Published by: World Tibet Network News, Thursday, May 16, 1996

From: tcrc@dsala.tibetnet.ernet.in (tcrc)

COPENHAGEN, May 14: Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, yesterday denounced what he called China's increased repression and political persecution in Tibet, saying it had reached a new peak, reports PTI.

Speaking to some 200 Danish politicians and experts gathered in Parliament here, the Dalai Lama said that the "observance of human rights has, sadly, not imported" in Tibet, which has been under Chinese rule since 1950. "On the contrary, the Chinese government has intensified repression," he told his audience gathered here for a one day seminar on Tibet.

He added that since martial law was lifted in May 1990, "repression have continued in Tibet and have lately reached a new peak."

Such abuses are aimed at Tibetans as a people asserting their own identity and their wish to preserve it. Thus human rights violations in Tibet are often the result of institutionalised racial and cultural discrimination," the 600-yr old leader said.

"If the human rights situation in Tibet is to be imported, the issue of Tibet should be addressed on its own merits. It should be seen as distinct from the over all situation in China," he noted.