Representative of the Dalai Lama in Europe

ABSTRACT: The representative of the Dalai Lama in Europe talks about China's occupation of Tibet. Before the occupation, the death penalty was not applied in Tibet, since one of the fundamental principles of the Buddhist religion is the respect for every form of life. 1,2 million Tibetans have been killed for non-natural causes, including executions. "Almost all activities judged counter-revolutionary against China are punished with the death penalty". The Dalai Lama has declared that the death penalty will be scrapped from the new Constitution and penal code of the future Tibet.

("HANDS OFF CAIN", 1 February 1994)

I am the representative of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, both in Central and Southern Europe and to the United Nations and the European Union.

Before Tibet was occupied by the People's Republic of China, our state had not applied the death penalty for a century. One of the fundamental principles of the Buddhist religion is the respect for every form of life: taking someone's life is considered a terrible sin, in all religions. Since China occupied Tibet the situation has changed completely. The population of Tibet is a mere 6 million; of these, 1,2 million have died for non-natural causes, including executions. Almost all activities judged counter-revolutionary against China are punished with death.

Prisoners are normally shot, and there are many cases in which the execution is carried out publicly, to intimidate the population. There have been cases in which the executed person's family has had to pay for the bullets, because the executions imply a cost for the state.

The Chinese authorities occupied Tibet with millions of Chinese, reducing Tibetans to a minority. Tibetans are kept out of the social, political and economic life, and this obviously generates strong tension.

The transfer of the population is an official policy adopted by China against us. In May this year, near Chengdu, a secret meeting was held in which the government confirmed that the Tibetan resistance movement against the Chinese is growing. To prevent Tibetans from opposing the Chinese dominion, they have decided to step up their settlement in China. It is a very bad policy because it is leading to the decimation of the Tibetans and the destruction of our population and culture.

We are currently re-writing the Constitution and the new penal code of Tibet; the Dalai Lama was very clear when he said that they will not include the death penalty.