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DHARAMSHALA: The Italian Chamber of Deputies yesterday unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the People’s Republic of China to put an immediate end to stop repression in Tibet, and engage in dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s representatives to resolve the Tibet issue.

The Tibet Resolution call as well, the Italian Government to promote a monitoring initiative on human rights violations in Tibet at the United Nations competent bodies.

The Tibet Resolution call the Italian Government to involve in this initiative the European Union Partners starting at the next EU-China Summit that will be held in Beijing next 14th February.

The resolution was presented by Gianni Vernetti (Third Pole) and co-sponsored by Valter Veltroni, Arturo Parisi, Franco Tempestini (Democratic Party); Margherita Boniver, Enrico Pianetta, Fiamma Nirenstein (People of Freedom), Franco Allasia (Northern League); Matteo Mecacci (Radical Party).

The full text of the resolution follows:

7-00763 Vernetti: On the repression of the Tibetan people

                                NEW TEXT OF THE RESOLUTION APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE

The Foreign Affairs Committee of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies,

Whereas:
 
While New Year was being celebrated throughout the whole of the People’s Republic of China, on January 23 and 24 the security forces fired indiscriminately on hundreds of Tibetans peacefully demonstrating in Drakgo, Serthat, Ngaba and Gyarong, leaving six Tibetans dead and, according to press reports, more than sixty injured, some seriously;

in addition to these episodes there have been many tragic cases of Tibetan monks and nuns immolating themselves in protest against the régime of the People’s Republic of China which continues to deny the Tibetan minority their fundamental rights;

since March 2011, nineteen monks and nuns have burnt themselves to death, seven of them in January 2012 alone;

these episodes are evidence of the extreme despair to which Tibetan monks and nuns have been driven by the systematic denial of the right to freely practise their religion;

for more than sixty years after the military occupation of Tibet in 1959, the government of the People’s Republic of China has been implementing a policy of forced assimilation and the marginalisation of Tibet;

human rights are being systematically denied to the Tibetan people: they are deprived of all political freedom, the Tibetan language and culture are being gradually assimilated, there is no religious freedom and even being in possession of an image of the Dalai Lama is a criminal offence, while the Tibetan people are being systematically marginalised from economic activities and access to education;

since 2008, the year of the most recent widespread popular revolt in Tibet, the whole region has been practically inaccessible to foreign tourism and subjected to undeclared martial law,
 
Commits the Government
 
to promoting  formal steps vis-à-vis the People’s Republic of China at the forthcoming EU-China Summit requesting the immediate cessation of the violence against the Tibetan people and Tibetan monks and nuns, and the establishment of a climate of dialogue and tolerance in the areas populated by the Tibetan minority;

to requesting the resumption of dialogue between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the envoys of the Dalai Lama, so as to reach a jointly agreed solution that will enable the Tibetan community in China to enjoy genuine autonomy, and to re-open Tibet to the outside world, guaranteeing the international media free and unconditional access;

to urging the specialised agencies of the United Nations, and in particular the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council, to monitor respect for human rights in Tibet.

Several other Members of Parliament cosponsored the resolution with Gianni Vernetti: Valter Veltroni, Arturo Parisi, FrancoTempesini (Democratic Party); Margherita Boniver, Enrico Pianetta, Fiamma Nirenstein (People of Freedom); Ferdinando Adornato (UDC-Third Pole) Matteo Mecacci (Radical Party), Franco Allasia (Northern League)

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