Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09CHENGDU189
2009-09-14 08:04:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Chengdu
Cable title:  

TIBET: MANY INTERNATIONAL NGOS FORCED OUT SINCE 3/08

Tags:  PGOV PHUM ECON SOCI CH 
pdf how-to read a cable
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ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P R 140804Z SEP 09
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3397
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 0240
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0255
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 4079
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENGDU 000189 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USAID
STATE FOR EAP/CM - MACE, DRL - O'SULLIVAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/14/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON SOCI CH
SUBJECT: TIBET: MANY INTERNATIONAL NGOS FORCED OUT SINCE 3/08

REF: A) CHENGDU 184, B) 08 CHENGDU 061

CHENGDU 00000189 001.2 OF 003


CLASSIFIED BY: David E. Brown, Consul General.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENGDU 000189

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USAID
STATE FOR EAP/CM - MACE, DRL - O'SULLIVAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/14/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON SOCI CH
SUBJECT: TIBET: MANY INTERNATIONAL NGOS FORCED OUT SINCE 3/08

REF: A) CHENGDU 184, B) 08 CHENGDU 061

CHENGDU 00000189 001.2 OF 003


CLASSIFIED BY: David E. Brown, Consul General.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (U) This is the second of two reports on the current
situation faced by international non-governmental organizations
(INGOs) in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR),following
Chengdu 184. This cable was coordinated with Embassy Beijing.




2. (SBU) Summary: Since March 2008, TAR officials have forced
the closure of most INGOs -- and the downsizing of some of those
still there -- reducing the number still active in the TAR from
approximately 25 to around half a dozen. Officials typically
have imposed indirect or passive sanctions, simply letting
memorandums of understanding (MOUs) expire or refusing to renew
residence permits for foreign staff with local experience or
Tibetan language skills. Most affected are small organizations,
such as One HEART Foundation, while better connected larger
organizations such as Save the Children UK continue their work.
INGOs long established in the TAR are also feeling the heat.
The Tibet Poverty Alleviation Fund (TPAF) is being pushed out;
sources indicate that The Bridge Fund is being gradually
distanced from its implementing partners. INGO operations in
the TAR, always difficult, are now being pared down by TAR
officials to a few organizations with which they are more
comfortable. End Summary.



International NGOs: Increasingly Unwelcome in the TAR

-------------- --------------




3. (C) In recent conversations, contacts from INGOs that
currently or previously worked in the TAR have consistently
reported that local officials' actions have dramatically reduced
their presence there since March 2008, when widespread protests
broke out across Tibetan regions of China. A small British
health organization that worked in the TAR for nearly a decade
before its projects there were shut down in 2006, and retains
contact with many organizations working on TAR issues, reported
that of approximately 25 INGOs that previously participated in

monthly coordination meetings in Lhasa, "less than five" are
left. A Tibetan employee of Save the Children UK in Lhasa
confirmed to PolEconoff in August that "many" international NGOs
have been shut down over the last year. TPAF's Country Director
told the Consul General in late July that most foreign INGO
staff, particularly those with Tibetan language skills, have
been forced out (ref A).




4. (C) Asked whether local NGOs are stepping in to fill gaps
left by the departing international ones, a local employee of
Save the Children UK's Lhasa office said that there are almost
no homegrown NGOs in the TAR. This is consistent with Post's
information -- we know of only one domestic NGO, the TAR
Exploration Association, which appears to operate more as a
government organized NGO (GONGO). We have heard that there may
be some very small unregistered local NGOs operating out of
monasteries in the TAR's Chamdo prefecture, near the border with
Sichuan province, but we have not been able to obtain further
information on these. (Note: Obtaining complete information on
civil society in the TAR is complicated by our limited access to
the area, lack of comprehensive coordination mechanisms among
the organizations, and many organizations' reluctance to share
information, both due to the sensitivity of their operational
environment and competition among them. End Note.)



Indirect Measures Force Organizations Out

--------------




5. (C) TAR officials have rarely, if ever, directly told INGOs
they are to be shut down. Rather, they have employed a range of
indirect measures to push organizations out. One HEART
Foundation's U.S. office contacted Consulate Chengdu in late
June to report that they were being denied permission to
continue their work in the TAR. We later learned that their MOU
with the TAR Health Bureau expired in June and has not been
renewed. As of July, contacts familiar with the organization's
situation told us they were still renting office space in Lhasa,

CHENGDU 00000189 002.2 OF 003


but it was unclear whether they would retain it once the lease
ran out. (Note: A September 2 article in a local U.S. paper,
`The Idaho Mountain Express,' carried the headline "One HEART
Foundation no longer working in Tibet: Maternal health care
mission was victim of NGO crackdown in China." End Note.)




6. (C) Contacts also recently told Consulate Chengdu's ethnic
Tibetan locally engaged staff (LES) that Terma, another small
INGO providing tuberculosis treatment to poor Tibetans, has
recently had to shut down their Lhasa office for unspecified
reasons. As reported in ref A, and echoed by other contacts,
international staff with longer experience on the ground and/or
Tibetan language ability have also found themselves, on an
individual basis, increasingly pushed out. Save the Children
UK's employee in Lhasa told PolEconOff that they are now on
their third international advisor within the last year, in
contrast to previous advisors who each stayed for a year or more
at a time.



Small Organizations Taking Brunt, Some Large Ones Remain

-------------- --------------




7. (C) Smaller and lesser known organizations have taken the
brunt of official ire to date. Larger, better known
organizations, such as Save the Children UK and Heifer
International, retain a presence on the ground and expect to
continue their work into the foreseeable future despite some
increased operational challenges. These organizations have
extensive experience working with local officials, implement
projects closely aligned with local government-supported
programs, and avoid more sensitive issues. Heifer Country
Director Chen Taiyong recently told PolEconOff that they have
not encountered restrictions in accessing their Tibetan area
projects, including those in the TAR, and said he believes that
their all-Chinese national staff has been key in making this
possible. He noted, however, that TAR officials denied a
request they made to meet with The Bridge Fund (whose situation
is further discussed below) during a visit planned for this
month by headquarter staff to the TAR. (Note: Heifer's close
relationships with local authorities, cultivated over two
decades of work in China, has earned it a reputation among some
within civil society as falling more into the GONGO category.
End Note.) We understand that Handicap International and the
World Wildlife Fund also remain on the ground in the TAR.



Established Organizations Also Feeling the Heat

-------------- --




8. (C) Long-established INGOs whose relationship with TAR
officialdom has been more ambivalent or adversarial have faced
increasing pressure, despite their higher profile. TPAF,
previously optimistic that they would be able to remain in the
TAR, reports it is now being pushed out (ref A). According to
some reports, the Trace Foundation, run by George Soros'
daughter Andrea Soros, retains its Lhasa operations, but is
limited in its activities and is only able to continue a
scholarship program for Tibetan students.




9. (C) The Bridge Fund (TBF) still has an office in Lhasa, but
it appears may be increasingly cut off from its implementing
partner organizations. In addition to Heifer being blocked from
meeting them in Lhasa, a local NGO in Qinghai that is an
implementing partner for a Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and
Labor (DRL) grant, reported that it has received clear
instructions not to accept any more funding from TBF, which it
has interpreted as an order to sever all relations. Rumors
abound that TBF's status in the TAR is increasingly fragile.




10. (SBU) Comment: TBF has a record of surviving political
storms remarkably well despite its strong ties to the Tibetan
exile community in India. This is possibly explained by

CHENGDU 00000189 003.2 OF 003


awareness among Chinese officials of its strong backing in the
U.S. Congress and sensitivity to a potential international
backlash if it is directly shut down. While organizations with
strong U.S.-based backing have appeared to enjoy some increased
staying power, many individual INGO contacts describe USAID or
other USG funding as a kind of "NGO kryptonite." End Comment.



Similar Dynamics at Work in Sichuan's Tibetan Areas

-------------- --------------




11. (C) While the difficulties faced by INGOs in the TAR seem to
be particularly severe, post has noted similar dynamics at work
in Sichuan's Tibetan prefectures of Aba and Ganzi. As reported
in ref B, Ganzi officials issued instructions for strict control
of all NGOs in late 2007. INGOs have had their access severely
restricted in both prefectures since March 2008, with most
unable to officially visit project sites beyond the main cities.
Contacts at one small INGO working on health-related projects
in Ganzi told us they have not been able to visit their project
sites since March 2008 and have redirected much of their efforts
toward Sichuan earthquake recovery work. However, Winrock
International has been able to maintain its offices in Kangding,
Ganzi's largest town. A Tibetan Winrock employee there recently
told PolEconoff that, after a long period of official delays,
they are now moving forward with their health programs
throughout the prefecture.




12. (C) Restrictions on foreign tourist travel in the Tibetan
areas of western Sichuan, somewhat relaxed in recent months, may
again be on the rise. Local officials insist that no such
restrictions existed in the first place. (Note: Provincial
Foreign Affairs Offices (FAOs) in the TAR, Sichuan, and Yunnan
all denied our requests for official site visits to USAID-funded
projects in Tibetan areas in April, June, and July respectively.
TAR and Sichuan FAOs both explained their denials by asserting
that the relevant projects "have already ended"; the Yunnan FAO
simply noted that "it is not convenient". End note.)



Comment: Operating Environment for INGO Worsens Since March 2008

-------------- --------------




13. (C) While uncertainty, official obstruction, and sudden
turns of fortune are not new phenomena for INGOs in the TAR, it
is clear to us that the operating environment has significantly
worsened since March 2008. Authorities still see some NGOs as
filling roles that complement their priorities, and remain
sensitive to the downsides of summarily ejecting organizations
they view as less desirable. In our observation, official
treatment of INGOs varies considerably depending on size, type
of international support, and level of coordination with the
local government. It seems authorities clearly would prefer a
significantly reduced NGO presence that is both cooperative and
easier to keep tabs on. End Comment.



BROWN