Supporting Human Rights in Tibet

Background

1. Recently, the Chinese government closed all the schools that gave classes in Tibetan and assigned the teachers to other posts. This is a great loss for Tibetan culture and traditional knowledge. It violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and goes against the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China.

2. The People’s Liberation Army and the People’s Armed Police have entered the Tibetan monasteries, and government representatives were stationed near the Temples to launch an intensive “patriotic education” campaign. This has seriously affected the Tibetans’ religious beliefs and the core of their culture.

3. The glaciers in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, also called the “world’s third pole” or “the roof of the world”, are the largest source of fresh-water on Earth and the source of many rivers.  Melting glaciers as a symptom of climate catastrophe lead to shortages of water and falling water tables that threaten the viability of current and future generations of humans and other species. For the apparent purpose of exercising control over the Tibetans, the Chinese government enforces a colonial policy forcing the Tibetan herdsmen to give up their jobs, and conducting all kinds of actions, among which are the over exploitation of minerals, the construction of too many dikes, and other activities that also damage and steal natural resources. All these harmful actions should stop immediately.

Resolution

Green Parties from all around the world support human rights, including for the dozens of Tibetans who recently decided to self immolate as a protest against the Chinese government’s restrictions on the Tibetan’s life and cultural traditions.

Global Greens reaffirm the resolution relevant to Tibet adopted during the second Global Greens Congress in 2008 and resolve to work for the following:

1. The Chinese government should take all appropriate measures to facilitate Tibetan education in the Tibetan peoples’ mother tongue.

2. The Chinese government should immediately withdraw the military police and discontinue military supervision or involvement in any and all aspects of temples.

3. The Chinese government should take all measures to terminate the direct and indirect theft (unsustainable exploitation) of natural resources from and damage to geographic area of the Tibetan Plateau. As to what constitutes sustainable exploitation, all existing and future projects shall be assessed through a transparent process that is open to all stakeholders regardless of nationality, ethnicity or social status and wherein such stakeholders are given access to complete, updated and accurate information as well as the means to process such information and make their views known.