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The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) is a private non-profit advocacy group working to promote democratic freedoms for Tibetans, ensure their human rights, and protect Tibetan culture and the environment. Founded in 1988, ICT is the world's largest Tibet-related NGO, with a total membership of over 400,000 as of 2007. ICT maintains offices in Washington D.C., Amsterdam, Brussels and Berlin. ICT’s work focuses on three main areas: reporting on the situation inside Tibet, advocating for Tibet with governments, and reaching out to Chinese individuals, organizations, and media entities.

History
The International Campaign for Tibet was founded in 1988 by a group of Tibet activists, including the first President of ICT, Tenzin Tethong. Initial victories included successfully urging Congress to pass a resolution supporting the Dalai Lama’s Five Point Peace Plan and to establish Tibetan language service of Voice of America. In the 90’s ICT helped to coordinate a meeting between the Dalai Lama and President George H.W. Bush, the first meeting between a Dalai Lama and an American President. As the organization grew, ICT sent fact-finding missions inside Tibet and released a series of reports from the Washington, DC headquarters. The European offices began opening in the 2000’s, while ICT Executive Chair Lodi Gyari Rinpoche led the Tibetan team through a series of negotiations with representatives of the People’s Republic of China. In 2003 ICT helped to secure the release of Ngawang Sangdrol, a nun who had spent 11 years in Lhasa’s Drapchi Prison. The 2008 Tibetan Uprising was a turning point for the Tibet movement, and ICT engaged in extensive advocacy and compiled a series of reports which sought to accurately depict the events of March 2008 and the ensuing months. Later, the 2010 Yushu Earthquake brought ICT and other members of the Tibet movement together to provide relief and funding for the quake-stricken Tibetan area.

Profile
The International Campaign for Tibet works to promote self-determination, human rights, and democratic freedoms for the Tibetan people, and negotiations between the 14th Dalai Lama and the People’s Republic of China. The three main departments of ICT are devoted to reporting and communications, advocacy, and Chinese outreach. Monitoring and reporting on human rights, environmental and socio-economic conditions in Tibet makes up a significant portion of ICT’s activities, with information coming directly from inside Tibet and also from a network of Tibetan researchers based in field offices in India and Nepal. ICT advocacy efforts are focused on securing humanitarian and development assistance for Tibetans, and working with governments to develop policies and programs to help Tibetans. ICT asks its members to petition governments on behalf of Tibet, and organizes activities like the annual Tibet Lobby Day which gives constituents a chance to directly ask their representatives to help Tibet. Additional advocacy efforts are focused on achieving the release of Tibetans imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs. Through Chinese Outreach, ICT engages Chinese thinkers and the broader Chinese public with the goal of increasing mutual understanding between Chinese and Tibetans. ICT is a member of International Federation for Human Rights.

Publications
ICT publishes several major reports each year, such as Dangerous Crossing, an annual report on Tibetan refugees seeking to escape repression in Tibet under Chinese rule. Other recent reports include a number focused on the 2008 Tibetan Uprising and the ensuing Chinese crackdown in Tibet, and a 2012 report entitled “60 Years of Chinese Misrule” which concludes that Chinese policies in Tibet have created elements of cultural genocide. Periodical publications include the quarterly Tibet Press Watch and a Chinese-language journal called Liaowang Xizang.

Key People

 * Lodi Gyari Rinpoche, Executive Chair of the ICT Board of Directors.
 * Richard Gere, Chair of the ICT Board.
 * Mary Beth Markey, President.
 * Bhuchung K. Tsering, Vice President of Special Programs
 * Todd Stein, Director of Government Relations
 * Tsering Jampa, Executive Director of ICT Amsterdam.
 * Kai Muller, Executive Director of ICT Berlin.

Rowell Fund
Following the August 2002 deaths of ICT Co-chair Galen Rowell and his wife, Barbara Rowell, the ICT Board of Directors established the Rowell Fund. The Fund gives small grants to Tibetans whose projects deal with the environment/conservation, photography, humanitarian projects, journalism/literature, and women’s projects.

Light of Truth Award
ICT presents the Light of Truth Award, a human rights award for persons and organizations that have publicly contributed substantially to the rise of and battle for human rights and democratic freedoms of the Tibetan people. The award has been presented since 1995 by the fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, to the recipients personally. Past recipients are:
 * 1995: A. M. Rosenthal
 * 1996: Richard Gere, Lavinia Currier, and Michael Currier
 * 1997: Charlie Rose, and Claiborne Pell
 * 1998: Martin Scorsese, and Melissa Mathison
 * 1999: Hugh Edward Richardson, and Danielle Mitterrand
 * 2000: Richard C. Blum
 * 2001: The people of India, taken delivery of by R. Venkataraman
 * 2002: Heinrich Harrer, and Petra Kelly
 * 2003: Benjamin A. Gilman, Michele Bohana, and Robert Thurman
 * 2004: Otto Graf Lambsdorff, Irmtraut Wäger, and Václav Havel
 * 2005: Elie Wiesel, Carl Gershman, and Lowell Thomas, Jr.
 * 2006: Hergé Foundation, and Desmond Tutu
 * 2009: Julia Taft, and Wang Lixiong
 * 2011: George Patterson

Financials
ICT derives the vast majority of its funding (81%) from private contributions, according to the 2010 financial statement. Smaller sources of funding include donations from foundations (3%) and grants (1%).