Tibetan families urge UN to intervene over alleged rights violations by China

Geneva [Switzerland], Sept.14 (ANI): Five Tibetan families living in Switzerland have urged the United Nations, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the government of various countries to support them against the alleged ongoing political repression, cultural assimilation, social discrimination, economic marginalisation and environment destruction imposed by the Chinese government and Communist Party. The Tibet Solidarity Movement in a press statement said that five families since January 13, this year have been protesting on every second Wednesday of each month in front of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), housed at the Palais des Nations calling on the UN, especially to the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the international community to take immediate actions on the Tibet issue as the number of self-immolations in Tibet dramatically escalated to 144. "124 of the 144 Tibetans who self-immolated are known to have died following their protest. Even eight Tibetan-in-exile have offered their lives as an expression of complete solidarity with their people inside Tibet," the statement said. The five families also placed their demands and urged the UN to support the cause. The demands include, "The United Nations must review the issue of Tibet based on the resolutions passed in 1959, 1961 and 1965. The return of his holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet should be facilitated. Freedom and peace in Tibet must be restored." The statement also added that the UN must intervene towards the release of all Tibetan prisoners starting with the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedun Chorkyi Nyima, held incommunicado by the Chinese Government since 1995. Highlighting that on July 12th, 2015 the former political prisoner, Tulku Tenzin Delek Rimpoche, passed away in a Chinese prison of unclear death after being imprisoned for 13 years, serving a life sentence for a crime he did not commit, the statement said that the UN must urge the Chinese Authorities to investigate and make public the circumstances surrounding the death. "The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein should lead a fact-finding mission with unfettered access to Tibet immediately. The UN must intervene and ask the Chinese Government to hold a constructive and meaningful dialogue to settle the Tibet issue with the representatives of the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala, India," the statement said. It also pointed out that the UN should also protect the Human Rights in China, Mongolia and Xinjiang. The statement added that the UN also demand from the Chinese government the release all Chinese and Uyghur political prisoners like Xiabo and Ilham Tohti.(ANI)