New Delhi — Tibetans from various organisations approached MPs and India's members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of External Affairs. They request them to raise Tibet issue, access to human rights experts to Tibet, China's oppressive policies towards Tibetan Children, and China's interference with reincarnations of Tibetan lama, including the 15th Dalai Lama, during upcoming UN human rights review of China.
A delegation of Tibetan representatives from the International Tibet Network, Student for a Free Tibet-India, Tibetan Youth Congress, National Democratic Party of Tibet, Foundation for Nonviolent Alternatives, and Voluntary Advocacy Group (V-TAG) launched an "India Advocacy Week" in New Delhi from December 4 to December 8, 2023 and they approached to MPs and members of India's members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of External Affairs to request them to raise Tibet related issues at upcoming UN Universal Periodic Review of China in January 2024.
They met PP Chaudhary, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of External Affairs, Shri Sujeet Kumar, the Convener of the All-Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet (APIPFT) and MP Shri Aneel Prasad Hedge, Consultative Committee of External Affairs, MP Soyam Bapurao and MP Navneet Ravi Rana, MP Harsh Vardhan, MP NK Premachandran and others. They also submitted their appeal letter to the Hon’ble Minister of External Affairs Dr S. Jaishankar and they declared that they would raise the issue of Tibet as much as they could.
A delegation of Tibetan representatives stated that the programme had been organised to draw attention to the forthcoming UN human rights review of China and to call on the Indian government to make strong recommendations on Tibet in January 2024.
The delegation said, "Against the backdrop of the longstanding border tensions between India and China, exacerbated by China’s occupation of Tibet, the Tibetan delegation highlighted the urgent need for a critical examination of the human rights situation in China. Recent incidents, such as the Galwan Valley dispute in 2020, underscore the complex dynamics between the two most populous nations in the world."
“We Tibetans, whose country was invaded by China and has been occupied for over 70 years, strongly relay our concerns and appeal to the people of India and its democratically elected government to call out China for its wrongdoing,” stated the Tibetan delegation.
The delegation raised the following three major key issues:
1. China’s cooperation with the UN including allowing access to human rights experts;
2. Oppressive Policies Targeting Tibetan Children including the sweeping colonial boarding school system;
3. Denial of freedom of religion including China increased control over the Tibetan reincarnation process.
