Forced statements against the Dalai Lama

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While patriotic re-education campaign's demands to denounce the Dalai Lama are not new to monasteries and nunneries, for the first time it has been reported that civil servants have been commanded to make their own denunciations. In August,The Washington Ost reported that thousands of government employees in Phenpo(state),northeast of Lhasa, had been instructed to "write criticism of the Dalai Lama". The article did not state when this had happened or if it is an ongoing campaign. This new requirement was also reported in a similar report in The Times, in August,which stated that the writing Requirement was for "[e]thnic Tibetans" in Lhasa and its surrounding counties. The report continued to say that, "senior civil servants must produce 10,000-word essays while those in junior posts need to write only 5,00-character condemnation." This is clear violation of Article 18 of the UDHR,"Every one has the right to freedom of thought,conscience and religion". The right to religious belief is also enshrined in Article 18 of the ICCPR. UDHR-Universal Declaration of Human Rights ICCPR-International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights