World Tibet Network News Friday, February 20, 1998

Tibet Bureau - Geneva

Geneva, 20 February - Yesterday night, the 100-member Grand Conseil, the legislative body of Geneva State, unanimously adopted Resolution 353 entitled, "Un geste de reconnaissance pour le Tibet (An Act of Recognition to Tibet)" calling Federal Swiss authorities to accord diplomatic status to the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.

The resolution sponsored by members representing all the political parties criticised China for systematically denying human rights and fundamental freedom to the Tibetan people. It expressed the concern that China's policies of population transfer of Chinese settlers into Tibetan territory constituted linguistic, religious and cultural genocide. The resolution deposited on 5 December 1997, also noted the fact that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Panchen Lama, was the world's youngest political prisoner who is being detained by the Chinese authorities.

Recognising that for many centuries the Tibetan people independently governed their own affairs, the resolution maintain that the Government of Tibet-in-Exile established in Dharamsala, is a continuation of the state authority that existed Tibet since 1911. In the operative paragraphs, the resolution made four demands to the Government of Geneva State:

i) To officially receive His Holiness the Dalai Lama or a delegation of the Government of Tibet-in-Exile, during their next visit to Geneva.

ii) To Recommend to the Federal authorities to give diplomatic status to Government of Tibet in-Exile.

iii) To open economic and cultural exchanges with the Government of Tibet-in-Exile,

iv) To give material support the representative of the Government of Tibet-in-Exile in Geneva.

This resolution introduced by supporters of the Tibet in the Grand Conseil after the successful adoption of a similar resolution in the Geneva City Council on 12 November, 1997.

The Grand Conseil members who sponsored the resolution were: Regis de Battista, Rene Longet, Alain Vaissade, Caroline Dalleves Romaneschi, Luc Gilly, Erica Deuber-Pauli, Bernard Lescaze, Marie-Francoise de Tassigny, Armand Lombard, Janine Berberat, Pierre Marti and Marie-Therese Engelberts.