Tibet: EU Troika to make rare visit to Tibet
The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) welcomes the announcement by the
EU Presidency that it intends to make an official visit to Tibet prior to the
EU-China Bilateral Human Rights Dialogue being held in Beijing later this month.
"This is the first official EU visit to Tibet since its controversial trip of
1998. It demonstrates that the EU Presidency acknowledges the ongoing human
rights abuses by China in Tibet and sends a political message to China that
the EU remains concerned about the situation in the forcefully-controlled region,"
said Ms. Tsering Jampa, Executive Director, ICT Europe.
"Freedom of religion is severely curtailed in Tibet as are civil and political
rights. Despite the EU's assurances that the EU-China Dialogue safeguards human
rights, it is well documented that China is still imposing repressive measures
in Tibet. The Troika must take the information gleaned during its visit to significantly
strengthen the dialogue when it comes to Tibet," said Ms. Jampa.
ICT maintains that human rights violations in Tibet will continue to occur so
long as the political situation of Tibet remains unresolved. ICT therefore calls
on the EU to use every opportunity during the visit and dialogue to encourage
China to commence substantive discussions with the Dalai Lama to resolve the
issue. ICT fears the EU-China arms embargo will dominate discussions during
this round of the EU-China Bilateral Human Rights Dialogue and rejects lifting
the embargo in the near future.
"Significant change in China is warranted before the EU can morally commit to
lifting the EU-China arms embargo - this is not going to happen within 6 or
12 months. China has not yet demonstrated that it would not use such weapons
against its own people or to suppress political dissent in Tibet and Xinjiang,"
Ms Jampa added.
The EU Troika will visit Tibet's capital, Lhasa, and its surrounding areas from
20-23 September 2004. The trip is intended to gather information about the human
rights situation there; however, it is believed that no prison visits will be
made by the delegation.
"We support the EU's decision not to visit prisons inside Tibet. Our experience
from past delegations is that that visitors are not likely to see the real situation
and prisoners may inadvertently be placed at risk by trying to contact the delegation
or make some political statement," said Ms. Ngawang Sangdrol, formerly Tibet's
longest serving female political prisoner and now a Human Rights Analyst at
ICT. |
"Of course it is impossible for political prisoners to speak freely to visiting
delegations. It is prohibited and they would only be allowed to say
what the Chinese tell them to say. In 1998 we were even completely
unaware of the European delegation's visit to Drapchi. If we had
known, we would have felt compelled to shout out our beliefs. After
all, we were in already in prison for that very reason," said Ms. Ngawang Sangdrol,
former political prisoner and ICT human rights analyst. "Living in freedom it
may be hard to imagine that a few words can bring severe punishment. But
I remember how it was and every day I think of my brothers and sisters still
jailed in Drapchi prison. The European delegation is obliged to speak
freely to the Chinese authorities for those people. This is what
I ask them to do," Ms. Sangdrol added.
The last official EU visit to Tibet was made by a delegation of Beijing-based
ambassadors in May 1998. Unbeknown to the delegation, a protest broke out during
their visit to the notorious Drapchi Prision and armed People's Armed Police
(PAP) personnel were called in to control the situation. It is believed that
11 deaths of in-mates occurred in the weeks following the protests. All current
political prisoners in Drapchi still suffer the consequences of incident that
occurred during the EU visit, even if they were not involved in the peaceful
protests, with some political prisoners reportedly still detained in punishment
blocks.