Intervention on Tibet at the UNHRC

Geneva, 3 July: Today the UN Human Rights Council discussed racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance.  Mr. Mutuma Ruteere, the concerned Special Rapporteur presented his annual report. Mr. Tenzin Kayta briefed Mr. Mutuma Ruteere separately on the current human rights situation in Tibet with particular reference to discriminations faced by Tibetans under Chinese in Tibet in respect to culture, social, religion and language. During the interactive dialogue and general debate on the above issues, Mr. Kayta speaking on behalf of Society for Threatened Peoples and Mouvement contre le racism et pour l¹amitié entre les peoples made a joint statement. He said that ³despite China¹s obligations under the CERD, racial discrimination faced by Tibetans under the Chinese authorities is getting worse since March 2008 widespread protests erupted in all Tibetan areas under China¹s administration.² He said about 600 Tibetans were rounded up by the Chinese security personnel in following twin self-immolations occurred in Tibet¹s capital Lhasa on 27 May this year according to Radio Free Asia. Tibetans living in Lhasa and in TAR but born in other regions of Tibet were expelled to their place of birth! However, the hundreds of thousands of Chinese from mainland China in Tibet can move freely. He said ³this is clear discriminatory and violations of freedom of movement and resident.² Furthermore, he said that China¹s development policy in Tibet is also discriminatory by design and implementation which are conceived and carried out without meaningful participation of the local Tibetan people.
For instance, thousands of Tibetan nomads and herders were forcibly resettled in concrete ghetto like building. In this regard, Special
Rapportuer on Food expressed concern over this policy at the 19th HRC session and recommended Chinese authorities in his mission report on China to put an end to it and must respect right to development.
He express concern regarding the restrictions on use of Tibetan spoken and written language in Tibetan school imposed by Chinese authorities¹.  ³This year alone, the Chinese authorities had forcibly closed a Tibetan orphanage school in Luchu County in Kanlho (Gannan) Prefecture which housed 50 students and a private funded Tibetan school called ³Khadrok Jamtse Rokten School²3 in Kardze County for giving priority to Tibetan language and culture. Responsible person of the schools were arrested and whereabouts remain unknown,²  he said. He said that the series of self-immolations by Tibetans weresymptoms of continued widespread discriminations on their social, cultural, linguistic and religion. He urged the Chinese authorities to investigate underlying causes of unrest in Tibetan areas and redress it sincerely through due implementation of domestic and international laws. In right of reply, the Chinese delegate took the floor and said that there is no ethnic or racial problems in China. All citizens are treated equally according to law. Tibet and Xinjiang are not human rights issue but politically motivated by western forces.

http://tibet.net/2012/07/04/intervention-on-tibet-at-the-unhrc/