STATEMENT OF THE TIBETAN WOMEN'S DELEGATION FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN, NGO FORUM 95 HUAIROU, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 2, 1995

Tashi Delek

We are nine Tibetan women living in exile who have come to the Fourth World Conference on Women and the NGO Forum to talk about the situation of Tibetan women living under Chinese occupation.

My name is Tenki Davis and was born in India. I work as a Doctor in the United States. I would like to introduce the members of our delegation.

Beside me is Tsering Doma Gyaltong. She is one of the founders of the Tibetans Women's Association in exile. She was born in Lhasa Tibet and now lives in Canada.

This is Chimi Thonden who is an Education student at Harvard University. Chimi was born in exile in India.

This is Yodoen Thonden, an attorney living in New York, born in the United States.

This is Tenzin Jimpa, who was born in Canada and works there as a nurse.

This is Tsomo Vestre. She was born in India but now lives in Norway where she is a student at the University of Oslo.

This is Dorji Dolma. She was born in western Tibet and now works as international liaison for the Australia Tibet Council.

This is Phunstok Metson. Phunstok was born in Northern India and now lives in the United States where she is an active member of the Tibetan Association of Boston.

This is Kesang Wangmo who was born in Tibet and now lives in Australia where she works in the hospitality industry.

I also want to acknowldege the support of our non-Tibetan colleagues who have travelled to China with us, and who have committed themselves to our struggle.

We are a small fraction of the Tibetan women living in exile who had registered for this conference. Tibetan women from India, Switzerland, Norway, Germany, the USA and the Netherlands were denied Chinese visas for this conference. Others, who had filled the necessary criteria, were discouraged by those denials from even applying.

Nevertheless, we are here and we will discuss our issues.

Since we arrived, we have been constantly harassed by Chinese authorities. We are being followed, taped, and filmed almost from the moment we leave our hotels until the moment we return at night. On Wednesday, Chinese authorities attempted to confiscate the film we were showing on the lives of Tibetan women in Tibet and in exile. Fortunately, with the support of our sisters from many other countries who were in the viewing room, we were able to recover the film out of their hands. Indeed, the support of women from other countries has been as constant as the harassment. And the difficulties which we face do not compare with the difficulties of Tibetan women inside occupied Tibet.

Tibetan women have suffered 44 years of Chinese occupation. These 44 years have seen the destruction of much of our way of life, especially our culture and religion.

Tibetan women are subjected to a systematic campaign which enforces abortions and sterilizations. Population on the high plateau has remained constant for centuries. But now -- because of those who have died as victims of war, torture, forced labour, suicide, famine and those who have been forced to flee, we have a problem of too few Tibetans. Even under China's policy of population transfer, which has resulted in millions of Chinese moving in to Tibet, the population density of Tibet is 1/100 that of Chian. Yet Tibetans are still subjected to the severe family planning program which exists in China. The forced abortions which are being conducted all over occupied Tibet, are a serious threat to the health of Tibetan women who now fear visiting a hospital for any reason at all - thinking that while there they may be forced to undergo a sterilization. We have received the testimonies of newly-arrived refugees who tell us that abortions are being conducted even in the late stages of pregnancy and that whol

e villages of women have been sterilized under threat of loss of basic privileges such as food rations and education opportunities. Additionally, Tibetan women are devoutly Buddhist and believe in reincarnation. Interruption of the life cycle is a violation of not only Tibetan women's reproductive rights but also our religious rights.

These policies are threatening the survival of our culture and our people. Together with the policy of population transfer, they threaten to make Tibetans a minority in our own country.

In the face of these policies, and despite the consequences of protest, Tibetan women have not been silent. Since 1987, there have been 453 documented cases of Tibetan women who have been detained for their political views, many of whom have been the leaders of the their community. Many of these women are nuns, are many nuns feel they have already renounced their ties to family and therefore can sacrifice their lives by demonstrating for an independent Tibet. Amnesty International reports that as of December 1994, there were 182 women prisoners of conscience in Tibet, and a large percentage of female prisoners in china are within the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region. In February and March 1995 alone, 50 nuns were arrested for taking part in independence protests. Many of the women arrested have been subject to brutal torture.

These are some of the issues which we will be raising at this meeting. We are also using the opportunity to listen to the concerns of, and share experiences with, women from other parts of the world. We welcome the participation of our sisters from Chinese-occupied Tibet. While we understand that they are not free to speak freely about the conditions inside occupied Tibet, we hope that they will draw strength from our presence here and the presence of women from around the world.

Thank you. We are happy to answer any questions that you have.