6 April, Geneva - The 56th Commission on Human Rights has for the past two days discussed the item relating to civil and political rights. Many statements by governements, NGOs and thematic reports of the Commission have raised the situation in Tibet, China and Eastern Turkestan.

Mr. Dick J. Batchelor of the American Delegation in his statement said: "..........Mr. Chairman, when see the persecution that Christains and tradtional African believers suffer at the hands of the Sudanese government. We cannot remain silent when we see Chinese authorities jail tens of thousands of practicing Falun Gong, or when they abuse Tibetan Buddhists or Muslim Uighurs, or when they persecute Protestans and Catholics simply because they do not belong to state-sanctioned churches."

Ambassador Mrs. Anne Anderson of Ireland referred to Tibet in these words: "We are also deeply concerened at the violations suffered by many other particularly vulnerable groups, such as the continued persecution of the Baha'i community in Iran and the restriction on the freedom of religion and belief of many others, including on people in Tibet, not to speak of the restrictions on and persecution of minorities elsewhere because of their beliefs. We reiterate that all governments and authorities have a duty to ensure that the rights of all ethnic and religious minorities are fully respected and protected."

In his report to the Commission on Human Rights, Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance said: "According to other communications, in January 1999, the Tibetan Communist Party Propaganda in Lhasa reportedly launched a three-year campaign to promote atheism in order to undermine the influence of Buddhism and the Dalai Lama."

Sir Nigel Rodley, the Special Rapporteur on Torture while orally presenting his report told the Commission earlier this week said that the a final decision on his proposed mission visit to China, in June this year, has yet to be reached with the Chinese authorities due to the failure of Beijing to accept his "terms of reference" on the visit. During the 55th session of the Commission, the Special Rapporteur announced that China has invited him to make a official fact-finding mission. The special rapporteur's report to the Commission this year covers many Tibetan cases, including that of Dalun arrests, Tashi Tashi, Ghen Sonam Phuntok, Agya Tsering and Sonam.

Around 80 Tibetans from the Glarus section of the Tibetan Community in Switzerland held a one-day Vigil outside the United Nations in Geneva on 5 April. They were joined by some Uighurs representatives. The Tibetan Community in Switzerland will hold several more Vigils next week.

Amogst the NGO speakers, Mr. Jonathan Sission of the International Fellowship of Reconcialtion, delivering an entire statement on the state of religious freedom in Tibet. The statement asked the Chinese authorities to invite the UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance on a follow-up visit to China and Tibet in view of the deteriration of the situation of religious liberties. We will produce the statement in one of the next updates.

The second NGO statement on Tibet was delievered by Ngawang C. Drakmargyapon on behalf of three NGOs. This statement is released in this update.

The Tibetan delegation at the 56th UN Commission on Human Rights is as follows: Kalon T. C. Tethong, Mr. Kelsang Gyaltsen, Mrs. Chungdak Koren, Mr. Ngawang C. Drakmargyapon, Ms. Tsering Jampa and Ms. Dolma Choephel.

Tex of NGO Statement on Tibet -
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Fifty-sixth session
Provisional Agenda 11

Joint Oral Statement by
International Union of Socialist Youth,
Worldview International Foundation and
Society for Threatened Peoples
Delivered by Mr. Ngawang Choephel

Thank you, Mr. Chairperson,

I am making this joint-statement on behalf of International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY), Worldview International Foundation and Society for Threatened Peoples.

The international community has shown its concern for the decent treatment of prisoners by adopting amongst other things the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the Convention Against Torture, and the two International Covenants on Human Rights. These combine to give a basic minimum standard by which people everywhere, regardless of their nationality or political perspective, including prisoners, should be treated.

However, the picture that emerges in Tibet is frightening. Torture and beatings are commonplace. Political prisoners are dying every year whilst in custody, six of them in 1999. Prisoners in Tibet, who now number more than 600, are held for many months without any outside contact while they are kept in a cell, often alone, and their only human interaction is the often violent interrogation sessions. The prisoners, particularly serving political sentences are forced to undergo education sessions in which they are required to renounce their beliefs or His Holiness the Dalai Lama. They are made to do work in the fields or factories for many hours each day to the extent that the prisons and labour camps have actually become profitable ventures for the Chinese authorities.

It is commendable that once again, this year, thematic rapporteurs and Working Groups of this Commission have documented in their reports the sad situation of detainees in China, Tibet and Xinjiang. Opinion 2/1999 by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on the case of Ngawang Choephel is one concrete indication of the struggle of political prisoners in Tibet.

In this connection, Mr. Chairperson, we wish to highlight another case of arbitrary detention in Tibet, that of Dolkar Kyab, a twenty-eight-year-old Tibetan was picked up for questioning in March 1995 in north-eastern Tibet (now incorporated into Gansu Province). He spent six days with his hand chained to a pipe in the ceiling overnight or for part of the day. He was moved to three different detention facilities over a three-month period before he was formally arrested. Only then did his family have any idea of what had happened to him. On 19 September 1996, more than a year and half after he was first detained, Dolkar Kyap was tried in secret on charges of "counterrevolution" and sentenced to a three-year term. The Gansu Provincial Prison No. 2 where he was sent produced shoes, and gloves, and included a iron smelting foundry on the premises; Dolkar Kyab was one of the glove makers. He now lives in India.

Mr. Chairperson, there are many ways in which the civil and political rights of Tibetan people continue to be violated. Initially, they are not given the opportunity to invoke their rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association. Instead, when they are caught trying to exercise these rights they are detained and other rights are violated, such as their right not to be tortured and to be treated humanely, and restrictions are placed on their freedom to practice their religion.

One in 33 Tibetan political prisoners held in Drapchi prison since 1987 have died, either in custody or shortly after release, as a result of maltreatment, according to a recent study of political imprisonment in Tibet by London-based Tibet Information Network (TIN). "Hostile Elements: A Study of Political Imprisonment in Tibet, 1987-1998" states that the incidence of death following abuse in prisons is increasing. A male political prisoner in Drapchi has a one in forty chance of dying; for females it is nearer one in twenty, the report confirmed.

Mr. Chairperson, official statistics from the People's Republic of China (PRC) are limited as the Chinese authorities strictly control the distribution of public information. However, it is now clear that the number of prisons and labour camps has risen dramatically in Tibet and that their capacity continues to expand to cope with the ever-growing number of prisoners, both criminal and political. Latest reports from Tibet indicate that the two major prison complexes in Lhasa – including the "Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR)" Prison Number One, known as Drapchi - have been expanded, indicating a growing prisoner capacity in the Lhasa area and increasing economic activity in Lhasa prisons. Photographs of the new facilities indicate that a new cement factory consisting of two production units has been opened at Drapchi since Lhasa was designated a "Special Economic Zone" in 1992 with the aim of attracting domestic and foreign investment. The use of prison labour in the economic development of Tibet is an openly stated policy of the Chinese authorities.

While it is difficult to gauge the number of criminal prisoners imprisoned in Tibet, it is even more difficult to get an accurate number of the political prisoners who languish in PRC’s prisons. Not surprisingly, official Chinese statistics give a very different picture from that of other groups who closely monitor the situation in Tibet. In 1997, the Chinese government claimed that it had no political prisoners on the basis that all prisoners who had political motives had been convicted of criminal offences under PRC’s Criminal Law.

New information reaching the outside world in December 1999 spoke about the shooting of a monk prisoner and the sentence extensions imposed on six political prisoners following the May 1998 protests at Drapchi prison in Lhasa. An eyewitness report describes the severe reprisals meted out to political and criminal prisoners for their participation in the peaceful protests at the prison, which led to the deaths of eleven prisoners. It has taken up to 19 months for this information to reach the outside world due to the measures taken by the Chinese authorities to prevent news of the protests and their repercussions reaching the outside world. The authorities regard the free flow of information about human rights abuses as "endangering state security", the new Chinese vocabulary for "counter-revolutionary".

Mr. Chairperson, as the EU human rights delegation was visiting the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, two protests occurred at Drapchi prison on 1 and 4 May 1998. An eye-witness described the reprisals on the prisoners saying that a squad of about 12 People's Armed Police reportedly entered the cell blocks on the evening of 4 May 1998 and carried out systematic interrogations and beatings of prisoners using a variety of weapons including electric shock batons and rubber pipes. According to this source, the monk Thubten Kalsang, who was reportedly due for release from a six-year sentence just over a week after the protests, was treated particularly severely. When Thubten Kalsang was interrogated for the second time: "Six prison guards delivered the beatings. One of them ordered him to fall down on his knees, another held him by his head. The other four [guards] started beating him with electric batons and iron rods until he fell down unconscious. The severe beatings caused him to involuntarily urinate and defecate in his trousers… When he tried to return to his cell, he had to support himself against the wall and fell down repeatedly. The guards would not allow other prisoners to help him, so he had to struggle all the way back to his cell unsupported."

Thubten Kalsang was reportedly released on 15 May 1998 and is now at home. His health has not improved since his release. He is now a "decrepit wreck … staying at home in Taktse, awaiting his impending death".

Mr. Chairperson, the continued violations of civil and political rights of the Tibetan people are symptoms of a deeper problem in Tibet which is the subjugation of a people by an alien rule. The fundamental issue confronting Tibet requires a peaceful political settlement. It is time for the international community now to call upon the Chinese authorities to engage in earnest dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama or his representatives. A positive move from Beijing in this direction will be the first indication that there is an attempt to end violations of civil and political rights in Tibet.

In conclusion, we appeal to the Commission to adopt, this year, a resolution on China for its repeated failures to promote and protect human rights of detainees in China, Tibet and Xinjiang. Such a move by this Commission will help send a clear message to all the political prisoners held by China that their struggle has not been forgotten by the UN’s highest human rights forum.

Thank you, Chairperson.

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