other diaspora communities in Europe from intimidation, surveillance and retaliation against their families.
6. PROTECT DOWNSTREAM COMMUNITIES
Make transparent transboundary water-data sharing, independent scientific cooperation and Himalayan early-warning systems a priority in European engagement with China.
7. ENSURE ACCESS TO TIBET
Support meaningful and unrestricted access for UN experts, journalists, researchers, humanitarian organisations and independent scientists.
8. KEEP THE NAME “TIBET”
Terminology must not be used to erase Tibet’s distinct historical, cultural and political identity.
EUROPE HAS A SPECIAL ROLE
In 1988, His Holiness the Dalai Lama addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg and presented a peaceful vision for Tibet inspired, in part, by Europe’s own transformation.
Europe demonstrated that:
UNITY DOES NOT REQUIRE UNIFORMITY.
Different peoples can preserve their languages, cultures, identities and traditions while living together peacefully and cooperating for mutual benefit.
This is the principle we hope Europe can help bring back to the China–Tibet question.
Europe’s own history demonstrates that seemingly intractable conflicts can ultimately give way to dialogue, cooperation and peaceful coexistence.
OUR MESSAGE
We are not calling for confrontation.
We are calling for:
Dialogue.
Human dignity.
Cultural survival.
Religious freedom.
Environmental responsibility.
Regional cooperation.
A peaceful political settlement.
A peaceful resolution of the China–Tibet conflict could benefit not only Tibetans and Chinese, but also contribute to:
Regional peace • Himalayan environmental protection • Water security • Disaster preparedness • Stability across Asia
The future of Tibet is therefore not only a Tibetan concern.
It is connected to the future of the Himalayas and the millions of people who depend upon them.
A MOMENT FOR EUROPE TO LEAD
The death of Lobga Rangzen must not become a footnote.
The Tibet–Nepal disaster must not become another forgotten warning.
Europe has the diplomatic reach, historical experience and moral responsibility to help reopen the path to dialogue.
Tibet must remain visible.
Tibet must remain heard.
Tibet must remain part of the international conversation.
WE ASK EUROPE TO RAISE ITS VOICE.
Tenzin Dakpa and Dawa Tsering
(Two Tibetans undertaking the Stand for Tibet: European Alps Tour 2026)
Supported by:
Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities
http://www.Tsamtruk..com/gatpm
FOR DIALOGUE • FOR HUMAN DIGNITY • FOR A PEACEFUL FUTURE
