London, 28 January 2022: The Cross -Party Group on Tibet in the Scottish Parliament second quarterly meeting was held virtually on Friday.
The meeting was chaired by Mercedes Villalba MSP and co-conveners of the group and hosted by Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren secretary of the group.
The chair welcomed the members and expressed her thanks to all the members for joining the meeting. The chair then reads the minutes of previous meeting for approval and moved to the agendas.The secretary updated the members on the Winter Olympics Campaign including two rallies happening in relation to the Olympics campaign this weekend in Glasgow and Edinburgh. And also, action plans for 10 March.
Representative Sonam Tsering Frasi informed the group about recent meeting of Tibetan communities in Europe held in Paris last month to discuss collective action relating to Beijing Winter Olympic Campaigns and advocacy on key issues in Tibet.
Tsering Tsomo from Office of Tibet informed the group about Office of Tibet upcoming photo exhibition project on “His Holiness the Dalia Lama, A life Through Four Commitments” in July coinciding His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 87th Birthday and invited contribution from the members.
Tenzin Choekyi from Tibet Watch updated the group on serious human rights violations continuously taking place in Tibet and highlighted some cases of Tibetan writers being missing and some others arrested including students with no information to their families. Many Tibetans are arbitrarily detained, tortured, beaten for simply practicing their language and preserving their culture.
Lhadon Tethong, Director of Tibet Action Institute gave special presentation on the latest report by Tibet Action Institute “China’s Vast System of Colonial Boarding Schools inside Tibet”. Ms. Lhadon highlighted that the research shows at least 800,000 Tibetan children representing 78% of all Tibetan school age children between 6 to 18 from all regions of Tibet not just Tibet autonomous region are separated from their families, communities and staying in the residential schools. Children’s contact with family is very limited. She expressed deep concern about the Chinese policies of targeting the young Tibetan children, the future of Tibet to attack Tibetan identity and culture and asked the group’s support in spotlighting this issue to garner the attention of the global community.
The members expressed deep concern about the situation inside Tibet and assured their full support to Tibet’s issue. The 90 minutes long interactive discussion of the Cross-Party Group on Tibet meeting concluded with a closing remarks by the Secretary of the group.
–Report file by Office of Tibet, London