International Campaign for Tibet
Encyclopedia
Advocacy group
Advocacy groups use various forms of advocacy to influence public opinion and/or policy; they have played and continue to play an important part in the development of political and social systems...
working to promote democratic freedoms for Tibetans
Tibetan people
The Tibetan people are an ethnic group that is native to Tibet, which is mostly in the People's Republic of China. They number 5.4 million and are the 10th largest ethnic group in the country. Significant Tibetan minorities also live in India, Nepal, and Bhutan...
, ensure their human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, and protect the Tibetan culture and environment. Founded in 1988, ICT is the world's largest Tibet-related NGO, with a total membership of over 400,000 as of 2007. ICT is a member of International Federation for Human Rights.
ICT maintains offices in Washington D.C., Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Bruxelles and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. ICT conducts the following activities:
- Monitors and reports on human rights, environmental and socio-economic conditions in Tibet;
- Advocates for Tibetans imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs;
- Works with governments to develop policies and programs to help Tibetans;
- Secures humanitarian and development assistance for Tibetans;
- Educates and mobilizes individuals and the international community to take action on behalf of Tibetans;
- Reaches out to Chinese individuals and organizations to increase mutual understanding between Chinese and Tibetans;
- Promotes self-determination for the Tibetan people through negotiations between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama.
Funding
The organization receives some funding from the U.S. National Endowment for DemocracyNational Endowment for Democracy
The National Endowment for Democracy, or NED, is a U.S. non-profit organization that was founded in 1983 to promote US-friendly democracy by providing cash grants funded primarily through an annual allocation from the U.S. Congress...
(NED).
Celebrity Support
ICT is supported by large numbers of well-known celebrities around the world. Richard GereRichard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
is one of the most outspoken supporters of the campaign and is chairman of the Board of Directors for ICT. Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton is an American businesswoman, heiress, and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton . Hilton is known for her controversial participation in a sex tape in 2003, and appearance on the television series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood...
has voiced her support for the movement and participates in various charities and benefits around New York. British comedian Russell Brand
Russell Brand
Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinians...
also occasionally mentions his support for the movement on his BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
show. Actress Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone
Sharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...
suggested that the 2008 Sichuan earthquake
2008 Sichuan earthquake
The 2008 Sichuan earthquake or the Great Sichuan Earthquake was a deadly earthquake that measured at 8.0 Msand 7.9 Mw occurred at 14:28:01 CST...
may have been the result of "bad karma," because the Chinese "are not being nice to the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
, who is a good friend of mine." Observers have noted that Wenchuan County
Wenchuan County
Wenchuan County is a county in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.This county has an area of...
, the epicenter of the earthquake, is located in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture
Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture
The Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in Sichuan, whose capital is Barkam town . It has an area of 83,201 km²....
, where ethnic Tibetans
Tibetan people
The Tibetan people are an ethnic group that is native to Tibet, which is mostly in the People's Republic of China. They number 5.4 million and are the 10th largest ethnic group in the country. Significant Tibetan minorities also live in India, Nepal, and Bhutan...
comprise over half of the population. Other notable supporters include Talia Rosenbaum and Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
.
Light of Truth Award
Nearly annually the ICT presents the Light of Truth Award, a human rightsHuman rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
award
Award
An award is something given to a person or a group of people to recognize excellence in a certain field; a certificate of excellence. Awards are often signifiedby trophies, titles, certificates, commemorative plaques, medals, badges, pins, or ribbons...
for persons and organizations that have publicly contributed substantially to the rise of and battle for human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
freedoms of the Tibetan people
Tibetan people
The Tibetan people are an ethnic group that is native to Tibet, which is mostly in the People's Republic of China. They number 5.4 million and are the 10th largest ethnic group in the country. Significant Tibetan minorities also live in India, Nepal, and Bhutan...
. On one occasion, in 2001, the award was presented to all the people of India, with president R. Venkataraman
R. Venkataraman
Ramaswamy Venkataraman was an Indian lawyer, Indian independence activist and politician who served as a Union minister and as the eighth President of India....
accepting delivery of the prize. The award has been presented since 1995 by the fourteenth Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
, Tenzin Gyatso, to the recipients personally. The recipients are:
- 1995: A. M. RosenthalA. M. RosenthalAbraham Michael "A.M." Rosenthal , born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, was a New York Times executive editor and columnist and New York Daily News columnist . He joined the New York Times in 1943 and worked for the Times for 56 years - from 1943 to 1999...
- 1996: Richard GereRichard GereRichard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
, Lavinia Currier, and Michael Currier - 1997: Charlie RoseCharlie RoseCharles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993...
, and Claiborne PellClaiborne PellClaiborne de Borda Pell was a United States Senator from Rhode Island, serving six terms from 1961 to 1997, and was best known as the sponsor of the Pell Grant, which provides financial aid funding to U.S. college students. A Democrat, he was that state's longest serving senator.-Early years:Pell... - 1998: Martin ScorseseMartin ScorseseMartin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
, and Melissa MathisonMelissa MathisonMelissa Mathison , sometimes credited as Josh Rogan, is an American film and television screenwriter.-Career:She is perhaps most notable for writing the screenplays for the films E.T... - 1999: Hugh Edward Richardson, and Danielle MitterrandDanielle MitterrandDanielle Mitterrand was the wife of French President François Mitterrand, and president of the foundation France Libertés Fondation Danielle Mitterrand.-Biography:...
- 2000: Richard C. BlumRichard C. BlumRichard C. Blum is an investment banker and the husband of United States Senator from California Dianne Feinstein. He is the Chairman and President of Blum Capital, an equity investment management firm that acts as general partner for various investment partnerships and provides investment...
- 2001: The people of IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, taken delivery of by R. VenkataramanR. VenkataramanRamaswamy Venkataraman was an Indian lawyer, Indian independence activist and politician who served as a Union minister and as the eighth President of India.... - 2002: Heinrich HarrerHeinrich HarrerHeinrich Harrer was an Austrian mountaineer, sportsman, geographer, and author.He is best known for his books Seven Years in Tibet and The White Spider .-Athletics:...
, and Petra KellyPetra KellyPetra Karin Kelly was a German politician and activist. She was instrumental in founding the German Green Party, the first Green party to rise to prominence worldwide.- Early life :... - 2003: Benjamin A. GilmanBenjamin A. GilmanBenjamin Arthur "Ben" Gilman is a former Republican United States Representative from New York. Born in Poughkeepsie, New York, Gilman graduated from Middletown High School in Middletown, New York in 1941 and received a B.S. from the Wharton School Finance at the University of Pennsylvania in...
, Michele Bohana, and Robert ThurmanRobert ThurmanRobert Alexander Farrar Thurman is an influential and prolific American Buddhist writer and academic who has authored, edited or translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism. He is the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, holding the first endowed chair... - 2004: Otto Graf LambsdorffOtto Graf LambsdorffOtto Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von der Wenge Graf Lambsdorff, known as Otto Graf Lambsdorff, was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party.- Biography :...
, Irmtraut Wäger, and Václav HavelVáclav HavelVáclav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally... - 2005: Elie WieselElie WieselSir Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBE; born September 30, 1928) is a Hungarian-born Jewish-American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He is the author of 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and...
, Carl GershmanCarl GershmanCarl Gershman has been the President of the National Endowment for Democracy since its 1984 founding. He had served as the U.S...
, and Lowell Thomas, Jr.Lowell Thomas, Jr.Lowell Jackson Thomas, Jr. is a film and television producer who collaborated with his father, the accomplished reporter and author Lowell Thomas, on several projects before becoming an Alaskan State Senator in the early 1970s, and later the fifth Lieutenant Governor of Alaska .In the 1980s, he... - 2006: Hergé FoundationHergé FoundationThe Hergé Foundation, often known as Moulinsart is the official organization that looks after the world of the famous comic creator Hergé, and his famous creation The Adventures of Tintin, along with his other comics like Quick and Flupke and Jo, Zette and Jocko. They run Hergé's estate, and the...
, and Desmond TutuDesmond TutuDesmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid... - 2009: Julia Taft, and Wang LixiongWang LixiongWang Lixiong is a Chinese writer and scholar, best known for his political prophecy fiction, Yellow Peril , which was ranked 41st in The 100 Most Influential Chinese Novels in 20th Centuryby Asia Weekly and has gained widespread popularity in China as well as worldwide media attention despite...
- 2011: George PattersonGeorge Patterson (Tibetan resistance)George Neilson Patterson , also known as Patterson of Tibet, is a former Scottish engineer and missionary who served as medical officer and diplomatic representative of the Tibetan resistance movement during the Chinese invasion of Tibet. He was awarded the Light of Truth Award on March 25th 2011...