Published by: World Tibet Network News Saturday, February 17, 1996

Seattle, Sat. February, 17, 1996 -- On Thursday, February 15, the above U.S. Government's statement was read by Ambassador Victor Marrero in support of the application for accreditation by the Tibetan Rights Campaign which was delivered at the Plenary meeting of PrepCom III for Habitat II on February 15, 1996 in New York.

Background:

Tibetan Rights Campaign-Seattle and Canada Tibet Committee-Montreal were the only two Tibetan NGOs that applied for accreditation to the Habitat II Conference to be held in Istanbul from June 3 - 14, 1996.

As the statement refers, TRC was initially recommended for accreditation and invited to participate at the final PrepCom III which ends Friday, February 16, 1996. In fact, TRC executive director, Kunzang Yuthok, registered at the official PrepCom under TRC.

In the first week of the PrepCom, the Conference Secretariat responding to pressure from the Chinese delegation, re-evaluated the TRC and removed its recommendation to the negative list.

In the dialogue that ensued between the U.S. and Chinese delegates, the U.S. also stated that they felt that the TRC should have been accredited to the UN Fourth World Conference on Women that was recently held in Beijing. The Canadian delegate objected to the 'politicization' of accreditation.

The Plenary was convened for approximately 40 minutes and the TRC accreditation was discussed for about 30 minutes.

According to reports received on Friday, the accreditation issue was not resolved by the end of the PrepCom. It is expected to be referred to another UN body. Confirmation of this action is expected by Tuesday, February 20, 1996.

Kunzang Yuthok

Tibetan Rights Campaign

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Tel: (206) 547-1015

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