Dolma Gyari, a member of the Tibetan exile parliament, led a group of the five people to the foreign officer in central New Delhi on Thursday (Jan. 11, 2000) and presented a personal letter appealing to the government “not to fall under Beijing pressure for deportation of the 14 years old boy and his entourage! She asked that any request for political asylum be considered quickly.

We sincerely hope, after the fleeing from China of the 17^th Kamapa Lama Dorje and the five bishops appointments incidents occurred recently, that all nations come forward this year to place the issue of censuring China on the agenda of the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

We particularly hope this will occur given China’s arrogant and dismissive attitude toward the proceedings of the U.N. Human Rights Commission. The U.N. Human Rights Commission is the agency that gives “teeth” and meaning to the various U.N. human rights documents. If the commission’s work is derailed and it is unable to consider the human rights situation in countries such as China, the documents like the ICCPR become meaningless pieces of paper.

The United States has made the first step in the right direction. We call on other nations to join in supporting a motion to censure China for its increasingly reprehensible human rights record.

According to the U.S. State Department spokesman: “In addition to intensifying a crackdown on political dissent in China, Beijing is vigorously suppressing the Falun Gong meditation movement and tightening controls on the media and the Internet.

Beyond that, China strengthened controls on unregistered churches and on the political and religious of ethnic minorities, especially Tibetans”. The U.S. State Department went on to point out that all these actions are specifically contrary to internationally recognized human rights standards, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which China has signed.

Beijing has left the door open for the Karmapa’s return, as it did when the Dalai Lama fled Tibet after an uprising in 1959. But it has shown no sign of softening its stance on Tibet, or on the Dalai Lama, whom it accused of seeking independence. The Tibetan god-king says his wants autonomy within mainland China.