tTanslated by Tenzin Dyicki. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
The United Nations human rights chief must include Tibet on the itinerary of her planned trip to China in May, human rights groups told RFA.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet announced earlier this month that she had come to an agreement with the Chinese government for a visit “foreseen to take place in May.”
Though Xinjiang is expected to be a major focus of her trip, as the U.N. seeks to complete an overdue report on serious rights violations by Chinese authorities targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic communities there, rights groups told RFA that Bachelet, a former Chilean president, should not overlook Tibet.
Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force 70 years ago. Chinese policies that violate Tibetans’ rights to religious freedom and assembly and have made a push to ban Tibetan language learning to promote Mandarin Chinese dominance there, rights groups say.
“We welcome the U.N. high commissioner’s visit to China, including Xinjiang. However, no assessment of human rights violations by China can be completed without a visit to the Tibetan regions,” Kalden Tsomo, the UN Advocacy Officer in the Tibet Bureau in Geneva, told RFA’s Tibetan Service Wednesday.
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