Additional Name(s): Gengdeng Queji Nima, 更登确吉*尼玛, དགེ་འདུན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཉི་མ་
Gender: Male
Perpetrator: China
Ethnic Group: Tibetan
Religion or Belief: Buddhist – Tibetan
Date of Detainment: May/17/1995
Current Status: Unknown
Religious Leader: Yes
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Disappeared
Reason for Persecution: Religious Figure & Religious Leadership Role
Nature of Charges: Not Applicable
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was forcibly disappeared because of his religious leadership role.
On May 17, 1995, authorities abducted then six-year old Gedhun and his family. The abduction came after the Dalai Lama chose Gedhun to be the 11th Panchen Lama, the second highest position in Tibetan Buddhism, on May 14, 1995.
On November 29, 1995, authorities announced their own pick to serve as the Panchen Lama: Gyancain Norbu.
On July 17, 2007, authorities said that Gedhun is a “perfectly ordinary Tibetan boy,” attending school and leading a normal life, and that he “does not wish to be disturbed.” Authorities said that the state employs both of his parents and that his brothers and sisters are either working or at university.
In May 2020, authorities said that Gedhun “received free compulsory education when he was a child, passed the college entrance examination and now has a job.”
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) advocates for Gedhun as part of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission's Defending Freedoms Project.
Related Cases: Dechen Choedron, Konchog Phuntsog
"Gedhun Choekyi Nyima" Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
"Gedun Choekyi Nyima" Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC)
USCIRF Commissioners David Curry and Nury Turkel, Tweet, April 25, 2024
USCIRF Commissioner David Curry, Tweet, March 24, 2023
USCIRF Factsheet: State-Controlled Religion and Religious Freedom Violations in China December 2022
USCIRF Press Release: USCIRF Calls for Panchen Lama’s Release, May 13, 2022
USCIRF Commissioner Nadine Maenza, Tweet, April 24, 2022
USCIRF Commissioner Nadine Maenza, Tweet, February 4, 2022
USCIRF Commissioner Nadine Maenza, Tweet, December 7, 2021
USCIRF Factsheet: China October 2021
USCIRF Press Release: USCIRF Reiterates Call to Release the Panchen Lama, April 23, 2021
USCIRF Event: FoRB Victims List and Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project Update, February 25, 2021
USCIRF Press Release: USCIRF Calls for Release of the Panchen Lama, April 24, 2020
"China says boy picked by Dalai Lama now a college graduate" Associated Press (AP)
USCIRF Commissioner Tenzin Dorjee, Open Letter, April 25, 2019
USCIRF Commissioner Tenzin Dorjee, Open Letter, April 24, 2018
USCIRF Commissioner Tenzin Dorjee, Testimony, July 12, 2017
"Interview with Voice of America TIbetan on the case of the Panchen Lama" Voice of America (VOA)
USCIRF Commissioner Tenzin Dorjee, Open Letter, April 25, 2017
USCIRF Commissioner Tenzin Dorjee, RPOC Event, April 6, 2017
USCIRF Commissioners Daniel Mark and Sandra Jolley, Op-ed, August 30, 2016
USCIRF Commissioners Robert P. George Katrina Lantos Swett, Op-ed, July 5, 2015
USCIRF Government Correspondence Letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry June 18, 2015