Tibet issue highlighted at the youth conference in Rome

Thursday, 20 September 2007, 9:00 a.m.

Mr Tenzin Samphel of the office of Tibet, Geneva, addresses the participants at the roundtable discussion on 12 September in Rome, Italy

Geneva:A two-day conference of youth on sharing and learning experiences from eminent personalities across the world was organized in Rome, Italy from 12 – 13 September by the Italy-based Azione Giovani, a youth movement organisation with around 60,000 members.

Eminent politicians, human rights activists, scholars, musicians and comedians from across the world took part in the two-day conference.

On the opening day, human rights activists from Tibet, Belarus, Sahara and Venezula participated in a roundtable discussion. As invited by the organizers, Mr Tenzin Samphel from office of Tibet based in Geneva attended the conference.

He spoke on the political status and historical background of Tibet, and on the present human rights situation under Chinese communist regime, adding, that there is no religious freedom as China claims to have been protecting its constitution, following China’s State Administration’s Religious Affairs enactment of new religious regulatory measures for reincarnation of ‘living Buddha’s’ in Tibetan Buddhism – to undermine the Tibetan religious tradition of selecting Tibetan spiritual leaders, supposedly made into force from 1 September.

Tibetans are deprived of human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, particularly the freedom of expression, assembly etc, Mr Samphel said.

He expressed concern on the railway line connecting Gormo in Amdo to Tibet’s capital Lhasa – resulting in an enormous influx of Han Chinese migrants or fortune hunters into Tibet – posing serious threat for the survival of Tibetan culture and identity.

In relation to economic development, PRC has been developing secondary and tertiary sector where Han Chinese are concentrated and involved. According to Andrew Fischer, over 80% Tibetans lives in remote areas and its livelihood depends on farming. PRC has neglected this sector despite claims to benefit Tibetans under western development projects.

He also spoke on the Middle Way Approach, as the best method to peacefully resolve the protracted issue of Tibet. The participants lauded and expressed their solidarity with the Tibetan people for advocating the non-violent approach.

On 13 September, while responding to a question on China, Mr Berluscuni, former prime minister of Italy, said during his tenure as Prime Minister he met a Chinese delegate in Brussels inviting him to Shanghai, one of China’s financial hub of business and told him that you will become rich quickly. In his response, Mr Berluscuni said, I am rich, however, I have difficulty in doing business with China because of human rights records. The Chinese delegate has not responded to his remark and changed the topic.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Mr Samphel also briefed the Italian politicians about the human rights situation inside Tibet.

–Report filed by Office of Tibet, Geneva