INTERNATIONAL TIBET SUPPORT NETWORK ANNUAL REPORT, 2006 & 2007

Mission and Summary of Immediate Priorities.
The International Tibet Support Network is a global coalition of Tibet related non-governmental organizations. Its purpose is to maximize the effectiveness of the worldwide Tibet movement, which is dedicated to ending human rights violations in Tibet and to working actively to restore the Tibetan people's right under international law to determine their own political, economic, social, religious, and cultural status.

ITSN imperatives for the next twelve months are to raise pressure on China to change its policies in Tibet by ensuring that Tibet is included in the ongoing intense scrutiny of China as it prepares for the 2008 Olympics, and to engage the entire Tibet movement in a comprehensive strategic review of its current and post-Olympics practices in light of China’s increasing power and influence.

This report picks out highlights from 2006 and 2007, using ITSN’s main themes of Campaigns, Coordination, Capacity Building, and ITSN’s structure and Governance.

Campaigns.
ITSN develops coordinated campaign strategies through its Campaign Working Groups (CWGs). CWGs are composed of representatives of Tibet Groups that have an interest in a particular issue, who voluntarily come together to design strategic campaigns for implementation by Member organizations and other Tibet Groups. Membership of the CWGs numbers between 12 and 20 people, with a broad geographical spread. ITSN staff work closely with all CWGs, offering advice and support (including administrative) to the Chairs and helping keep progress on track, but the CWGs choose their own leadership structures and decision-making processes. At this time there are three Campaign Working Groups; Olympics, Human Rights and Economic Rights.

Olympics Campaign Working Group:
The purpose of the Olympics campaign is to use the opportunity of the Beijing 2008 Games to raise awareness of Tibet, and to generate pressure on China to change its policies in Tibet. The Olympics CWG is composed of representatives from 16 ITSN Member organizations from across the world. The CWG was chaired by Wangpo Tethong of Games of Beijing until May 2007 and is currently chaired by Lhadon Tethong of Students for a Free Tibet. Highlights in 2006 and 2007 include:
• An ITSN Olympic Campaign Coordinator, Freya Putt, hired June 2007
• CWG meetings; Dharamsala, May 2006 and Brussels May 2007.
• Two campaign proposals presented to the ITSN Membership at the Regional Meetings, September to December 2006.
• Rights secured for documentary Forbidden Team, about the Tibetan football team. More than 300 copies distributed to Members, along with an advocacy pack. The film is now available with French and Spanish subtitles.
• A Campaign Booklet made available to all Tibet Groups at the 5th International TSG Conference, May 2007
• Campaign logo and website (www.supportteamtibet.org) developed, 2007
• Celebrities and supporters recruited as members of “Team Tibet”
• Tibetan National Olympic Committee submitted application to the IOC on behalf of “Team Tibet”, August 2007
• Activities for One Year Countdown in 30 cities worldwide. Substantial press coverage in India. August 2007.
• Campaign expenditure: $8,700 in 2006, $50,000 (expected) in 2007

Human Rights Campaign Working Group:
The purpose of the Human Rights CWG is to devise strategies that promote the human rights of the Tibetan people. The CWG was established in August 2006, as an expansion of a former CWG focused on the Panchen Lama. The Human Rights CWG is composed of representatives from 15 ITSN Member organizations. Benoit Camard of Briancon Urgence Tibet and Yael Weisz-Rind of Free Tibet Campaign, both ITSN Steering Committee members, served as interim co chairs from August 2006 to May 2007 when they were replaced by B Tsering Yeshi of Tibetan Women’s Association and Giovanni Vassallo of Committee of 100 for Tibet. A sub-group, chaired by Glenn Freeman of Tibet Michigan, worked on the case of the Panchen Lama. Highlights in 2006 and 2007 include:
• CWG meeting, Brussels May 2007
• Discussion paper presented to the ITSN Membership at the Regional Meetings, September to December 2006.
• Campaign proposals and materials to highlight the 18th birthday of the detained Panchen Lama, including sample press releases, requests for meetings with Chinese embassies and consulates, and advocacy: April 2007.
• Planning for a new, comprehensive campaign pack on media freedom underway: August 2007
• Sample letters provided to the Membership concerning the detention of Runggye Adak, September 2007.

Economic Rights Campaign Working Group:
The purpose of the Economic Rights CWG is to develop strategies that ensure development projects in Tibet do not violate the human rights of the Tibetan people or their environment. The CWG believes that development projects in Tibet must provide community welfare, socio-economic benefits and environmental safeguards for the Tibetan people, in consultation with them. The CWG is composed of representatives from nine ITSN Member organizations. The group has evolved from a CWG concerned purely with the Gormo Lhasa Railway and has during the period been co-chaired by Tenzin Dargyal of Canada Tibet Committee, Kate Woznow of Students for a Free Tibet and Liam Phelan of Australia Tibet Council. Highlights in 2006 and 2007 include:
• CWG Meetings in Washington DC February 2006, San Francisco November 2006 and Brussels May 2007.
• Rights-based approach agreed, and “red-line” projects identified; examples are extractive industry projects such as mining, military or nuclear projects, projects that detrimentally affect a site sacred to Tibetans, big dams in environmentally or socially sensitive areas and the North/South Water Project
• A short-term contract given to Susan Mizrahi, formerly of the International Campaign for Tibet (US) to develop a Moratorium on resource extraction which is shortly to be publicly launched.
• CWG members led trainings in campaign tactics for Economic Rights issues at the 2006 Regional Meetings,
• Shareholder resolutions presented at AGMs of Bombardier, Nortel and Powercorp (companies involved in the Railway), 2006.
• Development of a form letter and questionnaire outlining concerns regarding mineral extraction in occupied Tibet and specific questions to evaluate a company’s activities.
• Monitoring and researching 6 Canadian mining companies and 1 UK based company involved in exploration and drilling operation in Tibet and meetings with investor groups on ethical issues around mining in Tibet and engaging in dialogue with mining firms.

New Strategies:
The ITSN Steering Committee has been considering for some time how to focus the movement around new strategies at a time when many Tibet Groups are finding their advocacy yields fewer results in the face of China’s increasing political and economic power and, furthermore, the dialogue between envoys of the Dalai Lama and China has reached a critical stage where progress has slowed.

At its 2006 Regional Meetings ITSN proposed to Members to commence a new planning process to consider new “strategic concepts” around which to build campaigns, once the current priority campaign on the Olympic Games is over. This proposal received enthusiastic support. A seven-person “Task Force” of respected people in the movement was set up in Spring 2007 which is currently engaged in consulting the Membership by means of a stimulating and challenging set of questions about China and Tibet. The Task Force’s goal is to produce a shortlist of proposals for consideration at the Spring 2008 Regional Meetings, with a new strategy being in place for the autumn of 2008.

Coordination.
ITSN communicates with its Members by email several times a week. Its website, www.tibetnetwork.org is a source of downloadable campaign materials, although it is currently migrating to a new server, and a secure worksite is in development. One of ITSN’s Co-chairs is designated as responsible for ensuring ITSN has regular communication with the Kalon Tripa of the Tibetan Government in Exile.

ITSN appointed two Regional Coordinators in late 2006, in South Asia and Latin America, whose purpose is to build the regional network, assist groups in finding appropriate regional strategies for implementing global campaigns, provide support and advice, especially to emerging groups, and to arrange training. See Secretariat for biographical details.

ITSN aims to bring the membership together regionally every 18 months and internationally every three years, in order to network, skill-share and engage in detailed strategic planning. In 2006 and 2007 ITSN organized and hosted the following meetings:
2006 Regional Meetings:
• India; ITSN Members met in Bodh Gaya, India 21 – 23 September, in conjunction with a conference of more than 300 activists hosted by the India Tibet Coordination office and co-financed by ITSN.
• The Americas & Australasia: ITSN hosted this meeting in Oakland, California, 10-12 November 2006. 50 participants, most of whom paid their own costs, but ITSN gave travel bursaries to 4 Tibet groups. ITSN paid for the meeting venue and training costs/expert participation.
• Western, Northern & Eastern Europe (including Israel): ITSN hosted this meeting in Berlin, Germany, 1- 3 December 2006. 85 participants, most of whom paid their own costs but ITSN gave travel bursaries to 8 Tibet groups. ITSN paid for the meeting venue and training costs/expert participation.
• These meetings focused on Olympics, Human Rights and Economic Rights and long term strategic planning.
• Decisions included a movement-wide agreement that the Olympics was the priority campaign, and that ITSN should launch a long term planning process.
2007 Members’ Meeting, held in conjunction with the 5th International TSG Conference, Brussels (see below):
• Detailed discussions on the implementation of the 5th TSG Conference Action Plan, specific aspects of the Olympics campaign, plus proposals to amend ITSN’s Mission Statement so as to be more inclusive of cultural associations in parts of the world where there were no Tibet Support Groups.
ITSN made a major contribution to the 5th International TSG Conference, convened every four years by the Tibetan Government in exile. This included extensive consultation on the agenda, providing three out of the four Conference Papers, briefing the facilitation team, making presentations on ITSN’s progress, on strategic planning, on the Olympics Campaign and providing campaign skills training.

The next Regional Meetings are scheduled as follows: Americas - Mexico City, Mexico, late February 2008: Europe - Budapest, Hungary, mid April 2008 and Asia - Dharamsala, India, early May 2008

Capacity Building.
Situation Analysis exercises at ITSN’s 2006 Regional Meetings provided a great deal of information about the needs of the movement, especially financial resources and more professional expertise. ITSN’s objective is to increase the financial security and resources of ITSN Members, and to increase the skill-base of Tibet campaigners, and therefore the effectiveness of the movement by providing training.
• 2006: Training was provided to all participants of the Regional Meetings in Fundraising, Media Work, Political Lobbying (regionally focused), Economic Campaigning Tactics and in Strategic Planning;
• Briefings from China experts (academics, journalists and business people and lobbyists) were arranged at the Regional Meetings and International Conference.
• 2007: Media and Non Violence training at the Members’ Meeting.
• Public Speaking Training to Tibetan former political prisoners (October 2007)
• Plans for 2008 (funds permitting) include longer Fundraising workshops for Members in India, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

In recent weeks ITSN launched a Small Grant Scheme by which we offer a small number of grants, of up to $3,000 each, to Members for capacity building projects; specifically for fundraising and training.

ITSN’s Structure and Governance.

Membership:
ITSN currently has 150 Member organizations from 5 continents. Highest concentrations are in India, North America and Western Europe.

Steering Committee:
The most recent Annual General Meeting of the Steering Committee took place in May 2007. Jamyang Dorjee and Dorothy Berger were re-elected as Co Chairs. In between meetings, the work of the Steering Committee is directed by the Co Chairs and through Steering Committee sub-groups focused on Membership. Campaigns, Communications and Fundraising.

A list of Steering Committee members for 2006 & 2007 is appended. Steering Committee members serve two-year terms; elections are staggered so that half the seats on the Steering Committee are contested annually.

Secretariat and Regional Coordinators:
ITSN's first Executive Director (Alison Reynolds), took up post in April 2006.

In October and November 2006, ITSN appointed Regional Coordinators in South Asia (Tsering Choedup) and Latin America (Exa Mendez).

In April 2007 ITSN appointed an Olympics Coordinator (Freya Putt) to help the Campaign Working Group implement the movement’s priority campaign.

Funding:
ITSN receives approximately 12% of its income from Membership fees. This includes fairly substantial fees from the small number of larger Tibet Groups, which represents considerable buy-in to ITSN on their part. In 2007, in addition to its continuing grant from the Isdell Foundation, ITSN secured one further grant of $45,000 from the National Endowment for Democracy and campaign donations from a number of Member organizations in Switzerland.

Financial Report 1 January to 31 December 2006:

Income:
Grants: $124,132 from Isdell Foundation.
Membership Fees: $18,439
Donations: $3,306
Refunds for costs incurred on behalf of Tibet Groups: $12,922
Bank interest: $408
Total Income: $159,207

Expenditure:
Program Services: $124,461
Management and General $29,380
Fundraising $10,954
Total Expenditure: $164,795

2006 Balance Sheet:
Opening Balance $97,087
Deficit for the Year: -$5,588
Closing Balance: $91,499

Reserve:
The Steering Committee has a policy to retain a modest reserve of US$30,000.

Appendix: Steering Committee Membership

From May 2007:
Natalia Barahona, Chile (Latin America)
Zoe Bedford, Australia (Australasia)
Dorothy Berger (USA) Co Chair
Benoit Camard, France (Western Europe)
Piotr Cykowski, Poland (C&E Europe and Russia)
Sonam Dagpo, TGiE Observer
Jamyang Dorjee, India (South Asia), Co Chair
Larry Gerstein (USA)
Dan Haig (USA)
Marco Antonio Karam, Mexico (Latin America)
Vijay Kranti (India)
Mary Beth Markey (USA)
Charlotte Mathiassen, Denmark (Northern Europe)
Ran Natanzon, Israel (Middle East and Africa)
Sonam Sangmo, TGiE (Observer)
Wangpo Tethong, Switzerland (Western Europe)
B Tsering Yeshi, India (South Asia)
Yael Weisz-Rind, UK (Western Europe)
Kate Woznow (Canada)

Seats currently unfilled in 2007:
Central and Eastern Europe and Russia – 1 of 2 seats vacant (Currently no nominations)
Rest of Asia – 1 of 1 seat vacant (Currently no eligible candidates)