Activity report of TLA leads by Mr. Lobsang Dakpa

(6pm – 7pm)

·        Importance of Law

·        Crimes and its categories

·        How to lodge First Information Report (FIR)

·        Importance of personal documents

·        Right to Information

(11:30am -1pm)

(2pm – 4pm)

(11am – 12:47pm)

(6:20pm- 7:45pm)

(2pm – 4pm)

(3pm – 5pm)

Norbulinga, Dharamsala

·        Rights of Tibetans under Indian Constitution

·        Rights and Protection available to Women under Indian Laws

·        Registration Certificate (RC),Identity Certificate (IC), Affidavit and the importance of lodging First Information Report (FIR)

(3.30pm – 5.30pm)

Mcleod Ganj

(3.30pm – 5.30pm)

ACTIVITY REPORT OF THE TIBETAN LEGAL ASSOCIATION SINCE THE INCEPTION OF TLA ON 23 JULY 2014

Introduction

1. Legal Fraternity Conference at Dharamsala.

The importance of forming an association of Tibetan legal practitioner was promulgated by His Holiness and Dalai Lama in 2009.  Tibetan Legal Association (TLA) was formally formed with forty –one participants of Tibetans lawyers and law students during the conference of members of the Tibetan Legal Fraternity organized by Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission on 28 June 2013. Five executive members of the association were elected and its aims and objectives were formulated in the said conference.

One of the primary aims of the association is to provide free legal assistance to the poor and needy Tibetans and local Indians. It will also employ legal measures in its efforts to seek the international community’s support on the issue of Tibet.   His Holiness was very pleased about the establishment of the legal association and In his hour-long address, His Holiness the Dalai Lama emphasized the importance and the responsibility of the newly-formed Tibetan Legal Association to provide legal assistance to poor and needy Tibetans and local Indians.

2. Registration of TLA:

Tibetan Legal Association was registered on 23rd July 2014 at Bangalore. Since its registration on 23rd July 2014 at Bangalore with the memorandum of Association drafted during the Legal Fraternity conference on 28-30 June 2013, has carried on few activities as per its objectives which were duly informed to the members from time to time.

3. First Activity:

          First Legal Awareness Program was conducted by TLA in collaboration with the Tibetan Youth  for Tibetan Students at Tibetan Youth Hostel Bangalore by inviting a Guest Speaker.  “An Empowered Citizens” by (Dr.) VS Elizabeth , Professor of National Law School of India University, at Youth Hostel, Bengaluru on 24th November 2014. .

4. Legal Awareness Program at Mundgod, Karnataka State by Secretary of TLA.

The TLA Secretary Mr. Lobsang Dakpa conducted legal awareness program at Mundgod on 12.12.2014 to approximately    60 Tibetan  Monks and Tibetan students.

5. Legal Awareness in Tibetan Newspapers 22.10.2014

The article of the Tibetan Charter was published periodically in the name of TLA through Tibetan newspaper called Bangchen. The publication was made on 22.10.2014, 31.12.2014 and 21.1.2015.

5. TLA Secretary’s Visit to Dharamsala to meet the three pillars of CTA

 TLA Secretary  Mr. Lobsang Dakpa went to Dharamsala to find out the possible solution to TLA problems and meet with the Sikyong ( Kashag),  Justice Commissioner of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission and the  Chairman of the Tibetan Parliament  from  9-12 ^th March  2015 .

6. Legal Awareness to Taiwanese  at Dharamsala: 

  Legal Awareness Program was conducted by TLA  at Dharamsala to nine Taiwenese by TLA President Mr. Lobsang Dakpa on 19th July 2015. He spoke on the Tibetan situation in India, with reference to legal status and TLA’s objectives.

6. Collaboration with Tibet Justice Centre:

TLA in collaboration with TJC has conducted an interactive legal meeting at Hotel Tibet, Mcleod Ganj, Dharamsala  in  October of 2015 and has participated and assisted in their research work regarding the status of Tibetans in exile. The research report is being  published by TJC and TLA name is being  credited as below .

Tibet’s Stateless Nationals II 2016: The Status of Tibetan Refugee in India,   A report by Tibet Justice Center, with the support of Tibetan Legal Association, and Boston University School of Law’s International Human Rights Clini available at – ttp://www.tibetjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/TJCIndiaReport2016.pdf

Eileen  & Iona of Tibet Justice Centre with TLA members, October 2015

7. Opening of TLA office at Dharasmala

As resolved during the legal fraternity conference on 29 June 2013 and followed by the Resolution of the Board dated 31.7.2015, TLA opened a Office  at Dharamsala.  TLA’s working office started on 1st March 2016 at Dharamsala at Ratoe Labrang, near Men- Tse Khang, Potala Road, Dharamsala with  the first working members Namgyal Tsekey,(LL.M)  Lobsang Dakpa(LL.M) and Kunsang Topden(Ll.B) followed by Dickyi Peldon(LL.B) recently graduated from JSS  Law college, Mysore.

8. Free Legal Services rendered since the opening of office at Dharamsala:

With the opening of the office of the Tibetan Legal Association at Dharamsala since 1st March 2016, as many as 100  numbers of people were served.

These services include giving legal opinions & advices, drafting of  affidavits and pleadings of the cases, problems related to Identity Certificate (IC), Registration Certificate (RC) and Passport, appearance before the Police Station, Judicial Magistrates, representation before the Tibetan authorities like Justice Commission, Settlement Officers,  making documents- affidavits, drafting of the cases, assisting in the visa process /immigration documentation & translations,  Identity Certificate (IC), representation before the Juvenile Justice Board  for violation of Foreigners Act, and matters like change of name and date of birth in RC,  registration of marriage and divorces, registration of shops,  Application for registration of Trademarks, etc  All these services are rendered free of cost thus far.

Lawyer of TLA Kunsang Topden, Advocate, helping a innocent Tibetan in Lucknow Police Station on 15th May 2016 for involvement in cyber crime committed by unknown person by use of new Sim number in his name using his lost documents.

  TLA’s lawyer Lobsang Dakpa,(Middle)  Kunsang Topden,(left) & Namgyal Tsekey (right) announcing the dismissal of case  against the incumbent Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangey and Election Commission  by TSJC 17^th  May 2016 .

8. Training of TLA Executive members :  “Three days Conference on Strengthening Civil Society” 7th to 9th April 2016

TLA President Mr Lobsang Dakpa and Advocate  Ms Namgyal Tsekey attended three days conference at Dehradun on Strengthening Civil Society organized by Tibet Fund, SOIR-IM, & Tibet relief fund. The conference focused on capacity building, networking and self assessment. Twenty Tibetan organization from India and Nepal attended  this conference.

9) Social network site of TLA: TLA has developed a website in Tibetan and Chinese language. One can access our website available at www.tibetanlegalassociation.org   and our office landline number is 01892-226566, Facebook in the name of Tla Tla.

10. Conference Organized by TLA with Tibetan Centre for Human Rights at Dharamsala:

The President explained about the TLA’s collaboration with Tibetan Centre for Human Rights & Democracy, Students for a Free Tibet, and the Tibetan Chinese Pen Association, in organizing the 11th Interethnic/Interfaith Leadership Conference, titled “Strengthening Our Alliance to Advance the People’s Dream, Freedom, Justice, Equity and Peace”, at Dharamsala from 28 April to 1^st May 2016.

TLA is very happy and privileged to have met many scholars and legal professionals, the Harvard Law School visiting scholar, human rights activist, and lawyer Dr. Teng Biao, the president of Citizen Power Dr.Yang Jianli,  Miss World Canada Anastasia Lin, and many others during the conference.

11. Membership with APPRN .

The TLA is a privileged member  of  the Asian Pacific Refugee Rights Network since 30^th March 2016 . There are only two Tibetan offices which have been admitted to the membership of this body (Health Department of CTA and the TLA

12)     Legal Survey at the various Tibetan Settlements in the South India:

(22nd July-2nd Aug 2016)

TLA conducted Survey of the legal challenges in Tibetan community by interviewing the Settlement officers, managers of the Co-operative Society, Monasteries, and general public to elicit the legal problems in the Tibetan Society. The President of TLA, Mr. Lobsang Dakpa, along with Ms. Namgyal Tsekey and Mr. Kunsang Topden were the team members and inter­views were recorded by TLA.

One of the main problems in the Tibetan community are the lack of legal knowledge, lack of Tibetan lawyers, lack of basic understand­ing of laws of India, especially criminal laws, law of income tax; banking law; traffic rules etc; and some particular problems of Foreigners Registration certificate (RC); Identity Certificate (IC) and of interpretation and application of Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy, 2014. The detailed Report was submitted to Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission, Tibetan Parliament, and Tibetan Kashag Secretariat of the Central Tibetan Ad­ministration on 31st August 2016. In its Report, TLA proposed to the CTA to establish a standing Tibetan lawyer at each settlement in the south to advise and assist the settlement office and the general public and to make a provision to nominate a Justice Commissioner with the law background in order to inculcate a faith in the judiciary by the general public.

13. Capacity Building Conference cum 1st Annual General Body Meeting of TLA (30th- 31st July 2016)The first AGM since the registration of TLA on 23 July 2014 was held at Mysore as most of the members of TLA are at Mysore and Bangalore. The two day Conference was held at Hotel Quorum , Mysore, as a part of capacity building project by SOIR-IM Rajpur, Dehradun. The members of TLA from Supreme Court, highly experienced lawyer from Darjeeling, law students and law graduates from Mysore and Bangalore with total 29 members participated in the conference.

The President, Mr Lobsang Dakpa, giving introduction of TLA Aims & Objectives

The Board Member,  Mr Tsering Ngodup, Advocate,  giving speech to members of TLA

Group  Photo of  Member of TLA during AGM at Mysore (31.7. 2016)

The Conference dealt with many issues as detailed in the Agenda, introducing and reiterating the aims and objectives of the TLA, planning strategies, and evaluating the management & the role of Board, electing new Board Members .   New members were recruited and trained. Additionally, two regional chapters of TLA were established, one in Mysore and one in Bangalore.  The Regional Chapter  consist of lawyers and  law students  in Mysore and Bangalore. The objective of the Regional chapter  is to make TLA  available for reach locally . The chapter will maintain a close and regular association with professional colleagues in the same city or area.  The local chapter shall hold periodic conferences- symposiums, and provide a combination of social interaction, professional dialogue, legal aid, and other services at a regional level. Bylakuppe is one of the biggest Tibetan settlements in India. The Tibetan refugees are in need of legal aid and assistance. There are no Tibetan lawyers available for legal advice in those areas at present. Therefore, establishing a regional chapter will help the Tibetans located in Bylakuppe and Bangalore.

The legal debate/discussion session held by Advocate Tsering Ngodup and Advocate Tenzin Tsering which  has empowered the members of the Regional Chapter.  Training with regard to the management, accounts, and administration of Regional Chapter was also given. The executive members of the Regional Chapters were  given Rs five thousand as seed money.

Newly elected Board Members of TLA and Regional Chapter. (31.7.2016 )

14) Felicitation to the Principle of the J.S.S Law College, Mysore1st August 2016.

During the Orientation program at JSS Law College, Mr Lobsang Dakpa presented a Momento of appreciation on behalf of Tibetan legal Association. The Principle Mr K.S. Suresh said in his speech that he had audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama who asked him to give admission to all the Tibetans students coming to his college for admission and since then Principle of JSS Law College never turned a single Tibetan students so far.  Tibetans students are very grateful to the JSS Law college for its beneficial treatment to the Tibetans students .

Lobsang Dakpa presenting Momento to the Principle of JSS Law College, Mr. K.S. Suresh.

15. Legal Awareness Program at TCV Schools at around Dharamsala

Beside our regular works on providing legal aid on pro-bono basis to indigent and Tibetans in exile, and endeavor to provide legal services to underprivileged Indians requiring legal protection, the TLA aims to promote legal awareness within Tibetan Diaspora in India.

More than 40 percent of the Tibetans in India are children, and educating the young minds with basic ideas on law is crucial. TLA has visited five different Tibetan schools in Dharamsala to educate them on basic legal knowledge necessary in their everyday life.

Every year there is an increasing number of legal cases in Tibetan exile community. In 2014, Tibet Justice Center illustrated a number of legal issues faced by Tibetan in exile related to Registration Certificate and other official documents, land, deportation, citizenship, voting etc.  Lack of legal awareness on relevant laws and basic understanding of democracy is also one of the major issues facing Tibetans in Tibet as well. Legal awareness program was organized at various TCV Schools in Dharamsala from 17^th to 23^rd August 2016 and TCV Bylakuppe on 2^nd August 2016.

The Resource persons were Mr. Lobsang Dakpa (Advocate/President), Mr.Kunsang Topden (Advocate) and Mr.Tsering Ngodup (Advocate).

TLA had the following objectives behind conducting this legal awareness program:

• To inform the school children, teachers and the staff of the basic legal procedures and how to deal with legal problems in daily life and laws relevant to children.
• To inform them about the importance of keeping correct Date of Birth and name spell in various documents and how to rectify the mistakes in time in accordance with the law.

TLA legal Awareness at SOS TCV Bylakuppe ( 2.8.2016)

We had the following objectives behind conducting this legal awareness program:

• To inform the school children, teacher and the staff of the basic legal procedure and how to deal with legal problems in daily life and laws relevant to the children.
• To inform them about the importance of keeping correct Date of Birth and name spell in various documents and how to rectify the mistakes in time in accordance with the law.

Mr. Lobsang Dakpa addressed the gathering and introduced the organizational background, developments, aims and objectives of the TLA.  Mr. Lobsang Dakpa and Mr Kunsang Topden, advocate, acted as the keynote speakers. They covered various topics of law related to day to day life such as FIR, Affidavit, procedure of  RTI, crimes and offences along with the examples of the recent cases handled by TLA. Ms. Ashley Hill, an intern from a Canadian law school, spoke on the importance of law and the law making process.

Advocate kunsang Topden, presenting on ‘Types of crimes and its impact’ to TCV Gopalpur (19.8.2016)

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Following are the Tibetan Schools; the TLA has visited as part of legal awareness program:

They covered various topics of law related to day to day life which are relevant and suited to their understanding and capacity, such as First Information Report (FIR), Affidavit, Right to Information (RTI) and offences along with examples of the recent cases handled by TLA. Ms. Ashley Hill, an intern from a Canadian law school, spoke on the importance of law and the law making process.In this process of providing legal awareness to various Tibetan Children’s Schools in Himachal Pradesh ranged from 6th standard to 12th standard followed by questions from the masses, TLA came to the understanding that, in fact in Tibetan community, so far law is the remotest topic of discussion and Tibetans tend to distance themselves from law, but meanwhile people are ready to learn about it whenever possible because of its importance and the misfortunes it might likely to bring if devoid of such knowledge. Over the years, many Tibetans in exile have had practically been a victim of such encounter.

Various topics the TLA has covered in this two-hours-long session in each schools, receives immense appreciation and acknowledgment from the school administrations as well as the general students.

Legal awareness program at nunneries in Dharamsala

Tibetan society has the feeling that sexual violence is a shame and disgrace to the community and the individual. Therefore, it is either hidden or compromised, which is wrong and sans legal permissibility as ordered by the Supreme Court of India.

Nuns are not aware of the crimes against women that happen in day to day life in the Indian Society. Many women are not aware of laws on violence against women, of their legal rights or how to assert and exercise these rights.

With this background, the Tibetan Legal Association conducted two hours legal awareness program at various Tibetan Nunneries around Dharamsala. We had the following objectives behind conducting this legal awareness program:

• To educate the nuns about crimes against women, women’s safety and how to protect oneself.
• To convince them the importance of personal documents such as Registration Certificate (RC) and Identity Certificate (IC) with actual illustrations handled by TLA.

The Resource persons were Mr. Lobsang Dakpa, President of TLA, Mr. Kunsang Topden, Lawyer, Ms. Dickyi Peldon, legal staff and Miss. Yama Choezom as a law graduate and volunteer.

The TLA lawyers  spoke on issues like crimes against women with example of cases in both Tibetan society and Indian society, women’s rights under Indian Constitution and Fundamental Rights available to Tibetans as foreigners, laws relating to the Registration of Foreigners and Identity certificate, Affidavits and FIR along with example of cases handled by TLA so far.

The TLA has successfully educated almost 300 nuns and staff from four different nunneries over the subjects relevant to their day to day life, including the recent demonetization policy of Indian government.

Following are the nunneries the TLA has visited as part of legal awareness program:

Dharamsala

(11am – 12.15pm)

Tirlokpur