Relocation scheme drives Tibetans into poverty Hundreds of thousands of Tibetan nomads have been forced to settle in towns A huge relocation scheme in Tibetan areas of China has over the past decade forced hundreds of thousands of people to end their nomadic way of life and settle in towns, posing a new threat to populations already under pressure due to the Chinese government's repressive policies. The relocation programmes have already moved more than 600,000 herders off their land and into government-constructed "towns" that have few or no employment opportunities, according to a report published on Thursday by Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group. Many Tibetans who relocate or rebuild their houses under these programmes bear most of the cost of building their new houses themselves, often resulting in indebtedness that households are ill-equipped to bear, the report finds. In the Tibet Autonomous Region, more than two-thirds of the Tibetan population was moved into new housing between 2006 and 2012 under a programme Beijing called the "comfortable housing campaign." "The scale and the speed at which the Tibetan rural population is being remodelled by mass rehousing and relocation policies are unprecedented in the post-Mao era," said Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch. Tibetans have no say in the design of policies that are radically altering their way of life. Chinese officials say Beijing's policy of rapid economic expansion in Tibetan areas has raised living standards for all and state media routinely says that the "comfortable housing campaign" has been welcomed by Tibetans eager for better houses. However, extensive interviews show that Tibetan households who are relocated are often impoverished because they lose their livelihood and struggle to get by on the government subsidies that become their only source of income. Beijing's approach to Tibetan parts of China has become increasingly harsh since violent riots in Lhasa in 2008 left dozens of Han Chinese and Tibetans dead. The relocation and house rebuilding programmes have since accelerated. Starting in 2009, a wave of self-immolations has swept across Tibetan areas in China. At least 120 Tibetans, mostly young monks and nuns, have committed suicide by setting themselves on fire - acts that have infuriated Beijing. The most recent was Wangchen Dolma, a 31-year-old nun, who died on June 14 after setting herself alight three days earlier. Gary Locke, US ambassador to China, is visiting Tibet this week, the first such visit by a US ambassador in three years. Access to Tibet is tightly controlled by the Chinese government, with all foreign journalists and most foreign tourists barred.