Contact is taking a holiday!

The current human rights situation in Tibet has led to a unanimous approval of the “EU-China Relations” report prepared by the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The report recounts the increase in the number of self-immolations occurring in response to China’s persecution of Tibetans; there have been 142 cases of self-immolation as a form of protest since February 2009.  The report criticized the newly approved Chinese law that intends to punish people who are connected to those who self-immolate. It also challenges China’s hardline policies and their rejection of the Middle Way Approach

The report additionally condemned China’s intent of making Chinese the official language of teaching in Tibetan schools. Religious and cultural restrictions by China were denounced in the report.

The report went on to state that “the Chinese government is continuing its hardline policies against the Tibetan people, especially by rejecting the Dalai Lama’s ‘Middle Way Approach’ which seeks neither independence nor separation but a genuine autonomy within the framework of the Constitution of the PRC [People’s Republic of China]; calls for the Chinese government to re-enter into a dialogue with Tibetan representatives; protests against the marginalisation of Tibetan culture by the CPC, and urges the Chinese authorities to respect the freedoms of expression, association and religion of the Tibetan people.”

The report emphasised the need for a proper investigation to take place with regard to the instances of illegal incarceration, torture, disappearance and death of detained Tibetans.

The European Parliament furthermore expressed deep concern over the destruction of the Tibetan environment by stressing that, “the Tibetan plateau is warming up fast, and that this may cause the melting of Tibet’s glaciers, many of which feed the largest rivers in Asia.”

The “EU-China Relations” report applauded “Tibetans [expressing] their cultural identity through the Lhakar (‘white Wednesday’) movement by wearing only Tibetan clothes, speaking only Tibetan and eating only Tibetan food each Wednesday.”