Tibetans in Switzerland, Liechtenstein call for UN action to end China's cultural genocide in Tibet

Geneva [Switzerland], June 27 (ANI): Amid international condemnation of various human rights abuses by China, the Tibetan community of Switzerland and Liechtenstein have submitted a five-point appeal to the United Nations (UN) which includes calls to end China's cultural genocide in Tibet, its interference in Tibetan religious beliefs and traditions, among others. 

The community staged a protest in front of the UN Human Rights Office on Friday, where they held placards and chanted slogans against the deteriorating human rights situation and decades of oppression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Tibet, according to the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).

Addressing the gathering, the Representative of Tibet Bureau Geneva Chhimey Rigzen reiterated Tibet Bureau's efforts in bringing Tibet agenda in the UN human rights protection mechanisms.

The Representative also urged all Tibetans to shoulder the responsibility in initiating and participating in the Tibetan freedom movement as Tibetans are being forced to leave the country on "political grounds, not due to natural calamities".

Until a peaceful lasting solution is achieved, the movement for peace, freedom and justice in Tibet should remain alive, added Representative Chhimey.

Later, the president of the community Karma Choekyi accompanied by Tibet Bureau Geneva staff Kalden Tsomo met a representative from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and submitted a four-page appeal letter addressed to Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, CTA reported.

The appeal letter called on the UN to break the silence on Tibet, speak against the egregious human rights violations and urge China to stop the ongoing cultural genocide in Tibet.

It also urged for China to stop meddling in the religious beliefs and traditions of Tibetans to release Tibet's 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and share his whereabouts, and to stop the torture and arbitrary detention of Tibetans and release the Tibetan political prisoners.

The Tibetan community also asked China to stop the forceful resettlement of Tibetan nomads and the militarised forced labour camps in Tibet.

Earlier, Canada delivered a joint statement on behalf of 44 countries at the UN Humans Rights Council, expressing grave concerns over the "Uyghur genocide" in China's Xinjiang province.

"We urge China to allow immediate, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang for independent observers," Canada's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Leslie Norton said at the UNHRC meeting on behalf of 40 countries. The statement was backed by major countries Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Australia, Britain, Spain and the United States, among others.

The remarks highlighted reports of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, forced sterilization, sexual and gender-based violence, and forced separation of children from their parents by authorities.

The United States announced a series of actions aimed against forced labour in China's Xinjiang, which is said to have detained more than a million members of ethnic minorities, including Uyghur Muslims.

In a fact sheet, the White House said that the Biden-Harris administration is taking additional steps to hold those who engage in forced labour accountable and ensure that the US continues to remove goods made with forced labour from the supply chains through actions by the Department of Homeland Security's US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Labor.

This includes banned imports of solar panels and other goods made with materials produced by a Chinese company Hoshine Silicon Industry Co after the company's plants were linked to forced labour camps in Xinjiang. (ANI)