Tibetan exiles will hold their biggest gathering in four years from Tuesday where delegates will try to come up with new policies to end a spate of gruesome self-immolations.
About 400 Tibetans from around the world have come together in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala for the four-day meeting, also set to consider the upcoming power handover in Beijing.
The rise in suicides by fire has sparked alarm among the leadership and prime-minister-in-exile Lobsang Sangay will push delegates to come up with a response that can address the growing sense of desperation among Tibetans.
According to Tibet’s government-in-exile, based in Dharamshala, 51 people have set themselves on fire in the past three years. Forty-one died from their burns.
“We are calling this meeting due to the self-immolations,” Sangay said.
“After four days we will come up with some activities that need to be done among Tibetan people.”