Tibet,
the United Nations and Human Rights
By Tenzin Bhagen-Tsang
The Universal Declaration of Human
Rights was signed and ratified just two years before Tibet was
invaded. Having grown up in Tibet under Chinese rule, I did not
even know that this document existed until I left the country in
1987. I saw it for the first time when I was 23 years old. Later,
I learned that Tibet has a long history of interaction with the
United Nations, who penned the Declaration fifty years ago.
Before 1950, people thought of Tibet as an isolated country
somewhere in the Himalayan Mountains. In reality, this
"remote" country was not unknown to the world and in
fact had relations with Great Britain, India, China, Outer
Mongolia and all other neighboring countries.
When China invaded Tibet in 1950, the Dalai Lama appealed to the
newly formed United Nations to protect Tibet's safety.
Unfortunately, because Tibet was not a member-state of the UN,
nothing was done. Since that time, we Tibetans have been denied
many of our human rights: we have no freedom of religion,
association, movement or education; we are subject to arbitrary
arrest and torture; Tibetan women are subjected to forced
abortions and sterilization; our natural resources have been
exploited; and, due to the population transfer of ethnic Han
Chinese into Tibet, we have become a minority in our own land.
Annually, on March 10th (Tibetan National Uprising Day) and
December 10th (International Human Rights Day), Tibetans around
the world gather to demonstrate before the UN and demand justice.
Inside Tibet, where it is illegal to gather, people still raise
their bare hands and demonstrate for freedom in the face of
teargas and torture. They give their lives up for their country
and entrust their hopes to the world community.
Nonviolence, which is the fundamental instrument that the Tibetan
people are using to gain their freedom, requires the support of
the world community in order for it to be effective in combating
injustice. This path is not only beneficial toward regaining
freedom for the Tibetan people and ensuring our cultural
survival, but also for sustaining the civility of humanity. The
fundamental challenge that Tibet is putting to the United Nations
is one of preservation -- not only of human rights, or of Tibet's
political future Ð but also of the viability of nonviolence as a
form of conflict resolution in the next century.
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Tibet and the UN: Timeline
1948 --
Signing of Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1949 -- China's
People's Liberation Army (PLA) invades Tibet
1950 -- Dalai Lama
appeals to the UN for help
1959 -- first UN
resolution passed on Tibet, formally voicing the United Nations'
"grave concern at the continued violation of the fundamental
rights and freedoms of Tibetans" and calling for
"respect of the fundamental human rights of the Tibetan
people and for their distinctive cultural and religious
life."
1961 -- Second UN
resolution passed on Tibet.
1965 -- Third UN
resolution passed on Tibet.
1972 -- The People's
Republic of China (PRC), which had been diplomatically isolated
for decades because of the cold war, is formally welcomed into
the UN and soon after becomes a Security Council member, giving
them the power to veto any resolution on Tibet before it comes to
a vote.
1992 -- the
Secretary-General of the United Nations releases a report on the
human rights situation in Tibet.
1995 -- six Tibetans
conduct a 13-day hunger strike in front of the UN headquarters in
New York.
1998 -- Six Tibetans
undertake a hunger strike until death in New Delhi, India, hoping
that the UN will respond to their three demands:
1) The UN must reopen discussions as to the status of Tibet, as per the UN resolutions of 1959, 1961 and 1965.
2) The UN must send an independent human rights monitor into Tibet to report on the true situation there.
3) The UN must conduct a plebiscite of Tibetans in order to ascertain their wishes for the future of Tibet and guarantee self-determination.
After 47 days of fasting the
Indian police intervene, and Thubten Ngodup, a
fifty-three-year-old Tibetan man, sets himself on fire in
protest. Although Thubten Ngodup's death is a tragedy, the hunger
strike ends in victory, as the governments of Poland, the United
States, Hungary, the European Union, Norway and Costa Rica
promise that they will discuss the Tibet issue with China and
bring it up at the UN this year.
1998 -- Mary
Robinson, the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, visits Tibet.
While there, she raises specific human rights issues with the
Chinese authorities and hands out excerpts of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights translated into Tibetan. For many
Tibetans, it is the first time they've seen the Declaration.
1998 -- China,
feeling international pressure, signs the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.