Chinese delegates repeatedly interrupted the Tibetan representative of the Dalai Lama as she spoke on Wednesday about cultural rights violations in Tibet on behalf of a humanitarian group during a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.
Thinlay Chukki of the Geneva Tibet Office, the official agency of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile, began describing the treatment of Tibetan and nomadic children in the Tibet Autonomous Region in far western China in name of the Society for Threatened Peoples. .
Almost immediately, Chinese representatives interrupted her in the spacious room, raising a “point of order” concern, and proceeded to call Chukki a “separatist” and said she was involved in “separatist anti-China” activities.
A member of the US delegation then requested that Chukki be allowed to speak and that she not be interrupted without first hearing the content of her statement.
After procedures were considered by UN officials, Chukki was allowed to speak again, only to be interrupted again by the Chinese delegation. One official said she “seriously undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and called for an immediate removal.
After reconsidering the matter, the session leader noted that there had been no rule violation and allowed Chukki to speak again.
In his statement, Chukki noted that the authorities closed several Tibetan schools that cater to the children of Tibetan nomads and forced them to attend “colonial-style residential schools.”
He also highlighted a concern raised by UN experts that the authorities in Tibet are forcibly assimilating almost 1 million Tibetan children, and the concluding observations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which called on the Chinese government to abolish the residential school under duress. system.
Tibetans have complained that the measures violate their cultural rights and aim to wipe out their national culture.
Forcing children to learn Chinese
In the past, Chinese authorities have closed schools serving Tibetan nomadic children, arguing that their operation interfered with government plans to move herdsmen and their families off their grazing lands and into townships.
In more recent years, the authorities have closed private Tibetan schools that offer classes in Tibetan, forcing students to go to government-run schools where they are taught in Chinese.
The interruptions occurred in the Council’s interactive dialogue with Alexandra Xanthaki, UN special rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, on her report on migration and cultural rights. The report identified the gaps that exist in the protection of the cultural rights of no less than 280 million people around the world.
Chukki requested that Xanthaki issue “clear guidelines and recommendations to the Chinese government to protect the cultural rights of Tibetans, particularly Tibetan nomads who are forcibly relocated from their traditional lands with cultural heritage.”
After the incident, Chukki issued a statement saying that it was not the first time that Chinese officials tried to interfere with her.
“The Chinese representatives sitting behind me were taking videos of me, my bag and also my phone, trying to threaten me,” he said of a February session of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
