From: World Tibet Network News. Saturday, July 8th, 1995

The Australian Senate has passed a resolution asking the Minister for Foreign Affairs to urge the United Nations not to censor a quotation by the Dalai Lama from its 50th anniversary publication. On the same day, June 29, the Senate also passed a resolution supporting the right of Tibetan women to attend the Beijing Women's Conference.

The full text of the two resolutions is as follows:

DALAI LAMA

That the Senate-

(a) notes:

(i) that the United Nations (UN) Secretariat is alleged to have prohibited any reference to His Holiness the Dalai Lama in a book to be published to mark the 50th anniversary of the UN, and

(ii) the statement alleged to have been censored from the book was a statement made by the Dalai Lama in support of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, namely, 'It is in the inherent nature of human beings to yearn for freedom, equality and dignity and they have an equal right to achieve that ... Brute force, not matter how strongly applied, can never subdue the basic desire for freedom and dignity'; and

(b) calls on the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Gareth Evans), if it is the case that such censoring has occurred, to use his influence to urge the UN not to mar the 50th anniversary of the UN by such censorship.

CONFERENCE ON WOMEN

That the Senate-

(a) notes that the United Nations 4th Conference on Women is to be held in Beijing in September 1995;

(b) supports the right of all women, including Tibetan women, to take part in the Non-Government Organisation (NGO) conference to be held at the same time;

(c) is concerned:

(i) at the reports that the NGO forum is to be held at a considerable distance from the World Conference at a site that cannot accommodate the approximately 20,000 participants expected at the forum,

(ii) at reports that telecommunication, hotel, interpretation and transport facilities are inadequate for a conference of this kind and scale, and

(iii) at reports of strict customs procedures and controls with regard to the importation of written and audiovisual materials by participants of both conferences; and

(d) calls on the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Gareth Evans) to

continue:

(i) to make representations to the Chinese Government and to the conference secretariat to allow women from Tibet who are accredited to NGOs to attend the conference, and

(ii) to urge the Chinese Government to ensure that adequate arrangements are put in place to enable to the NGO conference to proceed with adequate facilities and democratic procedures.