PETITION OF THE TIBETANS OF BELGIUM TO THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
2nd of April 2008
Mr. President Jose Manuel Barroso,
We, the Tibetans that found refuge in Belgium, stand before you today to respectfully urge you to undertake action to protect our people, our activists, and our families in our homeland Tibet.
As you will know, since the 10th of March of this year, the 49th commemoration of the complete annexation of Tibet by the Communist regime of China, many outbreaks of protest have started all over our country.
At first, like in Myanmar/ Burma, these protests were led by the religious community and lay people joined. Although these protest were peaceful, the situation escalated, due to heavy repression of the Tibetan protest by Chinese armed forces and direct attacks on the monasteries. There is also evidence that “agents provocateur” were planted by the Chinese government.
Even though news about Tibet is not reported correctly in China, messages keep reaching us that special troops besiege monasteries, many victims are reported, clergy and laity alike. With the horrendous human rights records that China has, the regime is sure to track down the protesters and the wounded mercilessly. At this moment around 1000 have been arrested on suspicion of activism and suffer in dismal conditions in prison cells.
The Tibetan Community of Belgium’s well over 800 members are often able to reach their kin on the phone and some emails and pictorial witnessing have come out of Tibet. The situation is extremely grave. Clearly, the “peacefully liberated” as the Communists call us, cannot tolerate the repression of the Chinese regime as they have suffered from it for the last half century.
In this year of the Olympic Games, it still looks like the reforms they talk about in China, are not of much use to us Tibetans. Two recent examples: the high tech railroad has already served to transport troops into our country and minerals and precious metals are expediently transported out to the booming industrial regions on the coast of mainland China. In – Land reforms – our nomads are forced to live in flat blocks, access to their lands and water for their flocks made difficult. In short, people are uprooted and nature is exploited, bringing with it more poverty and irreparable environmental degradation. How can our brothers and sisters in Tibet live like that?
Mr. President, allow us to ask of you respectfully to do all you can to pressure the Chinese leadership into consideration of our way of life, to grant more democracy also to us – a so called minority – and to cease and desist from all manner of repressions, torture and control.
In the short term we suggest that the European Commission might take up our wishes in the international fora :
1.Meaningful negotiations between our democratically chosen government from Dharamsala that follows the peaceful program set out by H.H. the Dalai Lama, our spiritual leader, and the Chinese government, about correct autonomy for Tibet.
2.Full access to Tibet for international journalists.
3.Unhindered medical assistance of the Red Cross and Medicins sans Frontières to those wounded, scot-free, i.e. without pressure to report wounded activists to the police.
4.Release for those 1000 that are held prisoner since the 10th of March.
5.International Fact Finding Committees to go to Tibet to witness.
6.To stop Chinese state owned news agencies from ethnically biased inflammatory newscasts on Tibet.
We thank you, Mr. President, for your kind consideration of our concerns and using the influence of your position to help us in these, our hard times.
With best wishes for your health and happiness,
Tibetan Community of Belgium
