By Ngawang C. Drakmargyapon
Phayul Special Correspondent
United Nations, Geneva, 2 May, 2006 – The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of the UN Commission on Human Rights today said that it has discussed the case of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima at its meeting which was held last week at the United Nations in Geneva.
In a statement released today on the website (www.ohchr.org) of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights about its meeting, the Working Group said: “The Working Group especially deplores disappearances of children. At this meeting, it received new cases of disappeared children from Colombia and reviewed outstanding cases of children’s disappearances in Honduras and Nepal. It also discussed communications received on the case of the Panchen Lama of Tibet, China. The Working Group noted that this session coincided with the 17th birthday of the Panchen Lama who disappeared when he was only 6 years old.”
“We are very satisfied that the Working Group continues to remain concerned with the fate of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima,” said Mr. Kelsang Gyaltsen, Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the European Union, who heads the Tibet Bureau for UN Affairs in Geneva.
The case of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima’s disapperance has been with the Working Group since 1995. Since 1997, China has failed to provide written document as demanded by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to support China’s claim that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family wished not to be disturbed by outsiders.
The Working Group stated that it “would appreciate being provided by the Government of China with documents supporting its statement that he and his parents had appealed to the Government for protection and at present are “leading normal lives and enjoying perfect health.”
This year, the Group did not mention the case of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima in its annual report to the Commission on Human Rights now to be replaced by the new UN Human Rights Council. However, the report did say that it considers the disappearances of children “as a matter of urgency” and that it “notes a worrying circumstance in which individuals from vulnerable groups, including children and mentally challenged people, have allegedly disappeared” in China.
In September 2005, China claimed to a UN rights expert that Gedhun Choekyi is not the “Panchen Lama” but merely an ordinary Tibetan child. This communication from Beijing was in the latest report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief to the UN Commission on Human Rights.
Last week in a written statement to Reuters, a Chinese cabinet spokesperson office said that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was not the youngest political prisoner in the world. “Exiled Tibetan splittist elements and some foreign organisations with ulterior motives have been whipping up opinion that Gendun Choekyi Nyima is the world’s youngest political prisoner,” said the statement.
