European Parliament
European Parliament Resolution on Human Rights in Tibet (1997) [p.313]
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
STRASBOURG, 14 MARCH 1997
Resolution on human rights in Tibet
The European Parliament
- recalling its previous resolutions on Tibet,
A. whereas the Chinese authorities continue their repression in occupied Tibet,
B. whereas His Holiness the Dalai Lama proposes to start negotiations on the future of Tibet between the Chinese Government and the Tibetan Government in exile, notably on autonomy and self government for the Tibetan people,
C. whereas the three UN General Assembly resolutions passed in 1959, 1961 and 1965 acknowledged Tibet's right to self determination,
1. Reiterates its condemnation of the continuing human rights violations by the Chinese authorities in Tibet;
2. Supports the Dalai Lama's proposal on negotiations on the future of Tibet and invites the Chinese Government to react in an official and positive way to this proposal;
3. Asks the Council, the Member States and the Commission to do everything possible in the framework of the relations between the Union and the Republic of China and the United Nations in order to bring the two sides together with a view to reaching an agreement which satisfies the legitimate requests of the Tibetan people;
4. Calls on the governments of the Member States to have the question of Tibet's occupation and decolonization placed on the agenda of the UN General Assembly;
5. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States, the Government of the People's Republic of China, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Government in exile and the United Nations.
DECLARATION OF MR. OLIVIER DUPUIS., SECRETARY OF THE TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY AND MEP.
SINO-TIBETAN NEGOTIATIONS: BEATEN THE DEFEATIST LINE OF MR. COLAJANNI (ESP-PSD) AND MR COLON Y NAVAL (ESP-PSOE) THE FILO-CHINESE COMMUNIST REGIME DEPUTIES.. WITH THE INITIATIVE OF THE RADICAL ALLIANCE, EPP, LIBERALS AND GREENS, THE HISTORICAL TRUTH OF HH THE DALAI LAMA'S PROPOSAL OF DIALOGUE WITHOUT PRECONDITIONS IS REAFFIRMED.
DECLARATION OF MR. OLIVIER DUPUIS, SECRETARY OF THE TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY AND MEP.
Strasbourg, March 14, 1997
The European Parliament has reversed the resolution presented by the Socialists, Mr. COLAJANNI and COLON Y NAVAL. The Socialists with this resolution, which obstructed and fiercely opposed the initiatives in favor of the solution of the tragic Tibetan question, wanted to reduce the Tibetan issue to a mere request of religious and cultural autonomy.
On the contrary, in the adopted resolution it is confirmed the position of the Tibetan government in exile recently restated by the Dalai Lama himself in Strasbourg at the European Parliament. This position proposes the opening of negotiations without preconditions asking full autonomy for Tibet on everything but defense and international affairs.
In the resolution adopted last night in Strasbourg, the European Parliament asks the UN to put the Tibetan issue in the agenda of the decolonization committee.
As regards this grave episode, Mr. Olivier DUPUIS, General Secretary of the Transnational Radical Party and Eurodeputy of the Reformers List has declared:
"This attempt of the Socialist Group, fortunately failed, is indicative of how certain political forces will never change. After years of oppostion to any political or parliamentary initiative at the EP (from the vote against the radicals' amendments for establishing helps for Tibetan refugees, to the opposition against a free information on Tibet, just to mention a few) or in Italy (from the prohibition to city councils to fly the Tibetan flag on March 10, the Tibetan uprising day, to the current governative position against the presentation at the UN's Human Rights Commission in Geneva of a resolution on Human Rights in China and Tibet) these deputies, once supporters of the Soviet totalitarian Communist regime, are today the interpreters of a supposed "good will" of the Chinese Communist regime regarding the whole situation in China and the occupied and oppressed territories of Tibet, Eat Turkestan and Mongolia. A good will that keeps 600,000 and 800,000 political prisoners in the 'laogai' concentration camps in terrible conditions."