For Immediate Release

Contact: Glen Kelley, Special Assistant Rinchen Dharlo, Representative of H. H. the Dalai Lama

Tibetans Demonstrate for Two Days Before United Nations

European Union Statement in the UN Mentions Human Rights in Tibet

New York, September 25, 1996 - Six organizations in support of political and human rights for Tibetans demonstrated before the United Nations on September 24 and 25.

During President Clinton's speech to the UN on the 24th, Tibetan demonstrators performed a Tibetan Buddhist ceremony to purify the negativities of the Chinese leaders, who have caused so much suffering to the Tibetan people. President Clinton was called upon to raise his voice against Chinese human rights abuses in Tibet, and against the continuing detention of the 7-year old Panchen Lama, the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism.

On the 25th, demonstrators chanted slogans and waved placards as the Chinese Foreign Minister entered the UN. During his speech, a member of the Taiwanese Democratic Progressive Party central Standing Committee, Liu Shyh-Fang, expressed hope that Tibet will soon regain its independence and religious and political freedom.

Tibet has been under Chinese occupation since the Chinese Communist army invaded in 1949. 1.2 million of the 6 million Tibetans have died, mainly due to starvation and execution.

On the 24th the European Union delivered its address to the new session of the UN General Assembly. The written statement expressed concern about the human rights situation in Tibet, "in particular the treatment of political dissidents and the fate of the Panchen Lama". The statement called upon China to address these abuses by implementing "international covenants on civil and political rights".

The demonstrators carried empty picture frames, in solidarity with Tibetans in Tibet suffering under a ban on photos of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Chinese government of Tibet has imposed this ban, in a campaign to discredit the Dalai Lama, the religious and temporal leader of the Tibetan people. Chinese soldiers have carried out house-to-house searches, and several times have attacked unarmed monks opposing the ban.

Diana Takata, National Director of the 280-campus strong Students for a Free Tibet, expressed her concern over Tibetan children denied adequate education in Tibet.

Mrs. Tsering Dolma Gyaltong, Chair of the Tibetan Women's Association, called upon the United Nations to stop the Chinese government's program of forced abortion and sterilization of Tibetan women.

Over the two days, reporters were present from CNN, Voice of America, Bloomberg Financial Network, New York One, Chinese Television Network, and others.