The Challenge

Last year we raised £652 doing the 25km Thames Bridges Trek for Tibet Watch.  The money helped us to bring a couple of Tibetan activists over to the UK for an advocacy tour.  This included meetings with the UK government and embassies of other countries to encourage support for Tibet during China's review by the UN Human Rights Council.  And it worked - we had more countries speaking up for Tibet than ever before.  While they were here, we secured a spot for our Tibetan guests to speak at the conference on indigenous peoples and minority rights organised by the Human Rights Consortium.  We were also able to organise seminars at universities and public events in seven different cities.  Activity like this really helps to raise awareness and build public support for Tibet.

This year we're  taking on the Jurassic Coast Challenge and hoping to raise even more for the amazing Tibet Watch team.  This also means we're upping the distance to 42km and there are likely to be even more blisters than last year.  The route starts at Weymouth and follows the coast round to the cliffs of West Bay, which are apparently famous from some TV thing called Broadchurch.

Background Info on Tibet Watch

Tibet Watch is a small organisation and most of the team are Tibetan refugees based in Dharamsala, in northern India.  It's the only organisation in the Tibet movement which is dedicated to obtaining and verifying information about the ongoing human rights abuses in Tibet.  Freedom House regularly ranks Tibet as one of the least free countries in the world, second only to Syria. This means it's worse than North Korea. It also means that getting accurate information about what's going on there is both extremely difficult and extremely valuable.

The information that Tibet Watch gathers drives Free Tibet's campaigning work and also forms the basis of vital advocacy work. This work can save lives. I've met former political prisoners who confirmed that international pressure changed how they were treated in prison and even brought the torture sessions to an end. Not everyone survives Chinese prison and being able to help improve an individual's chances of walking out in one piece is such an important part of Tibet Watch's work. This is what you'll be funding by donating today.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to Tibet Watch.