Human
Rights Fair 2000
Thursday, February 10, 2000
Breeze Article
Jeff Lupardo - SFT
written for the human rights fair:
In china, they are
called "Lao-gai", the forced labor camps. The camps in
Tibet have room for over a million people, so welcome to Tibet.
Here we offer you a beautiful mountain scenery on the top of the
world and some scraps of an ancient culture in the midst of
extermination. But if you come to Tibet you will not meet the
people who can tell the real story of their country, because they
are all in prison.
The Chinese government has now inhabited Tibet for some fifty years. Throughout these years the entire social and religious aspects of the Tibetan people have been nearly exterminated. Chinese persecution of these passive people is shown in many forms, including freedom of speech, expression and most importantly freedom of religion. Tibetan religion is an inseparable part of Tibetan society. Religion is influential in every aspect of Tibetan life. Unfortunately, freedom to practice their religion has been denounced. One instance of such overt religious persecution involves the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism, the Panchen Lama. The late Panchen Lama died under "strange circumstances" only a few days after he had openly criticized the Chinese regime. His recently declared reincarnation, Goedem Choekey is the world's youngest political prisoner. He was kidnapped by Chinese authorities in 1996, then only 6 years old. Since then nobody, not even the United Nations Commission of Children's Rights, as been informed of his location or been allowed to see him.
Human rights violations enforced by the People's Republic of China remain systematic and widespread. The Chinese government continues to suppress dissenting opinions and maintains political control over the legal system, resulting in an arbitrary and often abusive judicial regime. The lack of accountability of the government and the Chinese Communist Party means that abuses by officials often go unchecked. The People's Republic of China's1982 constitution guarantees freedom of expression, however its preamble mandates adherence to "four basic principles"- the Chinese Communist Party leadership, socialism, dictatorship of the proletariat and Marxism-Leninism Mao Zedong Thought. This enables the Chinese government to have a wide range of controls over what the people are truly free to express. As far as the suppression of religious freedom, the People's Republic of China prohibits all religious activities outside the religions officially registered with the government. These four religions are Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Islam. Unfortunately, Tibetans worshipping the Dalai Lama are not in adherence to Chinese law. Those worshipping without governmental authorization are detained, placed under closed police surveillance or internal exile, fined and in some cases tortured or executed. The People's Republic of China has confiscated religious literature and church property as well as destroyed countless monasteries.
After such citizens in violation of Chinese law are arrested they now encounter the issue of torture and ill treatment within prisons. Torture of detained Tibetans is endemic in Chinese detention centers and labor camps. Despite strong evidence of torture in several cases of death in custody, stare prosecutors have refused to release autopsy results to families or the initiate investigations. In may detention centers, beatings, inadequate food and poor hygiene appear to be a routine part of the process of eliciting confessions and compliance. According to prisoner reports, methods commonly used by guards include: beatings using electric batons; long periods in hand cuffs or leg irons, often tightened to cause pain; restriction of food to starvation levels and long periods of solitary confinement. Furthermore, corrupt authorities at detention centers, prisons and labor camps have extorted large sums of money from families of detainees for the state's provision of "daily supplies" and "medical expenses".
Jeff Lupardo
