As usual, the "TIBET-CHINA Fax" offers a collection of official texts and documents approved by Parliaments and international organizations. In this edition, we are publishing the text of the Tibet Resolution, which was approved by the Italian Chamber of Deputies' Commission on Foreign Affairs. The first to sign the resolution the Lega Nord Deputy, Calzavara. The approved text is based on the document which the Radial Party submitted about one year ago to the Italian Parliament. It ought to be pointed out that the Chairman of the Commission, Achille OCCHETTO, worked hard to speed up discussions and the vote, thus preventing other texts from being submitted.

ITALY/THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES' COMMISSION OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

RESOLUTION ON TIBET (unanimously approved on April 15, 1998)

The III Commission, considering that :

- in occupied Tibet, severe repression which takes the form of genocide, not only in cultural matters but is also seen to be systematic and practised via a massive influx of people from the People's Republic of China, with a view to wiping out the Tibetan population through dissolution;

- tens of thousands of political prisoners are held in the People's Republic of China's infamous "laogai", in which the conditions of detention are truly inhuman;

- the Dalai Lama, the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize-winner and spiritual and political head of the Tibetan people, has with non-violent and Gandhian firmness steadfastly continued to call for dialogue and negotiations with the government in Beijing, with these to be held under the auspices of the United Nations and its Secretary General in order to bring about real autonomy for Tibet;

- the United Nation's General Assembly has repeatedly confronted the tragedy in its resolution No. 1353 (XIV 1995), in which human rights violations in Tibet and the invasion and occupation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China are clearly denounced;

- the resolutions on the situation in Tibet have recently been approved by the German Bundestag, the Chamber of Deputies and the Luxembourg Parliament;

calls on the Government :

- to act in order to ensure that a meeting between the Dalai Lama and the representatives of the Government of the People's Republic of China is organized as rapidly as possible, with a view to reaching possible agreement and with this agreement also guaranteeing the return of people in exile;

- to assist in and provide support for possible preliminary meetings to allow a resumption of the dialogue between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese Government;

- to deploy all possible political and diplomatic efforts to promote initiatives within the international agencies, more especially the Council of Europe and the United Nations, in favour of human rights in the People's Republic of China and, more particularly, for the immediate release of political prisoners in Tibet, eastern Turkistan and in Inner Mongolia and the closure of the "laogai".

The initial signatories : Calvazara, Leccese, Oreste Rossi, Rodeghiero

(Published by FREEDOM FOR TIBET/DEMOCRACY IN CHINA ! - Number 69 - 6 May, 1998)