Published by: World Tibet Network News, Monday, May 6, 1996

Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 2158 gmt 3 May 96

Text of report by Xinhua news agency

United Nations, 3rd May: The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) today rejected the accreditation of the "Tibetan Rights Campaign" to the forthcoming second UN Conference on Human Settlement (Habitat II) by a vote of 21 to 15, with 16 abstentions.

Speaking at the meeting, Chinese Deputy Representative to the UN Wang Xuexian criticized the United States for taking up the settled issue " out of its own political purposes" .

The so-called "Tibetan Rights Campaign" , Wang noted, "is an organization based on the territory of the United States that takes splitting Tibet from China as its primary objective."

It was precisely for the reason that the ECOSOC last year rejected accreditation of this organization for participation in activities related to the Fourth World Women's Conference in Beijing in 1995.

He said that the ECOSOC decision "is based on the fundamental principle that no organization whose objective is to sabotage the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states of the UN should be allowed to be involved in activities related to the UN."

Moreover, Wang pointed out, the Habitat II Secretariat has stated that it is not in a position to recommend accreditation of this organization because the primary purpose of this organization "was either not clearly relevant or seemed to be outside the substantive scope of the conference" .