Call on the UN Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay to ask China to adopt recommendations to improve its human rights record at the March 2014 UN Human Rights Council Session. Raising the issue of Tibet at the UN in her opening statement would send a strong message that human rights violations cannot continue in Tibet without any international reaction.
We need your help to make sure Tibet is highlighted at the 25th Council Session.
Please take a moment to write to Navi Pillay and urge her to raise Tibet in her opening statement.
Dear High Commissioner Navi Pillay,
We are writing to ask you to raise the issue of grave human rights violations in Tibet and the suppression of Tibetan people’s freedom in your opening statement at the 25th UN Human Rights Council Session in March 2014.
The brutal violation of human rights systematized by the Chinese government has not decreased since you made a statement on the worrying human rights situation in Tibetan areas in November 2012.
In the past year, we have witnessed a deterioration of rights protection and an intensification of crackdowns. There have been arbitrary shootings, arrests, and the indiscriminate use of force – actions which have reduced Tibetans to the level of a subject people. The denial of religious freedom and large-scale government sponsored settlements by non-Tibetans threaten to obliterate Tibetan identity.
Very recently, we have been alarmed by the detention of the respected Tibetan Khenpo (“Abbot”) Karma Tsewang who has been taken into custody solely because of his peaceful community service for the preservation of culture and environment. His case is representative of the cases of many Tibetans who take active responsibility for their communities or who express themselves on the political situation in their home country.
In November 2012, you said, “Stability in Tibet will never be achieved through heavy security measures and suppression of human rights.” However, 2013 has seen an increase in surveillance and security measures which have instilled greater fear among the Tibetan people.
We highly appreciate your concern and public engagement on this issue of Tibet.
However, despite your urging in 2012 that the Chinese government give serious consideration to the recommendations of the various UN and international human rights bodies to restore respect for basic human freedoms in Tibet, it has made little effort to do so. At its second Universal Periodic Review in October 2013, China did not engage constructively on the issue of Tibet.
At the forthcoming session of the UNHRC, China is set to announce which recommendations it will accept. In writing this letter, it is our strong belief that the mention of Tibet in your opening statement will demonstrate the importance you attach to the rights and freedoms of the Tibetan people and thereby impress upon the Chinese government the need to accept the recommendations on Tibet and work towards the institution of human rights in Tibet.
Thank you.