UN hears cases of human rights abuses in TibetThursday, 4 June 2009, 2:43 p.m.

Tenzin Samphel Kayta reading out a statement on behalf of Society for Threatened People at the 11th regular session of the UN Human Rights council in Geneva on 3 June 2009

Geneva: The issues of human rights violations in Tibet were raised at the 11th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council on human rights violations taking place around the world. During the three-week session which has begun 2 June in Geneva, several UN Special mandates holders will present their reports, including cases of rights violations submitted by victims in their respective countries.Mr. Tenzin Samphel Kayta on behalf of Society for Threatened Peoples, during an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Independence of Judges and Lawyers, said “we remain deeply concerned about the fate of Chinese HIV/AIDS activist, Hu Jia and call for his immediate release.  Furthermore, it is disturbing to note that two Chinese lawyers, Teng Biao and Jiang Tianyong, have not granted renewal of their licenses after declaring publicly their willingness to defend Tibetans detained after the 2008 Uprising on the Tibetan Plateau.”   Mr Kayta also highlighted the recent publication of a fact-finding report by Beijing-based Chinese lawyers’ organization and think-tank called Gongmeng (Open Constitution Initiative), which challenges the official position that the Dalai Lama “incited” the protests last year. The report also concluded that China’s strategies to ensure ‘stability’ in Tibet have failed, and that China’s propaganda offensive has created divisions and further exacerbated tensions.  He drew attention of the Special Rapporteur over China’s unaccountability to the fate of those Tibetans who had disappeared and under arbitrary detentions since last year, including the well-being of two Tibetans who were harshly detained during a protest in Lithang on 15 and 16 February this year. He raised the cases of Wangdue, a former political prisoners and HIV/AIDS activist, who was sentenced to life imprisonment of “endangering state security” and the eighty-one-year old Paljor Norbu, who was secretly tried in November last year and given seven years imprisonment. Norbu, was taken by the police from his home in Lhasa on October 31, 2008, possibly on the charge that he had printed “prohibited material.”He expressed serious concern for the fates of two Tibetans, Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak, who were sentenced to death by the Lhasa Municipal Intermediate People’s Court on 8 April 2009. He informed the Special Rapporteur about the case of Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche, a Tibetan spiritual master, who is alleged of ‘illegally owning guns and explosives and occupation of state property”.  According to his two Chinese lawyers Li Fangping and Jiang Tianyong, Phurbu T. Rinpoche “had no option but to go against his will and confess” due to harsh treatment meted out to him over four days and four nights during interrogation and threats to his wife and son. In the afternoon session, Mr Kayta also
delivered a statement to the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial,
summary or arbitrary executions.He
urged the Special Rapporteur to examine the situation leading to the
violent suppression of peaceful Tibetan protesters by the Chinese
government in Tibet last year.Expressing gratitude to the
Special Rapporteur for its intervention on cases of extrajudicial
killings of Tibetans since March 2008, Mr Kayta also expressed over the
Chinese government’s claim that “law enforcement was consistently carried
out in a lawful and civilized manner, and no lethal or injurious
weapons were carried or used.”“This official response is coming in the
background of the overwhelming visual and testimonial evidences that
contradict the claim of the Chinese authorities, including cases of
custodial deaths, with some figures showing that over 200 Tibetans have
lost their lives,” he added.He
expressed deep concern over the cases of at least 60–80 bodies of
Tibetans, who were apparently killed on or after 14 March 2008 and were
cremated swiftly denying their family members to offer funeral
services. He urged the Special Rapporteur to continue
monitoring the situation on the Tibetan Plateau in order to ensure full
accountability of the People’s Republic of China.