NEW DELHI (TIP): The Tibetan government in exile will relaunch their Middle Way Approach campaign — a global drive to create an international environment for autonomy in the next few years. Dalai Lama is expected to start the drive at a launch event in Dharamsala this week. According to sources, the awareness drive is intended to ensure that “after 65 years of occupation, with 130 Tibetans having self-immolated in the past 5 years and increased loss of culture and traditional ways as well as large-scale and irrevocable environmental destruction in the Tibetan regions, the Tibetan people are serious about achieving autonomy in the next few years.”

The campaign includes a web outreach initiative, documentaries and a social media strategy to target young supporters for Tibetan autonomy, with the Middle Way. In recent months, international rights group, Human Rights Watch has highlighted the conditions of Tibetan refugees in countries like Nepal. In April, an HRW report asked the Nepal government to “make it clear to China that it will accept Tibetans who flee persecution as refugees and will not restrict basic rights of peaceful expression, assembly, and association.” HRW says Tibetan refugee communities in Nepal were “facing a de facto ban on political protests, sharp restrictions on public activities promoting Tibetan culture and religion, and routine abuses by Nepali security forces.”