DHARAMSHALA,
April 26: The Human Rights Committee of the German parliament, the
Bundestag, passed a joint declaration expressing deep alarm over the
continuing wave of self-immolations in Tibet and urging the German
government to work for the improvement of the situation in the region.
In
the joint declaration passed on April 24, the Committee for Human
Rights and Humanitarian Aid said it was “deeply alarmed and shocked” by
the high number of self-immolations in Tibet and urged the Chinese
leadership to “safeguard the human rights of Tibetans.”
“The
significant rise of self-immolations is an expression of deepest
desperation about the lack of freedom, as well as about non-existent
freedom of religion and the refusal of the Chinese leadership to respect
a unique cultural identity,” the declaration said.
“We urge the
new Chinese leadership to open up a new chapter in their relations to
the Tibetans, to look into the causes of these desperate acts and to
bring about necessary reforms.”
The German parliamentary
committee further called on the Chinese leadership to “respect the human
rights of the Tibetans and their right to live their own culture and
religion.”
“At the same time we demand from the Chinese
leadership to re-start the dialogue with Tibet and the Tibetans which is
inactive since 2010, in order to find a solution that is appropriate to
the unique cultures of the Chinese and the Tibetans, and in order to
prevent such acts of desperation like the self-immolations in the
future,” the declaration said.
Since 2009, as many as 117
Tibetans living under China’s rule have set themselves on fire demanding
freedom and the return of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness
the Dalai Lama.
On April 24 - the same day the declaration was
adopted - two young monks from the Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery in
Zoege, eastern Tibet became the latest Tibetans to set themselves on
fire.
Both Lobsang Dawa, 20 and Kunchok Woeser, 22 passed away in their fiery protests against China’s continued occupation of Tibet.
In
the declaration, the parliamentary committee further called for access
for UN-diplomats, parliamentarians and journalists to Tibet and urged
the German government to work for the improvement of the situation in
Tibet.
“We ask the Federal Government to continue to work
bilaterally and on the international level towards an improvement of the
situation in Tibet and while doing so, to also make use of the German
Dialogue on Law and the EU-Human Rights Dialogue with China,” the joint
declaration said.
|
