UN seeks whereabouts of the Panchen Lama and Tibetan detainees

Wednesday, 13 August 2008, 5:13 p.m.

File photo of Gedun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama

Geneva: The United Nations’
Committee against Torture (CAT), an independent body of experts has
asked China to provide a complete list of all Tibetan detained
following the March 2008 demonstration in Tibet.

The Committee also sought information on the whereabouts of
Gendun Choekyi Nyima, the six-year-old boy identified by His Holiness
the Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama, disappeared on 17 May 1995.
The Chinese government later admitted to holding the boy and his family
in “protective custody”.

This request also includes information on their current
location, convictions, etc. The independent body of experts monitors
the implementation of the UN’s Convention against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by its State
parties.

The experts questioned China about what the secret regulations
were applied in these cases and why? It further said “In view of
allegations that lawyers who offered to defend Tibetan protesters were
warned that they would have their professional licenses suspended if
they attempted to do so, please clarify what counsel was provided and
whether the defendants were permitted to meet with that counsel in
private, in advance of their trials.”

The experts also questioned why a detainee does not have the
right to access to an independent doctor during pretrial detention or
after conviction.

They also sought information from China about the 30 Tibetans
who were sentenced between three years to life imprisonment. The
experts asked China to clarify the basis of the sentences and how many
cases involved confessions from the defendants. And whether the
Tibetans had opportunities to appeal against the verdicts and if
independent review or oversight board were assigned to these cases.

The UN’s independent body also sought information on any
investigations into those deaths and whether there will be a
transparent public inquiry into a number of deaths in connection with
the unrest in the Tibetan Autonomous Region and neighboring prefectures
and counties. Concerning administrative detention for re-education
through labor, the committee sought information on other administrative
detention centers as well as on persons detained under the 1997 Law on
Administrative Penalties.

During the UN Human Right session in November 2008, China’s fourth
periodic report is schedule to review by the Committee. Tibetan NGOs
will submit a shadow report on China’s violation of the convention’s
articles. China as a signatory of the convention is obliged to submit
its report to the Committee every four year on how the rights are being
implemented.

–Report filed by Tenzin Samphel Kayta, The Tibet Bureau, Geneva