World Tibet Network News Monday, March 16, 1998

Despite Worsening Conditions in Tibet, Clinton Retreats from Rights Forum

WASHINGTON, DC, March 14, 1998 (ICT) - The International Campaign for Tibet and other Tibetan rights organizations condemn the Clinton White House for failing to utilize the principal international human rights forum to support human rights in Tibet.

"The Clinton White House today made a giant step towards de-linking human rights conditions from human rights policy," said John Ackerly, President of the International Campaign for Tibet. "By backing away from yet another mechanism to leverage human rights improvements, the U.S. undermines its credibility with China, abdicates international leadership for human rights and brushes aside the human rights monitoring and reporting of the U.S. Department of State," Ackerly said.

There have been no significant human rights improvements in Tibet in the past year, a fact substantiated by the Department of State's annual human rights report and human rights organizations. Moreover, the Chinese Government has rejected the Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's initiative to start a dialogue between Beijing and the Dalai Lama by rejecting the appointment of a Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues within the State Department.

In addition, the central policy objective of the U.S. Government and a number of other governments, that China agree to a dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives, has made no progress this year. On the contrary, the Chinese government has dramatically stepped up its attacks on the Dalai Lama to undermine his legitimacy and persecute and imprison Tibetans who support him.

While human rights organizations welcome prisoner releases, the International Campaign for Tibet notes that the U.S. has achieved no release of high-profile Tibetan prisoners. ICT also believes that the Clinton Administration vastly over-emphasizes the significance of the periodic expulsion of high-profile prisoners to the West. "It is pathetic that human rights dialogue between the U.S. and China cannot even gain the most basic information on the whereabouts and health status of high-profile Tibetan prisoners, much less their release," Ackerly said. For example, China has divulged no such information about the 8 year-old religious figure, the Panchen Lama, the youngest prisoner of conscience in the world and Ngawang Choephel, a U.S. Fulbright scholar who attended Middlebury College now serving an 18 year sentence for documenting traditional song and dance.

ICT maintains that by backing a resolution in Geneva, the US will preserve its moral position and its political leverage for the upcoming June summit in Beijing.