The Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) is an international

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

that advocates the independence of Tibet from China. With around 30,000 members in the Tibetan

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

, it is the largest of the pro-independence organizations of Tibetan exiles with 87 branches in 10 countries listed on the organisation's website. The current president of the Tibetan Youth Congress is Gonpo Dhundup. The organization claims no particular religious or party political affiliation.

Origin

The TYC was founded on October 7, 1970, in

Dharamsala Dharamshala (; also spelled Dharamsala) is the winter capital of Himachal Pradesh, India. It serves as administrative headquarters of the Kangra district after being relocated from Kangra, a city located away from Dharamshala, in 1855. The ...

, India, with the

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

delivering the inaugural address. The organization was founded by young Tibetans from the first generation to graduate from contemporary schools and colleges. The founding members were Tenzin Geyche Tethong (the Congress's first President), Lodi G. Gyari, Sonam Topgyal and Tenzin N. Tethong.

Organisation

The TYC advocates for the independence from China of Tibet, including the three provinces of U-Tsang, Do-toe, and Do-med. The group organises cultural exhibitions and festivals to promote global awareness of

Tibetan culture Tibet developed a distinct culture due to its geographic and climatic conditions. While influenced by neighboring cultures from China, India, and Nepal, the Himalayan region's remoteness and inaccessibility have preserved distinct local i ...

. Its members also undertake social welfare activities, according to the maxim "Service to the people", with the aim of alleviating social, cultural, and educational problems in the exile community. The group's activities include

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...

health education Health education is a profession of educating people about health. Areas within this profession encompass environmental health, physical health, social health, emotional health, intellectual health, and spiritual health, as well as sexual and r ...

, and infrastructure activities from building public facilities like toilets to planting trees. It also serves as an international

pressure group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the develop ...

, working to bring international attention to Tibet, and criticises Tibet's

government-in-exile A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile u ...

. The organization publishes a quarterly journal, ''Rangzen'', for its members and sponsors. It uses mailing lists to circulate news from time to time.

Membership

Membership in the TYC is open to any Tibetan who subscribes to the organization's aims and objectives and agrees to abide by its rules, including working within the framework of the democratic

Constitution of Tibet The Seventeen Point Agreement is a short form of the Agreement of the Central People's Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, ( zh, 中央人民政府和西藏地方政府关于和平解放 ...

. Despite the name, membership is not limited to young people, though most members and the leadership are young.

T.Y.C Activities

The Congress has held protests at Chinese embassies and in India. The TYC observes several annual events, including the anniversary of its founding,

Human Rights Day Human Rights Day is celebrated annually around the world on 10 December every year. The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Right ...

, the anniversaries of what they consider to be key events in Tibetan political history, and a number of Buddhist and traditional Tibetan holidays. In 2008, members of the group protested at the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay through India. In January 2017 at

Bodh Gaya Bodh Gaya is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Gaya district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is famous as it is the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained Enlightenment ( pi, ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, a variety of social services were provided 250 TYC volunteers at the 34th

Kalachakra ''Kālacakra'' () is a polysemic term in Vajrayana Buddhism that means "wheel of time" or "time cycles". "''Kālacakra''" is also the name of a series of Buddhist texts and a major practice lineage in Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. The ta ...

Initiation given by the

and organized by the

Central Tibetan Administration The Central Tibetan Administration (, , ), often referred to as the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, is a non-profit political organization based in Dharamshala, India. Its organization is modeled after an elective parliamentary government, compo ...

Impact

The BBC news described the Congress as "radical but influential". The Chinese state

Xinhua Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...

news agency reported the view shared by several Chinese tibetologists that the group was a

terrorist organization A number of national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and fo ...

. The TYC in 2008 denied Chinese accusations that it would resort to

suicide bombing A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

to achieve

Tibetan independence The Tibetan Independence Movement () is the political movement advocating for the separation and independence of Tibet from the People's Republic of China. It is principally led by the Tibetan diaspora in countries like India and the United Stat ...

Origin

Organisation

Membership

T.Y.C Activities

Impact

References

See also