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Wednesday 10 March: Make your voice heard ...
URGENT ACTION: Send a postcard to President Obama
[6 February] Take part in a worldwide campaign and send a Losar (Tibetan New Year, which is on 14 February) postcard to President Obama expressing your hope that there will be tangible outcomes from his meeting with the Dalai Lama and he will take concrete action to facilitate a just solution for the Tibetan people. It is expected that President Obama will meet the Dalai Lama towards the end of February. [more] ► Further Action ► Download postcard pdf
Is there hope beyond the negative rhetoric coming from Beijing?
[2 February] The ninth round of talks is over. The Dalai Lama’s envoys have returned to Dharamsala, where Special Envoy Lodi Gyari issued a constructive statement. In contrast, in Beijing, Zhu Weiqun, executive deputy head of the Communist Party's United Front Work Department, the body that “engages” with the envoys, held a news conference where he adopted a tone of uncompromising rhetoric, saying relations with the Dalai Lama was China's internal affair so "outsiders have no right to voice any opinions." [more] ► Send a postcard to President Obama ► Further Action ►Lodi Gyari's Statement ► Further reading
January 26 2010: 7th anniversary of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche's failed appeal and Losang Dhondup's execution
In June 2009, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche told a community member who visited him in prison, “I am not guilty, please appeal for justice for me … call all people together and do everything possible to help me overturn the verdict”. In a remarkable act of support, 40,000 Tibetans in his community signed petitions - many signatures being in the form of thumbprints - demanding justice for their leader. [more]
Join the 40,000 Tibetans in Tibet who have bravely called for justice
Online Petition
Action
Background
EDM
Resumption of China/Tibet discussions
[26 January] Dalai Lama's envoys travel to Beijing via Yunnan to re-engage on discussions with the Chinese government. British Foreign Office Minister, Ivan Lewis, welcomed this move, saying, "I urge both sides to enter these talks in good faith and to make progress towards meaningful autonomy for Tibet. Peaceful dialogue between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama's representatives is the only way to bring about a lasting and peaceful solution to the problems in Tibet." [more] ►Central Tibet Administraton report ► Central Tibet Administration Press Statement ► Action
Dhondup Wangchen sentenced to six years in prison
In early January it was learnt that filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen had been given a six year prison sentence for “inciting separatism” by making his documentary film Leaving Fear Behind. He was arrested shortly after completing interviews for his film in March 2008. He had no independent legal representation of his choice at his trial. The dire lack of due legal process and the extreme sentence meted out for what were tenuous charges shows the complete disregard the Chinese government has for meaningful legal reform. Foreign Office Minister, Ivan Lewis, said: “I am concerned by reports that documentary film-maker Dhondup Wangchen has been sentenced to 6 years in prison. The verdict, like that of prominent human rights defender Liu Xiaobo, raises serious concerns about the right to freedom of expression in China.” [more] ► Ivan Lewis's full statement ► For a DVD of Leaving Fear Behind (£1.50 inc P&P), order online, call our office on 020 727 1414 or join us and receive a copy with your membership pack.
PRESS RELEASE 10 December 2009: 61st Human Rights Day
Human rights are universal - China cannot be allowed to remain an exception
Chinese, Uighur & Tibetan Solidarity UK calls on the Chinese Communist Party to respect and uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Today sees the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This landmark charter recognised that “equal and inalienable rights” for “all members of the human family” was vital to ensuring freedom, justice and peace in the world. For many of us, these fundamental human and civil rights are the benchmark by which we live. For millions of people living in China, East Turkestan and Tibet under Chinese Communist Party rule, they remain a dream. The People’s Republic of China continues to flagrantly show utter disregard for basic human and civil rights and openly flout the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [more] | ► Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Tibet Third Pole and Copenhagen summit
Tibet Third Pole is an initiatiave that is working to raise awareness of the vital importance of Tibet within the issue of climate change, and advocating Tibetan stewardship of Tibet’s natural resources. Co-ordinated by International Tibet Support Network (ITSN), the campaign is being launched at COP15 where Tibet support groups from all over the world will be holding seminars, protests, film screenings and an exhibition in Copenhagen between 7-19 December. This is only the beginning of the Tibet Third Pole campaign, over the next months Tibet support groups worldwide will be working to increase awareness and to lobby to effect change. [more] ► Background information ► Tibet Third Pole demands ► Look out for news and camapaign actions here, or join us so you receive updates. briefing materials and Urgent Action emails.
5th World Parliamentarian’s Convention on Tibet
Rome on 18 & 19 November 2009
Attended by 200 parliamentarians and representatives of parliamentary organisations from 29 countries, the two-day conference was included addresses by the Dalai Lama, Penpa Tsering, Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile and Samdhong Rinpoche, the Kalon Tripa. [more] ► The Rome Declaration
The European Union condemns the recent executions of two Tibetans, Mr Lobsang Gyaltsen and Mr Loyak
[Brussels, 29 October 2009] On the basis of its principled opposition to the death penalty, the EU, on 8 May 2009, called for a commutation of the death sentences handed down by Lhasa Intermediate People’s Court to several Tibetans, among them Mr Lobsang Gyaltsen and Mr Loyak, following the Lhasa riots in March 2008. [more]
Ivan Lewis, Minister of State in the Foreign Office, condemns the executions of Loyak and Lobsang Gyaltsen
Please write to your MP and the Foreign Secretary to urge they follow up on their "concerns about lack of due process in these cases" and ask what the government is doing in practical terms to ensure China really does "review urgently the cases of those who remain under sentence of death for their alleged involvement in last year’s unrest." Read the Minister's full statement [here]
Four Tibetans Executed in Lhasa
Tibet Society Press Release, 22 October 2009
Norman Baker MP, condemns the Chinese authorities and says executions make a mockery of British government’s softly softly approach.
 Reports have been received that four Tibetans have been executed in Lhasa on 20 October. On hearing the news of these summary executions, Norman Baker, President of Tibet Society and Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group, said “This is a shocking act by the Chinese authorities. It clearly shows there is no meaningful commitment on the part of the Chinese government to legal reform or internationally accepted standards of rule of law. That these executions have taken place within a few weeks of Minister of State Ivan Lewis’s visit to Tibet, makes a mockery of any claims by the British government to having any influence or effecting change and improvement for the Tibetan people’s civil and human rights by a softly softly approach. This act is one that we should all abhor and be deeply apprehensive about as it blatantly shows the utter disregard the Chinese government has to a whole raft of human rights issues we all take for granted." [more]
China executes four Tibetans following closed trials
Tibet Society strongly condemns the judicial execution of four Tibetans in Lhasa on 20 October. Reports now confirm these took place and those executed were Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak who had both received death sentences in April, Penkyi and an as yet unidentified fourth Tibetan. Confirmation of Penkyi's identity remains unclear, a 23-year-old Tibetan woman named Penkyi was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in April and another Penkyi received a sentence of life imprisonment. The trials that reached these verdicts were conducted behind closed doors with no evidence of any due legal processes being applied. Tibet Society calls on the British government to issue a statement condemning the executions in the strongest possible terms and to urgently engage the Chinese government regarding the absence of due legal process apparent in the trials of those executed For more details read the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy report [here]
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