UN Human Rights Expert Calls For Dialogue With China On Lhasa Demolitions
Another Expert Announces Plan to Visit Beijing
Geneva, 7 April 2003: Mr. Miloon Khothari (India), the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living,and on the right to non-discrimination, of the UN Commission on Human Rights,has called on the need to continue his dialogue with the Chinese authorities concerning the demolition of historic buildings and housing complexes in Lhasa.
Ms. Katarina Tomasevski (Croatia), the Special Rapporteur on the right to
education, in her report to the 59th session of the Commission on Human Rights,said that as invited by the People’s Republic of China on 14 November 2002,she is planning to carry out a mission sometime between May and September 2003. However, the special rapporteur said that “due to budgetary constriants,this will be a two week visit confined to Beijing.” Unconfirmed sources say that the visit will take place in June 2003. Some NGOs have already voiced concern about the overall benefit of this visit if the Special Rapporteur’s schedule is restricted only to Beijing.
In his annual report to the 59th session of the Commission, Mr. Khothari
said: “In May 2002, following a large number of appeals received from civil
society groups and individuals through urgent action campaigns, the Special
Rapporteur wrote to the Government of China concerning the demolition of
historic buildings and housing complexes in Lhasa, Tibet, and allegations
of forced evictions of residents, mostly indigenous Tibetans. In October
2002, he received a reply from the Government of China that detailed government efforts to amend laws and set policies to renovate unsafe buildings while conserving their historical and cultural value. While appreciating the Government’s construction reply, he notes the need to continue the dialogue on this case and to study the impact of planning legislation and policies on the realisation of the human right to adequate housing. This is particularly relevant in the context of the State obligations under ICESCR, which China ratified in 2002.”
Today, the Commission debated the item dealing with economic, social and
cultural rights under which International Fellowship of Reconciliation delegate Ms. Norzin Dolma delivered an oral statement to raise the issue of the current state of education in Tibet. The full text of this statement is produced in this update.
Meanwhile, Spain-based NGO Federation of Associations for Defence and Promotion of Human Rights, in a written statement to the Commission under this item says that: “The present development scenario in Tibet points out clearly that the state has failed, or is failing, in its role of providing social services and development to the rural sector. It has fallen on the non-governmental organisations from other countries and local initiatives to take up the role of provider for social services and facilities of development in rural Tibet…We urge the Commission on Human Rights to consider these aspects of the economic, social and cultural rights in Tibet when it considers discussing the overall human rights situation in Tibet and China.”
On 3 April, the Tibetan Community in Switzerland organised a vigil in front
of the United Nations building in Geneva, in which around 70 Tibetans, mostly from the Glarus State of Switzerland, participated. The Tibetan delegation, including Takna Jigme Sangpo met with the Tibetans while Mr. Chhime R. Chhoekyapa, Representative of H. H. the Dalai Lama for UN Affairs, informed the gathering about the developments on Tibet at the Commission on Human Rights.
On 2 April, Mr. Chhoekyapa presented a Tibetan view at the roundtable organised at the United Nations by German-based Society for Threatened Peoples, which discussed the current state of Human Rights Dialogue engaged by several countries with the People’s Republic of China. Apart from Chinese, Uighurs, Tibetans and NGO representatives, several government delegates, including Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, also attended the roundtable.
Fifty-ninth session
Item 10: Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Oral statement by Ms. Norzin Dolma, International Fellowship of Reconciliation
(IFOR)
Madame Chairperson,
I am making this statement on behalf of IFOR.While the international community welcomed the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for having ratified the ICESCR, the Chinese authorities still do not respect the Tibetans right to preserve their cultural, religious and national identity. To give one example, in this statement we would like to highlight the status of education in Tibet. The late Dungkar Lobsang Trinley, one of Tibet’s leading intellectuals once said: “Without educated people in all fields, able to express themselves in their own language, Tibetans are in danger of being assimilated. We have reached this point.”
In 2001, one of China’s white paper spoke of the great attention given to
the right to study, uses and development of Tibetan language. Yet independent studies and refugee accounts reveal that there is minimal educational development in Tibet. For example, UNDP has found that the educational index for Tibet stands lowest amongst 31 provinces of present-day China. The gross enrolment rate and adult literacy ratio also remains the lowest.
Madame Chairperson, in reality, China’s education policy in Tibet is designed to inculcate love for communism and the ‘motherland’ and demands the denunciation of Tibetan nationalism. The school curriculum, which undermines Tibetan language, literature and culture, is based on the Marxist analysis of history placing cultures as being at different stages of development. The curriculum, taught largely in standard mandarin Chinese and obligatory throughout China regardless of the ethnic composition of the region, generally does not create an environment in which Tibetan children feel their culture, language and history have any value. Chinese is dominantly the language of business and administration in Tibet, a development that many observers view has worrisome implications for the Tibetan culture. The Tibetan students are taught China’s version of Tibetan history and worldview and are deprived of knowledge of their own independent history. According to official statistics, 42% of persons in Tibet are illiterate or semi-literate. Illiteracy and semi-literacy rate are as high as 90% in some areas. Today, Tibetan children suffer a high degree of discrimination in gaining access to education with an estimated 85% of parents living in rural areas with incomes that do not allow their children the luxury of attending schools demanding high fees, far from their
homes.
Madame Chairperson, in short no matter how many institutions the Chinese
authorities have in reality developed across Tibet since 1959, their overriding goal in educating Tibetans have always been to groom political loyalty to Beijing. This is clearly reflected in a speech given by Mr. Chen Kuiyuan, the former-Communist Party Secretary in the so-called ‘Tibet Autonomous Region’ when he said: “The success of our education does not lie in the number of diplomas issued to graduates from universities, colleges and secondary schools. It lies, in the final analysis, in whether our graduating students are opposed to or turn their hearts to the Dalai Clique (a reference to the Tibetan Government in Exile) and in whether they are loyal to or do not care about our great Motherland and the great socialist cause.”
In conclusion, we remain deeply concerned that the PRC is yet to submit its
initial report to the CESCR, which was due on 30 June 2002. Equally disturbing is Beijing’s failure to submit its second periodic report to the CRC due on 31 March 1999.
I thank you, Madame Chairperson.
Tibet Bureau, Geneva