Green Book (Tibetan document)
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The Green Book is a document issued since 1972 by the Central Tibetan Administration (commonly known as the Tibetan Government in Exile) to Tibetans living outside Tibet, and described by the issuing organization as "the most official document issued by the Tibetan Government in Exile."[1] More than 90 percent of Tibetan exiles own one.[2] It serves as a receipt book for the person's "voluntary taxes" to the CTA, and has been described by a CTA official as "the passport of the exiled Tibetans to claim their rights from the Tibetan Government in Exile".[3] The CTA says that in the future, the document "will become the basis for claiming Tibetan citizenship".[1]
The document is valid for five years. Stateless Tibetans in exile may use this document as proof of Tibetan identity when applying to the National Immigration Agency of Republic of China for residency in Taiwan. [4]
Blue Book
A system for collecting an annual "voluntary contribution" from the Tibetans in exile was introduced by the Central Tibetan Administration on 1 August 1972. On 3 March 2005 an updated Green Book format was launched by the CTA's Department of Finance; the document holders data are stored in a computer database that had been created in a project that had started two years previously.[5]
The Green Book is issued only to Tibetan exiles, but starting in 1996 the CTA has also issued a Blue Book to non-citizens to raise funds for "the social and resource development fund".[6]: 73 [7] The official name is the Tibetan Solidarity Partnership project.[7]
Eligibility
As of 2010, the CTA web site states that "Any Tibetan who has aged 6 or more is obligated to apply for Green Book and become a full-fledged member of the exile Tibetan community. The Green Book affirms that the individual is a legitimate exile Tibetan who is affiliated to the Tibetan Exile Government."[8]
For this purpose, CTA defines a Tibetan as "any person born in Tibet, or any person with one parent who was born in Tibet", and, as Tibetan refugees often lack documents attesting to their place of birth, the eligibility is usually established by an interview. Green Books have been issued since 1971. They are owned by more than 90 per cent of Tibetan refugees.[9]