Beijing

China has once again come under UN scrutiny over human rights violations in Tibet.

China was grilled at the last two days of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights session in Geneva on February 15-16.

The UN's top human rights body reviewed China for the third time on implementing the world body's Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The rights advocates raised issues like the Sinicization and other severe abuses in Tibet, Covid-19, reprisals against human rights defenders and a security law that crushed dissidents in Hong Kong.

These developments were overshadowed by reports that as part of an annual indoctrination process, the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu was recently told by a senior CPC official to remain loyal to the ideals of President Xi Jinping.

The Chinese state has made intense efforts to subjugate Tibet and its people. The latest in this series is the propaganda being aired on state television through programmes aimed at showing that Buddhism is an "ancient Chinese religion" with Chinese characteristics.

The very fact that the Panchen Lama has to swear loyalty to President Xi annually is a reminder of how tenuous China's hold on Tibet is.

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Meanwhile, at Geneva, Chinese Ambassador Chen Xu and a delegation of about 40 envoys from China, faced questions from the UN Committee on the persecution of Tibetan human rights defenders, forced resettlement of Tibetan nomads, appropriation and mass-evictions of Tibetans from their lands, lack of rights for Tibetans to freely practice their religion including the flying of prayer flags.