Below is a statement from the UNPO Presidency:

The Presidency of Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) is alarmed by the recent wave of self-immolation protests carried, notably by monks from Kirti Monastery in Ngapa, Eastern Tibet and deeply mourn the lost of valuable lives of those Tibetans involved.

UNPO Presidency believes these extreme acts by Tibetans are also frustrations of the Tibetan people over the failure of the international community to help end the systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Tibet.  Such a failure of scrutiny by the international community, especially by UN human rights mechanisms, encourages the Chinese authorities to continue its repression policies in Tibet with impunity.

For instance, UNPO Presidency remains concerned that China continues to ignore the call from the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances "to disclose the fate and whereabouts" of the 300 monks of Kirti Monastery who were taken into custody in April, 2011.  In this respect, China again fails to provide satisfactory detailed information on the current status of these monks and of all those Tibetans detained in Ngapa since 16 March, 2011, not to mention the fate of hundreds of Tibetan political prisoners.

On the whole, UNPO Presidency deplores that China has to date failed to provide any satisfactory response to the world over its handling of the situation in Tibet after China launched a "people's war" to crackdown upon the 2008 Uprising and subsequent protests on the Tibetan plateau.

In recent years, Tibetans lost their lives to extra-judicial killings, executions, custodial deaths, torture and suicide as they defended the rights of their people living under China's domination and occupation. However, these acts of self-immolation convey another method through which Tibetans sacrificed their valuable lives for the cause of Tibet. UNPO Presidency believes this development is alarming and appeals to all Tibetans not to resort to this form of resistance but uphold the principle of non-violence as advocated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

UNPO urgently calls upon the member-States of UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to bring China to account over its failure to fully abide by the international human rights conventions by engaging in a brutal suppression of the human rights of the Tibetan people.

UNPO Presidency fully supports the call that China invites independent observers to investigate the overall human rights situation in Tibet, including at Kirti Monastery.

** For additional news of recent events in Tibet, please see the following links **


October 13, 2011
Tibet: China Urged To End Monastery Crackdowns
http://www.unpo.org/article/13327

October 12, 2011
Tibet: Ngaba Mourns Through Protest
http://www.unpo.org/article/13321

October 7, 2011
Tibet: New Incidence of Self-Immolation in Central Ngaba District
http://www.unpo.org/article/13305