The Tibetan Government in Exile

Head of State His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Prime Minister Prof Samdhong Rinpoche

Main Organs of Government

• Judiciary: The Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission
• Legislature: The Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile
• Executive: The Kashag

Short Background (Tibet.net)

In 1949 the Peoples Liberation Army of China marched into Tibet's eastern provinces of Do-med and Do-tod, occupying the eastern Tibetan headquarters of Chamdo in the following year. Then, in 1951, China imposed what they call “The 17-Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet”. In the succeeding years, the Chinese army crushed the Tibetan national uprising of Lhasa in 1959. In the same year, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and some 80,000 Tibetans crossed the Himalayas to seek refuge in India, Nepal and Bhutan. The influx of refugees continues even today.

On April 29, 1959 His Holiness the Dalai Lama relocated the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in the north Indian hill station of Mussoorie. In May 1960 the exile administration was moved to Dharamsala.

The Tibetan people, both in and outside Tibet, look to the CTA as their sole and legitimate representative. This and the CTA's commitment to truth, non-violence and genuine democracy as its inviolable principles means that it is now being recognized increasingly by parliaments and general public around the world as the legitimate and true representative of the Tibetan people.

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