Representative Arya addressing the gathering. Kalden Obara of TCJ and Tsering Dorjee of SFT Japan holding Tibetan national flag

Tokyo: Tibetans in Tokyo and the neighbouring prefectures participated in the gathering to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the United Nations` declaration of human rights at Hibiya Koen Library hall in Tokyo on 10 December 2022. Around a hundred people, including people from Myanmar, Cambodia, Ukraine, Belarus, Iran, Taiwan, Tibet, East Turkestan, Southern Mongolia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China, participated in the function and a peace march to solicit the attention of the international community about human rights situation in their countries.

Representatives from the above countries and communities spoke and gave presentations on the gross political and human rights violations taking place in their respective countries under cruel dictatorial regimes. They unanimously agreed that all the oppressed people under authoritarian rules should unite and seek international interference to stop violence and loss of freedom worldwide. Furthermore, they requested the Japanese government to pay attention to the injustice happening around the neighbourhood and sanction the dictatorial regimes to redress the deteriorating human rights situation.

Representative Dr. Tsewang Gyalpo Arya thanked the organisers for inviting him to speak and expressed joy to see many people from the countries suffering human rights violations under authoritative regimes at the event. He said that human rights violations in one country are not a problem of that particular country; they should be seen as a problem of humanity and the international community.

He talked about how the Tibetan plateau, once a most peaceful region, has now become a highly militarised area under Chinese communist rule. He explained how Tibet under Xi Jinping has become a police state and how Tibet is shut out entirely from the outside world. He urged dictators worldwide to shun violence and repression and to adopt a more peaceful approach to resolving national problems.

Kameda Taro of Student for Free Tibet Japan, who moderated the event, said that International Human Rights Day, once observed by the Tibetans only, was later joined by Uyghurs and Southern Mongolians. Today it has become a platform for all the oppressed people to raise their voices and protest against the respective governments and draw international attention and support.

After the talk function, the gatherings started a peace march in which around five hundred people walked through Ginza street, raising slogans in different languages urging the authoritarians and dictatorships to step down and let freedom and democracy prevail. The Ginza street reverberated with slogans and the fluttering of various national flags.

Later in the evening, the Tibetan community gathered at the Tashi Delek Restaurant and celebrated the 33rd Anniversary of the Conferment of the Nobel Peace Prize on His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. In addition, a new working committee member of the Tibetan Community Japan, composed of seven members, was also elected during the celebration.

-Report filed by the Office of Tibet, Japan

Tibetans participating in the peace march.

Tibetan group after the talk function.

A glimpse of the Human Rights Day talk function at the Hibiya Koen Library hall in Tokyo.