Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to take steps to discuss the use of Tibetan language in schools within that country with his relevant international counterparts at the next G7 summit.

We are aware of reports that Tibetan parents are being coerced into sending their children to boarding schools in Tibet with no access to traditional Tibetan learning. We continue to raise the situation in Tibet with the Chinese authorities, and in March, we raised the issue of boarding schools in our Item 4 statement at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC). We also coordinate with partners to draw international attention to the human rights situation in Tibet. In June 2022, a UK led lobbying effort helped to secure the support of 46 other countries for a joint statement at the HRC which highlighted the situation in Tibet, and called on the Chinese authorities to abide by their human rights obligations. On 18 April a G7 Foreign Ministers Communiqué noted that all G7 countries continue to raise concerns with China on human rights violations, including in Tibet. We will continue to work with international partners and press China to cease human rights violations.