Keeping the Flame Alive: Panchen Lama’s 31st Birthday in Absence – A Stark Reminder of China’s Enforced Disappearance

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24 April 2026 | GATPM | London |

On 25 April, Tibetans and supporters around the world will mark the birthday of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima – a spiritual figure who has not been seen in public since May 1995, when he was just six years old. Recognised by the exile-based His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama, his disappearance remains one of the most enduring and troubling cases of enforced disappearance in modern history.

More than three decades on, his fate and whereabouts remain unknown. For Tibetans, this is not only a personal tragedy but a profound assault on religious freedom, identity, and the integrity of Tibetan Buddhism itself.

A Community Remembers in London

In the United Kingdom, members of the Tibeta...

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