Published by: World Tibet Network News Monday, December 22, 1997

December 22, 1997

Today, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) recommended that China allow a United Nations-supervised referendum in Tibet to determine the future of the region which it invaded in 1950 and occupied since.

In a 365-page report, "Tibet: Human Rights and the Rule of Law", the ICJ describes the Tibetans as a "people under alien subjugation," entitled under international law to the right of self determination. The jurists found that the autonomy which China claims Tibetans enjoy is "fictitious," as real power is in effect in Chinese hands.

The report documents an escalation of Chinese repression in Tibet since the beginning of 1996. The situation is highlighted by an intensive political re-education drive in the monasteries. In November 1997, communist party leaders declared "total war" on the Dalai Lama and indicated that the re-education campaign would be extended to schools and villages.

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the eight year old boy designated by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second-most important figure in Tibet's Buddhist hierarchy, remains in detention. The use of torture is widespread. At the same time, Chinese leaders have begun a campaign against certain aspects of traditional Tibetan culture identified as both "obstacles to development" and "links to Tibetan nationalism."

Such abuses flow from the denial of the Tibetan people's right to control their own destiny. According to ICJ Secretary-General Adama Dieng, "It is to maintain its alien and unpopular rule that China has sought to suppress Tibetan nationalist dissent and extinguish Tibetan culture. It is to colonise unwilling subjects that China has encouraged and facilitated the mass movement of ethnic Chinese populations into Tibet, where they dominate the region's politics, security, as well as economy."

According to the ICJ's Reed Brody, those eligible to vote in a referendum would be Tibetans and other persons resident in Tibet before 1950 and their descendants, as well as Tibetan refugees and their descendants. The referendum should take place in the areas in which Tibetans historically constituted a majority and among the exile community and could lead to the restoration of an independent Tibetan State, a form of genuine internal self-government, continuation of Tibet's current status within China, or any other status freely determined by the Tibetan people.

In 1959, 1960 and 1964, the ICJ reported on widespread abuses in Tibet. Each time, the UN General Assembly called on China to respect the Tibetans' rights, including their distinctive cultural and religious life. The latest report examines the multiple threats to the Tibetan identity and culture through the transfer of Han Chinese to Tibet, assaults on the Tibetan language and cultural heritage, and the degradation of the Tibetan environment.

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The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), headquartered in Geneva, is a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the OAU. Founded in 1952, its task is to defend the Rule of Law throughout the world and to work towards the full observance of the provisions in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It has a maximum of 45 jurists from around the globe and is composed of 80 national sections and affiliated organizations.

For information on obtaining the full report, contact Nicolas Bovay of the ICJ at , 81 A av de Chbtelaine, P.O. Box 216 Geneva Switzerland Tel (41 22) 979 38 00 Fax (41 22) 979 38 01