Australian Associated Press

MELBOURNE, (July 22, 1995) -- Australia's Tibetan community today attacked yesterday's decision in Geneva to exclude all exiled Tibetan non-government organisations from the United Nations conference on women to be held in Beijing in September.

Australia Tibet Council spokesperson, Ms Alex Butler, urged Australia's official delegation to Beijing to ensure the views of Tibetan women were presented at the conference. "In particular, we want the conference to take a strong stand on the human rights of Tibetan and other women in situations of foreign occupation and armed conflict," Ms Butler said.

The Australia Tibet Council released a statement today saying the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) had agreed in Geneva to bar all exiled Tibetan non government organisations from attending the conference after strong opposition by the host nation, China.

The statement said the United States and several European nations failed to convince China the Tibetan groups should be allowed to make representations at the conference after several days of informal discussions. The Australian representative of one of the excluded groups, the Tibetan Women's Association, Ms Dorji Dolma, today said the decision revealed the "enormous pressure the Chinese Government is able to exert at the UN."

"Our organisation has been working for many years on the issues that the conference will discuss - women's human rights, health, education and welfare - and I don't know how anyone could argue we didn't meet the criteria for accreditation." Ms Butler said the decision "once again exposed the UN's inability to stand up for the rights of vulnerable and oppressed groups", adding that Beijing should never have been allowed to host the conference.

Ms Butler said Australia's record on supporting the Tibetan cause internationally was generally good in terms of individual human rights cases, but not so good on the question of Tibetan self-determination.