Photo: savetibet.org
Top US diplomat Sarah Sewall, who is the US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, has said that Tibetans within China [Tibet] do not enjoy freedom within the Communist nation. Sewall was speaking at a press conference in Washington on her return from meeting Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal where she went to make an assessment of human rights conditions in Tibet.
She met Tibetan refugees in both the countries, as well as meeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala.
“I spent much of my time talking to refugees and talking to the organisations that welcome and work with refugees about the situation in China [Tibet], because they tend to have more recent stories,” Sewall said. “I met with several people who had left China [Tibet] recently, and I spoke to many people who have family in China [Tibet],” she added.
“Their assessment of the situation tracks very much with the State Department’s assessment of the situation, as recorded in our human rights reporting – that there is not a degree of freedom for Tibetans within China that we think is consistent with international human rights standards,” continued Sewall.
Of her meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Sewall said “We spoke about non-violent approaches to conflict resolution, to include the questions of preserving Tibetan culture, religion, and education in every place that Tibetans currently reside”.
During her visit to Nepal, Sewall announced a new US $3.2 million (GB £2 million) USAID grant to help modernise the health system for Tibetan refugees. The Tibetan Health System Strengthening Project aims to universalise access to quality health services to end child and maternal deaths, and create tuberculosis free communities for Tibetan refugee communities in India and Nepal.
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