Japanese Parliamentarians Back TYC Hunger Strike

Dharamsala, 27 April: The Japanese Parliamentarian Group for Tibet asked the United Nations to respond to the demands of the three Tibetan hunger strikers in New York.

“The Japanese Parliamentarian Group for Tibet strongly believes that the demands of the Tibetan Youth Congress are the voice of the Tibetan People, United Nations must immediately and seriously consider their demands,” Seishu Makino, the Chairman of the Japanese Parliamentarian Group for Tibet, said in a press release issued on Friday.

The three members of the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) began their indefinite hunger strike in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 2 April.

Their demands include urging China to release the world’s youngest prisoner of conscience – the Panchen Lama and to repeal the death sentence of Tulku Tenzin Delek, charged with inciting separatism and conspiracy.

“The Tibetan Youth Congress has also been instrumental in making public, the ongoing grave human rights violation in Tibet during the recently concluded annual meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission held in Geneva”, the press release said.

The parliamentarians from the land of rising sun also demanded that ‘necessary action should be taken without further delay to save the lives of the three Youths’.

Today is the 25th day of the strike.

With inputs from Oot, Japan