Report adopted by the Second Special General Meeting of the Tibetan People held in 2012 under Article 59 of the Charter of Tibetans in Exile
Friday, 28 September 2012
With the objective of discussing the question what actions the Tibetan people and the Tibetan administration in exile should adopt in response to the tragic situation in Tibet today, the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile and the Kashag of the Central Tibetan Administration have jointly organized at Dharamsala the Second Special General Meeting of the Tibetan People in accordance with the provisions of Article 59 of the Charter of Tibetans in Exile, with the meeting being held over a period of four days from 25 to 28 September 2012. Pursuant to this, a total of 432 delegates from 26 countries arrived to take part in the meeting. After the meeting’s inaugural ceremony was concluded in the morning of 25 September, the delegates were divided equally among ten committees. Extensive discussions were held at the meetings of these committees until 11:00 AM on 27 September. The reports of each of these committees were then presented one by one at a plenary meeting of all the delegates. On the following day, which was 28 September, the core contents of the suggestions contained in each report had already been compiled and summarized. However, it was felt that recording all the different suggested courses of campaign actions in all their details would result in an unwieldy stack of papers. However, because implementing the adopted planned courses of campaign actions would have to be based on the relevant background information, the reports of all the committees have been appended to this final report. The following are the summarized items of the courses of campaign actions finalized on the basis of a point-by-point presentation and adoption of each of them:
Subject Matter Number One
Courses of campaign activities to be carried out within the Tibetan community in exile by the Tibetan people and the Tibetan administration in exile by way of their responses to the tragic situation in Tibet today
1) The government of China is employing subversion and conspiracy in its active pursuit by every possible direct and indirect means to try to create disaffection between the Tibetan people and their administration in exile. In particular, given the high possibility of incidents like physical harm being brought by it upon the person of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, it is all the more important that both the host government of India and the Central Tibetan Administration treat the matter with ever greater attention and due diligence.
2) It should be ensured that whatever campaign action is pursued for the furtherance of the Tibetan cause is in conformity with the wishes of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and, on that basis, reflects collective efforts of the Tibetan people and their administration in exile and their capability to swiftly carry forward the struggle with steadfastness of adherence to their resolute position.
3) The ‘Middle Way’ policy which is mutually beneficial to the peoples of both China and Tibet is in accordance with the wishes of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, is accepted by the Tibetan people both in Tibet and in exile, and has been unanimously supported on successive occasions by the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. In keeping with these developments, further steps were taken, resulting in a number of rounds of talks so far between the Chinese government and the Tibetan side. However, because of lack of any positive response from the Chinese government, which resorted to exaggerations and distortions of the Tibetan position, the Special envoys from the Tibetan side felt themselves to be left with no option but to submit their resignations recently. In order to revive the stalled process of dialogue with representatives of the Chinese government and resume the contacts, efforts should be continued to seek support from as many countries as possible, including India, the United States of America and Europe. From the Kashag’s side, the issue of working out a course of restarting the contacts as soon as possible should be given high priority. With regard to this matter, it is also important for the Kashag to make efforts to enhance the extent and level of understanding of the principles and objectives underlying the mutually beneficial Middle Way policy both in and outside Tibet but especially among the Chinese people.
4) In order to express our admiration and to memorialize the resoluteness with which a total of 56 patriotic and heroic Tibetan men and women in and outside Tibet have sacrificed their lives by setting themselves on fire for the cause of the Tibetan religion, nation and people, a memorial hall should be especially built, with displays of the pictures and the personal stories of each such martyr. In particular, a large-scale dedication prayer service and religious offering should be held for them at the major sacred Buddhist sites. And for the purposes of conveying condolences, holding mourning and expressing empathy with the self-immolators’ surviving family members, close relatives and so on, the entire Tibetan community in exile – the Central Tibetan Administration as well as the Tibetan public – should hold a major large scale activity all at once.
5) Efforts should be made to fulfil the wishes expressed by such heroic Tibetan men and women in the last testaments left behind by them. These testaments should also be translated into different languages and publicized widely. Besides, efforts should be made to preserve them as historical records for the future by archiving them.
6) For the purpose of commemorating the blood sacrifices made by Tibetan men and women in and outside Tibet, a day should be finalized for the purpose of observing it each year as the Martyr’s Day.
7) Efforts should be strengthened more than ever before to try to fulfil one of the main wishes of the heroic Tibetan men and women who have sacrificed their lives by setting themselves on fire, as well as of all the other Tibetans in Tibet and in exile, namely, to have His Holiness the Dalai Lama invited back to Tibet.
8) The ethnic Tibetan population is a particularly small one; it therefore bears no mention that even if just one Tibetan loses his or her life under the current especially tragic situation in Tibet, the loss to the Tibetan race would be immense. We would therefore like to convey through this Special General Meeting our great concern over the ongoing self-immolation actions and appeal to the Tibetan people that henceforth they preserve their life with a sense of preciousness. On the side of the government of China, we insist that there be a fair and just investigation of the real causes underlying the current tragic situation in Tibet. Besides, China should understand that the degree of pains that the entirely baseless and indiscriminate name calling and blasphemy it keeps uttering against His Holiness the Dalai Lama are to the Tibetan people both in Tibet and in exile like that of being stabbed repeatedly in our hearts with a knife. If the government of China still does not change its hardline policy, there is every possibility that the tragic situation in Tibet today will worsen even further and it should bear the entire responsibility for the imminent future consequences flowing from it.
9) With regard to the nature of the nationally inspired ongoing self-immolation actions being carried out in Tibet, they are to be recognized as being among the highest form of non-violent campaign action being carried out in this world.
10) It is very important that in order to bring about a situation of peace in the tragedy wrecked Tibet of today, and for the purpose of realizing the just cause of the Tibetan people, as many campaign activities as possible need to be carried out on a continuous basis. For all this and related purposes, a strong financial support would be extremely crucial. Hence an emergency voluntary endowment fund, including through contributions from the Tibetan public, should be raised and there should also be an increase in the amount of the voluntary tax contributions from the Tibetan public.
11) An emergency committee consisting of members from both the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan public should be newly constituted and campaign actions carried out through the pooling of the capabilities of both the administration in exile and the Tibetan civil society groups.
12) With regard to all types of propaganda distortions being carried out by the communist Chinese government on His Holiness the Dalai Lama, on the history of Tibet, and on the struggle for the fundamental Tibetan cause, timely responses should be provided as and when they occur.
13) The Central Tibetan Administration and the various types of Tibetan non-governmental organizations should carry out as many campaign actions as possible, guided by the directive from the Kashag and the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile that the campaigns be non-violent, in conformity with the laws of the concerned host countries, and dignified.
14) In an effort to win over the Tibetan people to its side, the Chinese government is today employing both material and human resources more than ever before in its relentless efforts to create disaffection within the Tibetan community in exile as well as between the exile Tibetan community and their local host communities through vicious machinations of sowing seeds of enmity between them and spreading false rumours. Therefore at this critical moment, the need of the hour is for the Tibetan people to enhance their internal harmony and overall solidarity.
15) Under the coercive pressure of the Chinese government, the Tibetan religious, cultural, linguistic and customary traditions and so on are being destroyed in Tibet. In view of this tragic development, Tibetans living in exile in free countries should preserve and perpetuate their religion, culture and language through efforts in education. Campaigns like the Lhakar should be extended and carried out throughout the Tibetan settled localities.
16) That there is a real problem of the Tibetan population being too small for the purposes of carrying on the struggle both from the current and from the long term perspectives is an obvious fact. There is therefore a need to increase the birth and nurturing of Tibetan children and the Central Tibetan Administration should give special consideration to caring for families having three or more children.
17) As per the desire of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan public should work in a coordinated manner in upholding the continued stability of our system of administration which is in keeping with the requirements of a genuine democracy in all its aspects.
Subject Matter Two
Courses of campaign activities to be carried out internationally
1) On the occasion of this Special General Meeting of the Tibetan People, the people of Tibet expresses tremendous gratitude to the governments, parliaments, and the non-governmental bodies across the world which have extended their support to the Tibetan cause. Campaign work must be continued in an effort to win support for the Tibetan cause by increasing contacts with them. In particular, campaign activities must be continued to win support for the Tibet issue from the United Nations and the European Union. Besides, timely efforts should be made on a continuous basis to appeal to the international community to bring pressure on the government of China with a view to bring to an end its brutal policies in Tibet. For this purpose efforts should be made to spread awareness about the tragedy of the situation in Tibet, especially with regard to the state of religious freedom, human rights, the natural environment and education, as well as China’s policy of forced relocation and settling down of the Tibetan nomadic population with the clarity of factual evidences. On this basis, Offices of Tibet should be set up in countries where they do not exist yet or efforts should be made to set up Tibet support groups in such countries.
2) In order to find out about the actual tragic situation in Tibet, it is important that efforts should be made to enable an independent international investigation team to undertake a visit there at the earliest possible moment; in order to bring this about, numerous types of campaign activities should be carried out.
3) With regard to the factual tragic accounts about the ongoing torture and repression in Tibet being carried out by the government of China without any sort of restraint, research should be undertaken by Tibetan legal scholars in exile. By this means, the evidences should be compiled and the involvement of the concerned Chinese leaders and officials during their occurrences should be exposed. Charges should then be brought against such named Chinese officials before the relevant international criminal courts.
4) Interaction should be made with internationally acclaimed singers, both men and women, and a campaign to publicize and garner support for the Tibetan cause through artistic means should be initiated thereby.
5) Efforts should be strengthened to further improve the Central Tibetan Administration’s Tibet.net website and its TibetOnline.tv web TV in order to make them multilingual, including in Chinese and English, and by that means greater publicity to the Tibet issue should be pushed in every corner of the world.
6) There are so many Tibetan Buddhist centres in countries across the world, including especially in countries that are the world’s major powers. By enhancing their level of focus on the issue, the administrative heads and the resident lamas, tulkus and other types of religious teachers of these centres should use the opportunities both after their religious teaching sessions and at every other possible opportune moment to bring about interest in their students to support the issue of Tibet and its history. For this purpose, the Central Tibetan Administration should at once establish contact with the various Tibetan Buddhist centres in those countries.
7) Efforts should be made to get the European Union, as well as individual governments and parliaments, to set up their own special coordinators on the issue of Tibet, as has been done by the government of the United States of America with the appointment of a Special Coordinator on Tibetan issues.
Subject Matter Three
Courses of campaign activities to be carried out in Asian countries
1) It is important to strengthen our contacts with the Indian government leaders both at the centre and in the states. In addition, efforts should be made to undertake extensive courses of activities such as holding discussions and exchanges of knowledge between students in Indian and Tibetan educational institutions at all levels as well as in organizing cultural exhibitions and artistic performances and so on from both the sides.
2) With Taiwan in the main, many Southeast Asian countries are visited by a large number of tourists, students and others from mainland China; in view of this fact, efforts should be made to establish new links with the relevant organizations and educational institutions in these countries.
3) There are also many Tibetan Buddhist centres in the Southeast Asian countries and the Department of Religion and Culture of the Central Tibetan Administration should strive to stimulate interest in them to understand that the religious traditions and the culture of Tibet remain in grave peril and in dire need of support and help from them for their survival.
4) Apart from India, all the countries of Southeast Asia should be brought under focus for the purposes of raising awareness about the religion, language, culture, and national traditions and habits, the natural environment and so on of Tibet. In addition, it is important to embark on a quest to seek support for the Tibetan issue in the countries of Southeast Asia by raising awareness about the high degree of connection between such support and the livelihood, economic productivity, natural environment, climate conditions and so on in these countries. Efforts should also be made to seek support for the just cause of Tibet from the various leaders in these countries.
5) There is an ever growing publicity about the issue of Tibet in most countries of the world these days; however, it is important to increase even further the publicizing of the Tibet issue in the Arab countries, such as Jordan, in Asia’s middle-east region.
6) Members of the Tibetan Muslim community should make the main effort, using the links inherent in the commonality of their religious faith, to win support for the just cause of Tibet from the Muslim countries with regard to the ongoing repression and torture beyond any kind of limit being carried out in Tibet by the Chinese government.
7) Religious leaders in the Buddhist countries of Southeast Asia should be invited to the Tibetan community in exile. And along with holding of discussions about Buddhism with them, attempts should be made to win support from them for the just Tibetan cause.
8) This Special General Meeting of the Tibetan People expresses immense gratitude to the central and local governments and peoples of the countries where Tibetans reside for having extended to them their support and hospitality thus far.
All the delegates to the Second Special General Meeting of the Tibetan People held under Article 59 of the Charter of Tibetans in Exile on 28 September 2012, in the corresponding Tibetan Royal Year 2139
Penpa Tsering, Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile
Khenpo Sonam Tenphel, Deputy Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile
* In case of any discrepancy in meaning, the original text in Tibetan should be considered as authoritative
Resolution
All the delegates who have been taking part in the Second Special General Meeting of the Tibetan People, being held in 2012 in accordance with the Provisions of Article 59 of the Charter of Tibetans in Exile, are unanimous in their view that a special resolution should be adopted beseeching that His Holiness the Dalai Lama condescend to grant divine absolution for the cause for upset that recently disturbed His sacred mental serenity and for the purpose of ensuring that the Tibetan citizens – his followers – may have a sense of standard to be adhered to in any course of their acts of commission and omission.
Preface
His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, the undisputed divine protector of all sentient beings, including the gods in heaven; the human manifestation of the designated protector-deity of Tibet Chenresig; a great champion of world peace and the master on this earth of all the teachings of the Buddha always has in His mind the well being of the Tibetan people in general. In particular, He assumed charge as the spiritual leader and temporal head of Tibet at 16 years of age. In that role, He, with His clairvoyant view of the future, pointed the way to a mutually beneficial strategy in the form of the Middle Way policy for resolving the Sino-Tibetan dispute. And to the Tibetan people he provides compassionate care of such immense degree for current, future and longer term benefits in the fields of religion, culture, economy and so on that it would be hard to repay the gratitude He has showered upon us all. And it bears no utterance that the boundless expanse of gratitude we the entire people of Tibet owe to His Holiness could never be forgotten.
Nevertheless, on account of the activities of a miniscule section within the Tibetan public in the recent past, betraying a lack of a sense of gratitude, His Holiness had to make certain emphatic comments of a feeling of hurt during His talks in Italy and Ladakh. In view of this development, We the entirety of the delegates from both the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan public attending this Second Special General Meeting of the Tibetan People in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter of Tibetans in Exile, being weighed down by a sense of immense concern, consider it important to pray for absolution from His Holiness for this infraction and to set out at this special general meeting a course of a standard of conduct by all Tibetans – his followers – for their acts of commission and omission and so on.
Resolution
1) With regard to the standard of conduct to be maintained by all Tibetan followers in the backdrop of the cause for a feeling of hurt which had visited upon His Holiness the Dalai Lama recently, it shall be ensured that Resolution No. 105 adopted by the 15th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile at its 4th session is implemented in every place where Tibetans are settled with the ensuring of the attainment of its intended results.
2) Led principally by the Kashag and the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, all the delegates participating in this Special General Meeting of the Tibetan People would like to appeal to all the Tibetans in exile, whether they act in any official capacity or as private individuals, not to spoil the rare opportunity that they have today and to be extra-cautious in their acts of commission and omission; that as and when such incidents recur in future, we shall, without any hesitation, assume resolute responsibility to deal with the situation in an appropriate and timely manner, including with provisions of explanations and clarifications to refute any kind of false claims.
3) All the delegates taking part in the current Special General Meeting of the Tibetan People are of one voice, acting on behalf of all Tibetans in Tibet and in exile, in praying with a hundred-fold repetitiveness and with a single-minded focus in devotion that His Holiness condescend to overlook His feeling of hurt over the cause for offence that has recently perturbed the otherwise tranquil bearing of his sacred mind; that His Holiness live for a hundred aeons and in that milieu continue to hold us, the sentient beings of the Land of Snows, with a feeling of fondness and a sense of trustworthiness.
Adopted unanimously by the participants in the Second Special General Meeting of the Tibetan People held in accordance with the provisions of the Charter of Tibetans in Exile on this the 28th day of September 2012, in the correspondent Tibetan Royal Year 2139.
Penpa Tsering, Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile
Khenpo Sonam Tenphel, Deputy Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile
* In case of any discrepancy in meaning, the original text in Tibetan should be considered as authoritative
