Support the Tibetan Delegation at the UN: Make a Call today!

Initiatives for China supports the Tibetan delegation efforts at the United Nations, and urges all who are concerned about the grave human rights situation in Tibet to contact their U.N. representative to urge an immediate resolution to the crisis:

Report by Students for a Free Tibet:

Support the Tibetan Delegation at the UN Human Rights Council. Call your UN Ambassador to urge a resolution on Tibet

Right now, a delegation of Tibetans from across Europe is inside the United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva urging member representatives to put forward a resolution on the human rights crisis in Tibet.

Pictured right, the delegation includes SFT France Board Members, Tenam and Gyamtso along with Migmar Dhakyel of the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe and Tsetan Zochbauer from SFT and SOSTibet, Austria. The delegation is meeting with UN representatives to personally bring the plight of Tibetans inside Tibet to the attention of the Council. They are also delivering a 51,550-signature pledge in support of multi-lateral diplomatic intervention in Tibet.

Since Monday, over 1400 of us have also sent letters to members of the Human Rights Council to reinforce the delegation’s appeal for a UN resolution on Tibet. Thank you for taking action! A strong resolution supported by world governments will hold China accountable for its human rights violations in Tibet.

Now let’s double our impact! Make a Call to your United Nations Ambassador’s office today.

1.  Find the contact information for your country’s UN Permanent Mission in Geneva.
2. Call and ask that your country table a Tibet resolution at the 20th session of the UN Human Rights Council.
3. Request your country’s UN mission to meet with the Tibetan delegation at the Human Rights Council meeting.

When you speak with your Ambassador’s staff or leave a voice message, please be polite and remember to thank them for their support. Helpful talking points are included below.

Reminder: If you haven’t already taken action, please send your appeal letter to the UN Human Rights Council urging a resolution on Tibet.

•  Letter to council members who have raised concerns about Tibet
• Letter to members who have not raised concerns and must speak up now

The United Nations has the ultimate responsibility to protect and promote human rights around the world. Join us in taking action to ensure it upholds this important mission by addressing the urgent human rights crisis in Tibet.

Thank you for all that you do for Tibet,

Tendor, Kate, TenDolkar, Lobsang, Stef, Wangmo and the entire SFT team.

P.S. Please support SFT’s work for human rights and freedom at this critical time.

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Helpful talking points: When speaking to the Ambassador’s staff or leaving a voice message, be polite and remember to thank them for their support. Let them know that a Tibetan delegation is attending the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) meeting in Geneva to deliver a 51,550-signature pledge in support of Tibet. You are requesting that your country table a Tibet resolution during the 20th session of the UNHRC. You can also request that a member of your Ambassador’s team meet with the Tibet delegation.

1. A strongly worded resolution on Tibet during the 20th session of the Human Rights Council will demonstrate the Council’s true commitment to human rights and lay the foundation for robust diplomatic action to help bring about an end to the crisis in Tibet.

• A resolution on Tibet has not been tabled since 2005 and the Council is failing in its primary goal of raising concerns about one of most urgent human rights situations in the world.
• If a resolution is tabled, it will send a very strong, multi-lateral signal of concern about the situation in Tibet and require a response from China.
• The UNHRC is an appropriate mulit-lateral mechanism to impress upon China the level of global concern about Tibet. China is not responding to bilateral pressure, so governments must use all multi-lateral channels at their disposal.

2. Over sixty years of China’s oppressive rule in Tibet have created a human rights crisis. The deteriorating situation in Tibet is urgent and warrants immediate diplomatic action.

Current situation:

• There have been 41 self-immolations in Tibet since 2009 (28 since January 2012); at least 29 have been fatal. Those who have self-immolated include monks, nuns, young students, nomads, and farmers.
• Just two days after the current Human Rights Council session opened, Tenzin Khedup, 24, and Ngawang Norphel, 22, self-immolated while raising the Tibetan national flag, and calling for the return of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to Tibet.
• Recent mass protests in eastern Tibet have been met with brutal suppression.
• There have been multiple arrests and sentencings related to the self-immolations and protests.
• Arbitrary expulsions from Lhasa based on ethnicity and place of birth in June 2012 have followed the recent self-immolation protest in Lhasa by two young Tibetans from eastern Tibet. Tibetans now face daily discrimination and harassment by security personnel carrying out sharply increased identity checks.

3. Despite the harsh crackdown and the threat of arrest, disappearances, torture and killing, China has failed to crush Tibetan resistance which remains exceptionally strong. The cycle of unrest followed by crackdowns will continue until China meaningfully addresses the Tibetan people’s grievances.