Human rights - B4-0511, 0537 and 0538/98

Resolution on Tibet

The European Parliament,

- having regard to its earlier resolutions on the People's Republic of China and Tibet,

A. whereas six Tibetan activists, Dawa Gyalpo, Dawa Tsering, Karma Sichoe, Palzom, Yndung Tsering and Kunsang, went on hunger strike in New Delhi on the 39th anniversary of the Tibetan insurrection against the Chinese, and, on the 49th day of the strike, the Indian police decided to detain the six pursuant to a law forbidding suicide,

B. deeply shocked by the fact that, when the police intervened, Thunpten Ngodup, an elderly Tibetan who had been looking after the strikers from the start, set fire to himself as a sign of protest and later died in a New Delhi hospital,

C. having regard to the six hunger strikers' calls to the United Nations for:

(a) the resumption of talks on Tibet on the basis of the UN resolutions of 1959, 1961 and 1965;

(b) the appointment of a special rapporteur to investigate the situation in Tibet and an envoy to promote action aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the Tibetan problem; and

(c) China to promote a referendum under UN auspices in order to ascertain the wishes of the Tibetan people;

D. noting that five other Tibetans have embarked on a hunger strike unto death,

E. whereas such actions reflect the desperation felt by the Tibetan people after forty years of Chinese occupation,

F. noting the visit which the troika of EU ambassadors to China made to Tibet between 1 and 10 May 1998, as part of the EU-China dialogue on human rights, with the aim of collecting information on the social, economic and political situation in Tibet,

1. Calls on the Council and Commission, within the scope of their respective powers, to take steps to ensure the appointment of a special UN rapporteur on Tibet;

2. Calls on the Member States to take steps to ensure that the question of Tibet is included without delay on the agenda for the next session of the UN General Assembly;

3. Endorses the request made to the United Nations Secretary-General by 1 300 members of parliament from around the world that he meet the Dalai Lama as a first step in a UN-sponsored process of mediation between the Chinese Government and the Tibetan Government in exile;

4. Calls on the Chinese Government to open political negotiations with the Dalai Lama about the future of Tibet;

5. Deplores the Council's and Commission's failure to take action on Parliament's call for the appointment of an EU special representative for Tibet in its resolution of 15 January 1998(1) , and calls on the Council to make that appointment without further delay;

6. Considers that the steps taken by the European Union to secure the release of the Panchen Lama, an eight-year old Tibetan currently held in a secret place by the authorities of the People's Republic of China, are insufficient;

7. Calls on the Council to report to the European Parliament on the EU troika's visit to Tibet at the earliest opportunity;

8. Asks its Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China to raise the Tibet issue on the occasion of the next delegation visit in June 1998;

9. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States, the United Nations Secretary-General, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Tibetan Government in exile.