Published 16:04 IST, June 29th 2020
CTA President urges UNHRC to hold emergency session over China's human rights violations
President of Central Tibetan Administration Dr Lobsang Sangay on Monday called for the need to hold a UNHRC session over China's blatant human rights violations
President of Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) Dr Lobsang Sangay on Monday called for the need to hold a UNHRC session over China's blatant human rights violations saying that it was time to hold China 'accountable.' His call came in response to the emergency session proposed by 50 UN independent who asked the UN Human Rights Council to 'act with a sense of urgency' and protect the fundamental freedoms in regions under the China's control including Tibet, Hong Kong, and Xinjiang.
Lauding them for this timely intervention, Lobsang Sangay thanked the UN experts saying that Tibet welcomed their call for urgent decisive measures against China. "The Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetans strongly support the call of the UN experts on the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to take urgent measures against the Chinese human rights violations," said Lobsang Sangay in a statement.
"In the last six decades and more, Tibetans within Tibet are suffering under the authoritarian rule of the government of China. The Chinese government has stripped off Tibetans of their basic human rights guaranteed under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, annihilating the distinct identity of Tibetans and denying them their inherent dignity of being human," said Lobsang Sangay.
'Impunity in Tibet has emboldened them'
The CTA President stated that over the past decade, the constant persecution and suppression of Tibetans by China had forced 154 Tibetans to self-immolate as a mark of peaceful protest against the Chinese authorities. However, China's impunity in Tibet had only but emboldened the communist country to carry out similar violations in Xinjiang and now Hong Kong.
"We urge the international community to unite and ensure that China fulfils its obligations under international laws including human rights obligations before it is too late," said the CTA President.
Last month, the United States had called on China to immediately make known the whereabouts of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima who was recognized as Tibetan Buddhism’s 11th Panchen Lama. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had expressed concerns about China's ongoing campaign to eliminate the religious, linguistic, and cultural identity of Tibetans.
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima recognized as Tibetan Buddhism’s 11th Panchen Lama had disappeared in 1995 when he was six years old just three days after Dalai Lama had declared him to be the reincarnated Panchen Lama. Tibetan exiles have been calling on China to release him ever since.
Updated 16:04 IST, June 29th 2020