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Fol­low­ing events that have struck at the heart of Tibet the UNPO Pres­i­dency, on behalf of UNPO Mem­bers, expresses its sup­port for all those under threat from the crack­down cur­rently being car­ried out by the secu­rity agen­cies of the Chi­nese state under the blan­ket of a media blackout.

The Hague, 21 March 2008 – It has been five days since UNPO first called for inter­na­tional action after Tibetan pro­test­ers were beaten and lost their lives at the hands of Chi­nese para­mil­i­tary forces. In that time Tibet has become closed to the out­side world. Jour­nal­ists have been refused access and inter­na­tional media broad­casts have been cen­sored by Bei­jing. As inter­na­tional crit­i­cism grows and there have been calls, sup­ported by UNPO, for a spe­cial ses­sion of the United National Human Rights Coun­cil to be con­vened, China has dug its heels in. A Chi­nese envoy warned today [21 March 2008] against attempts to inter­fere in what is seen as an ‘inter­nal affair’ – a state­ment that must be seen as a response to the visit to Dharam­sala by speaker of the US House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, Nancy Pelosi on 21 March 2008.

On the ground it appears that the Chi­nese author­i­ties have already begun to mea­sure out ret­ri­bu­tion on those who took part in protests ear­lier in the week. Reports note a mas­sive police pres­ence in Tibetan towns and regions and also East Turkestan and Inner Mon­go­lia where demon­stra­tions showed sym­pa­thy with the Tibetan sit­u­a­tion. The Com­mu­nist Party’s desire to exert total con­trol has even extended to the heart of Bei­jing. There, the cam­pus of the Cen­tral Uni­ver­sity of Nation­al­i­ties has found itself ringed with uni­formed and plain clothed police offi­cers, even pho­tograph­ing those who raise its sus­pi­cions. It is clear that for all its signs of devel­op­ment and words of democ­racy, China remains intent on sup­press­ing expres­sion in its sub­ju­gated regions.

It is the respon­si­bil­ity of the inter­na­tional com­mu­nity to demand answers and open­ness from China, and UNPO reit­er­ates its call, first made below on 17 March 2008 for an inter­na­tional investigation:

UNPO State­ment of Solidarity

The Hague, 17 March 2008 – The UNPO Pres­i­dency, led by Pres­i­dent Mr Ledum Mitee, expresses its sol­i­dar­ity on behalf of all UNPO Mem­bers with the peo­ple of Tibet in this period of extreme ten­sion and reit­er­ates its sup­port for their decades-long non­vi­o­lent cam­paign against Chi­nese suppression.

UNPO con­demns the dra­con­ian Chi­nese response that has led to sub­stan­tial loss of life and count­less deten­tions and beat­ings, and calls upon the Chi­nese author­i­ties at all lev­els to enter into a con­struc­tive dia­logue designed to end the vio­lence and pro­mote a return to peace within Tibet as soon as possible.

UNPO urges the inter­na­tional com­mu­nity to demon­strate its com­mit­ment to human rights by respond­ing to the cri­sis in Tibet with an inter­na­tional inves­ti­ga­tion into the events that have led to such vio­lence within Tibet.

Speak­ing on recent devel­op­ments, UNPO Gen­eral Sec­re­tary Mr Marino Bus­dachin stated that “The entire world today must sup­port the Tibetan peo­ples’ aspi­ra­tions and His Holi­ness the Dalai Lama’s request for an inter­na­tional inves­ti­ga­tion into the crim­i­nal acts per­pe­trated. There must be respect for human, civil, and polit­i­cal rights in Tibet as in China. Free Tibet means free China.”