PRESS STATEMENT ON THE GLOBAL ACTION DAY

 
PRESS STATEMENT ON THE GLOBAL ACTION DAY - 1 OCTOBER 2020
By Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities (GATPM)
Contact: Tsering Passang
Email: gatpm2020@gmail.com
Tel: +44 (0) 7927 376 532

1. The Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities (GATPM) welcome Statements by British MPs – Tim Loughton and Abena Oppong-Asare from the Conservative and the Labour Parties respectively on the ‘Global Action Day’ – 1^st October 2020.

2. Public Statement by Tim Loughton MP, Co-Chair, The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet – 1^st October 2020

“On the day that the Chinese Communist Party celebrates the National Day of the People’s Republic of China with a characteristic display of military might and global arrogance we join the great majority of the free world in remembering the victims of Chinese oppression past and present. For over 60 years now the peace loving people of Tibet have seen their liberty, their culture and their heritage systematically suppressed and over a million have lost their lives upholding everyday freedoms that we take for granted in the Free World. They continue to be persecuted within Tibet and increasingly amongst the widespread communities forced to live outside of their homeland.

In the last few years the suppression of minorities within Chinese borders has taken an even more sinister turn as we see the latest assault on the liberties of the Uighur people, forced into concentration camps and subject to appalling sterilisation programmes that constitute genocide under UN definitions. In Hong Kong, which has for long been a beacon of freedom and creativity China has thought nothing of reneging on international agreements to bring that population to heal and we stand shoulder to shoulder with the brave citizens who continue to take a stand against the world’s most oppressive superpower.

Whilst the Government of China celebrate power and military force we remember and support those who have given their lives and continue to stand up for liberty and the values of peace and freedom we all represent.” 

3. Public Statement by Ms Abena Oppong-Asare MP- 1^st October 2020

“I strongly believe human rights should be at the heart of UK foreign policy. I have been absolutely horrified by reports of human rights violations in Xinjiang, China. On this Global Day of Action it is important that we speak out against actions that are so clearly wrong that no Government should be able to turn a blind eye. The mass detention of the Uyghur peoples and the efforts to restrict cultural and religious practices targeting Tibetan and Uyghur people must be condemned by all politicians.”

I have long believed the Government should impose sanctions on Chinese officials involved in the persecution of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang. Today I want to echo these calls again and ask that the Conservative Government urgently condemns all human rights violations in Xinjiang, China.”

4. Each year, on 1^st October, the People’s Republic of China celebrate its National Day. This year marks the 71^st anniversary of the China’s occupation of East Turkistan and Tibet. Whilst China celebrates its victorious day, Tibetans, Uyghurs, Taiwanese, Chinese Democracy activists, Southern Mongolians, Hong Kongers and activists from other Chinese occupied territories join hands together to call on the international community to rise and stand up against the Chinese Communist regime for its brutal crackdown on freedom, democracy and human rights violations. Human Rights activists and those seeking justice from the Communist China are observing ‘Global Action Day’ on 1^st October and organizing events worldwide to create awareness about the Chinese expansionist designs and atrocious policies implemented against the innocent peoples of Chinese-occupied countries. Public demonstrations, lobbying with the MPs and various discourses are taking place worldwide to garner political support for their causes.

5. Freedom and human rights are the fundamental birth rights of every human being but regrettably, the people living under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are stripped off these rights. The brutal illegal occupation of Tibet, arbitrary detention of millions of Uyghurs in internment camps, unreported detention, forced disappearance and silencing of countless Chinese lawyers and activists, loss of fundamental rights and freedoms in Hong Kong, erasure of Southern Mongolian’s culture & language, intimidation and bullying of Taiwan illustrates the scale of the existing concerns across the country and among the global diaspora.

6. Tibetan Buddhists and Uyghur Muslims suffer atrocities and acts tantamount to Genocide, masterminded by the Chinese Communist regime in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR and other militarily occupied countries for over the past seven decades. Uyghur Muslims are subjected to mass detention, mass surveillance, restriction of religious and cultural identities, as well as other gross human rights abuses. Over 3 million Uyghurs have been forced into world’s largest detention centres. The confirmed reports have revealed that the Uyghur detainees are forced to eat pork, drink alcohol and denounce their identity as Muslims. They are forced to take pills, injections and are subjected to sterilisation procedures, medical experiments, and organ harvesting. The atrocities and human rights abuse faced by each and every community, particularly the minorities, in China and the occupied areas, is a reflection of the CCP’s clamorous disregard for the rights of the people whom it called their own citizens. This also makes evident the evil and nefarious desire of Xi Jinping to consolidate power and forcibly stifle dissent. There is an extensive and well researched body of evidence, including first-hand testimony, eyewitness accounts, and a range of supportive information from a variety of sources, including Chinese documentation, international media reports, television documentaries and accounts from first hand witnesses testifying gross human rights abuses and forcible mind wash of the minorities in Tibet, East Turkistan etc.

7. It is painful to note the minimal, tentative and generalized response to what is a major human rights concern within Tibet and East Turkistan. This is a right time and the United Nations Organizations (UNO), which is believed to be a torch bearer for the protection of Human Rights of every individual across the globe irrespective of its origin/ethnicity, and the world leadership to address these grave issues on priority and take cognizance of all the human rights abuses in Tibet, East Turkistan and elsewhere in China and its occupied territories.

8. International leadership has just started speaking up against the Chinese brutalities and it is believed that a global initiative and international strategic coalition is much required thing to counter the Chinese government’s totalitarian regime. Last year in October, over 23 countries issued a joint statement and asked China to stop the human rights abuse against Uyghurs but nothing has been done to minimize the suffering of this minority community. China is continuously committing cultural genocide and the world’s silence is deafening. The silence of World community has emboldened the Chinese aggression and onslaught against Tibetans and Uyghurs who are being stripped of their human rights.

9. Although, much damage has already been done, it is high time that the international community should wake up and recognize the threat posed by the Chinese Communist party to peoples living under its rule, and to those countries which are under the influence of China due to the monetary benefits, huge debts etc.

10. In order to ensure that the justice is prevailed, the world leadership must hold Chinese regime accountable for genocide/ crimes against humanity in Tibet/East Turkistan and the members of UNO should slap economic and diplomatic sanctions on China. A special session of UNO should be called urgently and a formal statement issued after passing a resolution on this serious issue. There is an urgent need of an independent inquiry be initiated under the auspices of UN designated body to look into the Genocide and crimes against humanity in Tibet and in East Turkistan and those responsible for these crimes be sanctioned under the international laws. The crimes against the Uyghurs & Tibetans should be recognized as genocide according to the International Genocide Convention.

11. The Chinese companies involved in exploitation or oppression should be held publicly accountable and a boycott action should be considered to put pressure on them to stop facilitating inhumane surveillance on the Uyghur inmates, benefiting from forced labour, and profiting from a systematic abuse of human rights. It is vital that a special rapporteur should be assigned to Tibet and to China’s Xinjiang region, with the task of documenting the suffering of the Tibetans, Uyghur & other Chinese Muslim minorities and presenting a clear picture before the UNO and other international bodies. There is a need to unravel the truth and conduct an impartial assessment, with the participation of independent human rights organisations, of the impact of the Chinese population control programme on the Tibetans, Uyghurs and other subject peoples of the Chinese occupied territories.

12. As part of the ‘Global Action Day’ – #ResistChina, the Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities (GATPM) has just released an interview with Mr John Billington, the Goodwill Ambassador for London-based Tibet Foundation, an international development charity, and former Chairman of Tibet Society, the world’s oldest Tibet support group. 

The 84-year old sympathetic Briton, who is very familiar with China’s occupation of Tibet and East Turkistan, said, “I think there are legitimate grounds for criticising China, and we have reached a point where opposition to China is now very widespread. So, I think this does give an opportunity to those countries which feel that their freedom has been taken away by Chinese invasion, by Chinese occupation, as you rightly termed it. There is chance for them to form a coalition of countries which want to regain their independence from China.”

The 32-minute interview with the China analyst was conducted by Tsering Passang, Convener of the Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities.

This interview can be watched through this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ccFk3y7Fug&feature=youtu.be