Legal Materials on Tibet, Third Edition

Tibet Justice Center's Legal Materials is a one-stop resource for legal materials on Tibet. This compilation of legal documents includes United Nations resolutions and reports; important laws, treaties, statements, and papers from Tibet and China; laws, resolutions, and memoranda of other countries; and reports from non-governmental organizations. We also include a new Key Documents Collection of the most notable of these materials.


TABLE OF CONTENTS


Numbers in brackets (e.g. [p.1]) indicate page in print version.



Key Documents Collection

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United Nations

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Tibet

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China

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United States

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Great Britain/United Kingdom

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Australia

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European Parliament

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Germany

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Other Governmental Bodies

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Governmental & Nongovernmental Organizations

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Treaties & Conventions Relating to Tibet

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Acknowledgments

Bernie Assaly, Erica Bley, Hadley Brown, Sevilla Claydon, Kara Frame, Paul Fredrick, Richard Harrington, Eva Herzer, Theresa Lea, Rachel Lostumbo, John Maier, Janice Mantell, Kim Morris, Lynn Myers, Robert Rosoff, Tseten Samdup, Christine Schneider, Phintso Thonden, Threshold Foundation, Meagan Tucker, Beth Winters, Julia Zinsmeister

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PREFACE

April 1994

This compilation is intended as a reference for those investigating contemporary Tibetan issues. Included are legal documents derived through judicial and legislative process. Also included are selected universal international instruments with particular relevance to the situation in Tibet.

The amount of information available on Tibet has swelled in recent years, especially since 1987 when outside observers to demonstrations in Lhasa sparked a revival of interest in the situation. Every attempt has been made to include all relevant legal documents on Tibet, but omissions are inevitable. The ready availability of documents from the USA may have given that country an unintended emphasis. The editors welcome contributions from other countries for future updates and editions.

Certain editorial decisions were necessary to keep the compilation to a reasonable size. Testimony from governmental hearings on Tibet were not included, nor are the numerous oral and written interventions on Tibet made by governmental and non-governmental organizations to various United Nations bodies. However, the primary concerns of non-governmental organizations can be found in the Secretary General's lengthy 1992 Report on the Situation in Tibet which is included.

The compilation represents a two-year effort inspired and initiated by Paul Fredrick and Kim Morris and developed through the efforts of volunteers and staff of Tibet Justice Center. Historical documents from the appendices of Michael van Walt van Praag's book, The Status of Tibet: History, Rights, and Prospects in International Law (Westview Press: Boulder 1987) are included with permission of the author.

Volunteers input and retrieved data electronically by means of scanners, computer databases, and by hand. Aside from formatting changes, the source documents remained unaltered. The lone exception is the Tibetan Charter. Phutsok Thonden, a Tibetan living in New York City, edited the Tibetan Government-in-Exile's unofficial English translation of this document in an effort to improve the accuracy of the translation.


PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

May 1997

Since Tibet Justice Center first published Legal Materials On Tibet, in April 1994, efforts on behalf of the Tibetan people have expanded considerably. As a result, governments and intergovernmental bodies have produced nearly twice as many resolutions and documents concerning Tibet over the past two and a half years than during the previous forty-four year period since the People's Republic of China's invaded Tibet in 1950. This second edition bears witness to the resulting achievements.

We hope that concerned individuals will use this compact reference manual both for its content and as inspiration for the hard work that is still ahead.

Tibet Justice Center thanks its intern, Julia Zinsmeister, for her diligent efforts in compiling this second edition.

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