World Tibet Network News Tuesday, March 17th, 1998

Geneva, 17 March - Yesterday afternoon, President Vaclav Havel expressed his concern on the situation in Tibet while addressing a UN round-table discussion to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Speaking at a pack conference room at the United Nations in Geneva that was chaired by Mr. Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, President Havel said: "For this reason we must not allow the subject of human rights and their consistent enforcement to be quietly relegated to a second-class or third-class status as an inconvenient and politically inexpedient issue. Massive violations of fundamental human rights, which clearly include the right to life, is, in fact, often invoked to explain or defend national or state interests, and is, unfortunately, becoming an everyday reality which, in the past decade, we could watch in almost a live transmission. The genocide in Rwanda, the killing in Chechnya, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the situation in Tibet, North Korea, Burma, Cuba and Kos

ovo-this is but a part of the list of events we have to bear in mind. Backed by the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we

should be able to confront these threats to human life, freedom and dignity, or at least to always clearly identify them."

This round-table discussion was attended by almost all UN related orgnisations and specialised agencies, and delegates from governments and NGOs. Mr. Elie Wiesel and Mrs. Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Mrs. Sadako Ogata, UN High Commissioner for Refugees were other personalities who addressed the conference.

Forwarded by

Tibet Bureau

Geneva, SWITZERLAND