Agreement and resorted to the use of brute violence and repression against Tibetans, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Kashag (council of ministers) were compelled to escape from Tibet into exile. Immediately upon arriving in India, His Holiness the Dalai Lama repudiated the 17 Point Agreement on 18 April 1959. Whereas the Tibetan people recognize and look to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his Kashag as their legitimate government regardless of where it may be, His Holiness established the new seat of the central Tibetan administration in India to safeguard, represent and pursue the interests of the Tibetan nation and its people without interruption. Soon thereafter, His Holiness the Dalai Lama acted upon his long cherished desire to democratize the Tibetan governance system and institutions, and in 1960 created the Commission of Tibetan People’s Deputies as the elected representative assembly of the people. The Eleventh Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies adopted the Charter of Tibetans in Exile, ratified by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on 28 June 1991, to be the constitutional law governing the Central Tibetan Administration in conformity with modern norms of democracy. The Charter provided that the successive Dalai Lamas shall exercise their responsibilities as head of the Tibetan nation and as chief executive of the Tibetan administration. To complete the democratization process and ensure that the future of the Tibetan people not be unduly dependent on one individual, and in full consideration of the challenges and goals before the Tibetan people, His Holiness the Dalai Lama on 14 March 2011 formally announced to the Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies his intention to transfer all his administrative and political powers and responsibilities to the elected leaders of the Central Tibetan Administration. In deference to His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s irrevocable decision to relinquish his administrative and political roles and in the face of His Holiness’ rejection of pleas to reconsider that decision, the Fourteenth Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies, in its additional session, adopted necessary amendments to the Charter to give effect to His Holiness’ directive to appropriately amend the Charter while safeguarding the continuity of the Central Tibetan Administration as the legitimate governing body and representative of the whole Tibetan people, in whom sovereignty resides.
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