Spotlight at the UN on China’s Human Rights Violations in Tibet

By Tenzin Samten / September 28, 2021;

Tibetans during the protest
Photo: tibet.net

Tibetans in Switzerland and Liechtenstein staged a peaceful protest march from the United Nations Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights to the building of the UN Human Rights Council. Their message was to highlight the deteriorating human rights situation inside Tibet to the 48th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) currently being held in Geneva.

Karma Choekyi, the Tibetan Community President, read an appeal from the Tibetan community to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, calling on China to “respect the right of Tibetan children to learn the Tibetan language; to stop the forced militarisation of Tibetan children in military camps during school holidays; release all Tibetan political prisoners, including the 11th Panchen Lama Gedun Choekyi Nyima and his entire family, and Chadrel Rinpoche; and to allow an independent fact-finding delegation to assess the situation on the ground in Tibet”, reports Tibet Post International. Protest marchers called on the UN and international community to work together to hold China accountable for violating all aspect of human rights in Tibet and towards other groups under their régime.

Delegates from Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States and the European Union on behalf of its member states, have expressed concerns and called on China to respect human rights in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong, said a separate report by the Tibet Bureau Geneva and published on tibet.net, the official website of the Central Tibetan Administration. There is concern that the violations are targeted at the people belonging to minority groups, human rights defenders and media workers, including in Tibet.

The United States delivered a statement which strongly condemned China’s economic exploitation, systemic racism and destruction of cultural heritage. The US says it remains concerned over China’s severe restrictions on religious, linguistic and cultural traditions in Tibet.