World Tibet Network News Saturday, May 16, 1998

Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) is temporarily halting our Hunger Strike Unto Death in response to promises of vigorous support from the Governments of Poland, USA, Hungary, the European Union and most specifically from Norway and Costa Rica promising to take up the issue of Tibet at the forth coming bilateral talks with China and at multi lateral fora. Costa Rica and Norway's courageous response to the Tibetan Youth Congress(TYC) comes as a beacon of hope to the oppressed people everywhere. We have also received similar assurances of supports from many parliamentarians such as from Australia, European Union, Lithuania, India, Canada and US congressmen. We appreciate the gesture of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and United Nations high Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson in writing to us to express their concern. Even though it did not touch the core issue ofour three demands, UN has at least started showing concern for the Tibetan issue after three decades. We hope this gesture will finally result

into an active UN participation in solving the Tibetan issue to the satisfaction of the people of Tibet. We are also told that the US President Bill Clinton will raise the issue of Tibet during his summit with Jiang Zemin in Beijing in June.

By halting the Hunger Strike Unto Death for the time being we are giving enough time inforging a concrete step ahead in solving the Tibetan issue through peaceful means. US Secretary of State Albright who was recently in Beijing to pave the way for President Clinton's visit raised the issue of Tibet at length with Jiang Zemin. We feel that this is an important first step. We are also encouraged by the fact that the US Secretary of State had given high prominence to the issue of Tibet in her latest discussion with the Chinese leaders in Beijing. We understand that the issue of Tibet would be high onthe agenda of the US President's forthcoming State visit to China in June. We are advised by many friends that it would be proper to give some time to the new leadership in Beijing. We are prepared to consider this suggestion too. The Central Executive Committee of the TYC, therefore, decides to halt the Hunger Strike Unto Death movement to let the international support we have managed to receive so far to concert

ize. This has been the advise of the Tibetan Government in Exile too. In fact it seems that Indian Government made it next to impossible for the exile government to function. The TYC activists have undertaken a Hunger Strike Unto Death since 10 March, the 39th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day againstthe Communist Chinese occupation in 1959, to demand that the United Nations implement the three recommendations made by the International Commission of Jurist (ICJ), which in December 1997 published a report blasting China'shuman rights abuses in occupied Tibet. The ICJ report recommended to the world body that it resume debate on the question of Tibet, appoint a Special Rapporteur to investigate the Human Rights situation in occupied Tibet, and appoint a Special Envoy to promote a peaceful settlement of the question of Tibet and a UN supervised plebiscite in Tibet. We call upon all countries, which believes in human freedom and individual liberty, to support the demands of the TYC and pressure th

e United Nations to act on them. It is high time the international community let the Chinese occupiers of Tibet know that they cannot continue to trample on the freedom and rights of the Tibetan people without paying a huge price in international condemnation and universal outrage.

The Tibetan Youth Congress(TYC) is indebted to many organizations and individuals that have taken initiatives to get the United Nations to give us a positive response. We are grateful to Richard Gere, ICJ Secretary General Adama Dieng, Wei Jingsheng, Congressman Benjamin Gilman, Count Otto Lambsdorff of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Nobel Laureate Jose Ramos Horta, and many other prominent personalities, parliamentarians and friends for their genuine support and concern for the TYC hunger strikers. We would also like to thank the media for its interest and objective coverage of our movement. The visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama once at the site of Hunger Strike and another time at the hospital have boosted our moral. We look forward to continuous encouragement from His Holiness in the coming days as well. Tens of thousands of our international friends have expressed support and undertaken activities in support of our demands. Similarly, Tibetans in occupied Tibet and the free world have supported the

demands of the hunger strikers. The support we have received from underground organization and well wishers from occupied Tibet gave us additional courage to fight in future. This has been a moral booster to the Tibetan youth. The Australian Senate passed a resolution supporting the just demands of the six hunger strikers. European Union Parliament has also passed a resolution in support of the TYC Hunger Strikers. The issue of the hunger Strikers were also raised in the 54th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights and in the British, Swedish, Norwegian and Luxembourg parliaments. Many Chinese scholars and intellectuals have also expressed their solidarity with our movement. We are moved by the overwhelming support of the Indian people, many of whom have undertaken sit in protests and fasts in support of the TYC's hunger strike unto death. All of this shows that problem of Tibet has attracted concerns from different international quarters requiring an international solution.

We once again reiterate that we have broken the fast to give time for the international support to concertize and which we hope will logically lead to the United Nations acting on our demands. If this does not happen, we will resume our movement. Following the disruption by Delhi police of the first round of our untodeath hunger strike participated by Dawa Gyalpo, Karma Sichoe, Yungdung Tsering, Kunsang and Mrs Palzom and the death of Thupten Ngodup after he set himself ablaze, five more TYC activists namely Phuntsok Semsang, Tsering Gonkyap, Kalden Norbu, Tsering Dorjee and Ven. Jampa Kelsang have sat on to replace the first batch. This is their 18th day of fast. The martyrdom of Thupten Ngodup indicates that people of Tibet can sacrifice their life for the cause of Tibet and indicates that this is an on-going movement. We have scores of volunteers who have pledged to sacrifice even their precious lives. If our three demands are not fulfilled, we will resume our movement till our demands are met. We will se

t up a memorial stupa in honor of martyr Thupten Ngodup at Dharamsala and institute an award in honor of his sacrifice and dedicated to those who have attained martyrdom in Tibet.

The reasons why we took this desperate measure is because for years His Holiness the Dalai Lama has called on China to come to the negotiating table to settle the issue of Tibet peacefully and for the mutual benefit of China and Tibet. Till now there has been no positive response from the Chinese side. Even though there is widespread international sympathy for the cause of the Tibetan people, we were not able to achieve any substantial and tangible political result. At the same time because of the increasingly harsh Chinese policies in Tibet, the conditions there are rapidly deteriorating to the extent that we feel that the very survival of Tibet, as a nation, people and civilization, is at stake. We must make it clear to the world that the death of 1.2 million Tibetans as a direct result of China's occupation of Tibet and the recent supreme sacrifice made by Thubten Ngodup demonstrates the determination of the Tibetan people that we will continue our fight to the last drop of our blood till freedom and dign

ity is restored to the people of Tibet.

LONG LIVE TIBET ! LONG LIVE HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA!

Tseten Norbu President Dharamsala and New Delhi on May 15, 1998