Disappointed Dharamsala urges China and Nepal to release
extradited refugees to the custody of UNHCR
Dharamsala (Tibet.Net), 31 May 2003: Flouting the sovereignty of another nation and international norms of civilized conduct, the embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu this morning grabbed a group of fresh Tibetan refugees who were in Nepalese police custody and huddled them into a van with a Chinese embassy number plate. The van, escorted by a Nepalese police vehicle, is on its way to the Tibetan border.
“We are deeply disappointed by this unprecedented act and request the Chinese authorities to hand over the escapees to the UNHCR,” said Samdhong Rinpoche, Kalon Tripa of the Central Tibetan Administration based in Dharamsala in north India. “This latest act of the Chinese embassy in Nepal is not a good gesture,” Kalon Tripa said.
“In the past 40 years the Royal Government of Nepal has provided whole-hearted hospitality and assistance to the Tibetan refugee community in Nepal has facilitated the process of new refugees transiting through Nepal to India,” Kalon Tripa said. “In view of this, we don’t consider this shocking action as a policy of the Royal Government of Nepal. We recognise this as an action unilaterally taken by junior officials. Anyway, this act comes as a huge surprise and disappointment,” Kalon Tripa said.
“We will be making strong representation to the international community and governments around the world to urge both the Chinese and Nepalese governments to release the Tibetan who they are trying to extradite to Tibet and to prevent any repetition in the future,” Kalon Tripa said.
At six this morning, the Chinese embassy van accompanied by a Nepalese police vehicle drove to Hanuman Dhoka police station where the Tibetan refugees were held in custody and attempted to load the group into the Chinese embassy van. A group of Tibetan refugees who had gathered at the police station prevented this. The fresh refugees were then loaded into the Nepalese police van and were driven to the Police Club, the main police station in Kathmandu. There the 18 Tibetans were reloaded into the waiting Chinese embassy van. Escorted by Nepalese police vehicles the van then drove on the highway leading to Tibet.
In the morning of 29 May, officials from the Chinese embassy tried to take possession of the 18 new refugees from the Nepalese police. Representations were made to the Royal Government of Nepal by the officials of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the embassies of the United States and Germany and others which temporarily halted the Tibetans being handed over to the Chinese embassy officials.
The fresh Tibetan refugees originally consisted of 21 people. Three minors from the age of six to nine were released according to international and Nepalese law and are now under the protection of the UNHCR and the care of the Tibetan Reception Centre. In the group which is now being forcefully repatriated to Tibet is a minor of 14 years old.
Contact:
Mr. Thubten Samphel, Secretary
Department of Information and International Relations
Dharamsala
Tel: (01892) 222510/222457