World Tibet Network News Friday, March 27th, 1998

NEW DELHI, March 26 (AFP) - Tibetan refugees in India Thursday urged the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) to appoint an envoy to investigate alleged rights abuses by China in the Himalayan territory.

The Tibetan Youth Congress also called for the resumption of a debate over what it described as China's brutal occupation of their homeland.

The group, which claims thousands of activists, asked the UNCHR "to appoint a special envoy to facilitate a peaceful settlement of the Tibetan question through a UN supervised plebisite in Tibet."

Six Tibetans launched a fast-onto-death in the Indian capital on March 10 to highlight the campaign.

The Youth Congress letter to the UNCHR said the situation in Tibet has deteriorated despite three UN resolutions since 1950 urging Beijing to respect human rights.

"Ever since Tibet was occupied in 1940, the Tibetan people have been waging a non-violent struggle against the brutal and colonial rule of the Chinese regime."

It said "over 1.2 million Tibetans" had died and "the Tibetan identity is on the verge of extinction."

US Hollywood star Richard Gere Monday visited the six hunger strikers and called on western powers to increase pressure China over Tibet.

Some 100,000 Tibetans came to India in 1959, following the Dalai Lama, their spiritual leader, after an abortive anti-Chinese uprising in their homeland. The Dalai Lama has said he is not seeking independence but greater autonomy.