Published by World Tibet Network News - Monday, December 04, 1995

OTTAWA CONFERENCE TO STUDY EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC LIBERALIZATION IN TIBET

Montreal: December 4, 1995 (CTC) - A national conference entitled "Human Rights and Economic Development" will study the effects of economic liberalization and increasing globalization on the human rights of Tibetan people.

The conference, which will take place December 6 at the Citadel Inn - Ottawa, will commemorate International Human Rights Day and focus on four case studies: Tibet, Vietnam, China and Burma.

Keynote speaker is the Hon. Edward Broadbent, President of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. Mr. Broadbent, who has just returned from the APEC summit in Osaka, is expected to introduce a debate on the inclusion of the social clause in the World Trade Organization (WTO) charter.

The conference will be attended by Members of Parliament, NGO representatives and interested individuals.

Canada Tibet Committee member, Ms. Tenzin Jimpa, will speak on the negative effects China's economic reform policies have had on the lives of Tibetan people living inside Tibet.

"The Chinese government has launched an aggressive campaign to encourage foreign investment and industrial development inside Tibet" says Jimpa. "This is encouraging the population transfer of Chinese citizens into Tibet and actually increasing the levels of human rights abuse."

Other speakers include:

Mr. Vo Van Ai, Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (France)

Mrs. Penny Sanger, Canadian Friends of Burma (Ottawa)

Mr. Michael To, Federation for a Democratic China (Ottawa)

For more information: Carole Samdup