“I welcome the creation of the International Tibet Support Network… the time is now ripe for our friends to systematically coordinate their efforts”

On 14 May 2000, participants of the 3rd International Tibet Support Groups Conference voted unanimously to create the International Tibet Network, to support the development and strengthening of the global Tibet movement. His Holiness the Dalai Lama wholeheartedly welcomed this decision and said he understood that The Network will “provide these diverse and geographically dispersed actors opportunities to jointly develop strategies, share information, skills and resources and coordinate international actions. In short, [The Network] will assist Tibet campaigners in reaching a new level of international cooperation and action.”

Since May 2000, the Network has grown to a membership of over 180 Groups around the world supported by a small Secretariat.

Thubten Samdup, convenor of the ad hoc Steering Group that developed the proposal which participants voted on in 2000, and who is regarded as International Tibet Network’s founder, has sent a short video message.