Representative from Tibet Bureau Geneva welcomed the statement of the Swiss Parliamentary Group for Tibet and thanked them for their continued support…reports Asian Lite News
The Swiss Parliamentary Group for Tibet has raised concerns about the forced assimilation and separation of one million Tibetan children in Tibet as recently reported by UN experts.
The statement was issued jointly by Co-Presidents of the Parliamentary Support Group National Councillors, Andrea GeissbuIhler, Nik Gugger, Fabian Molina, Nicolas Walder and Vice-President Member of the Council of States, Maya Graf.
The statement noted, “The members of the Parliamentary Group for Tibet are deeply concerned about the UN reports on the system that forces Tibetan children into a Chinese-style boarding school system from kindergarten age, with no possibility for the children concerned or their parents to resist it.”
“This system of boarding schools forces Tibetan children to assimilate culturally, religiously and linguistically,” warns National Councillor Fabian Molina, Co-President of the Parliamentary Group for Tibet.
“As a result, Tibetan children lose exposure to their mother tongue and the ability to communicate in the Tibetan language, which contributes to their assimilation and the erosion of their own Tibetan identity,” says National Councillor Nicolas Walder, Co-President of the Parliamentary Group for Tibet.
The statement also noted, “The forced boarding schools are part of a series of other repressive measures against Tibetan culture and religion.”
Representative Thinlay Chukki from Tibet Bureau Geneva welcomed the statement of the Swiss Parliamentary Group for Tibet and thanked them for their continued support.
UN experts’ warning about China’s efforts to forcibly assimilate the “vast majority” of Tibetan children underscores the urgent need to resolve the Tibet-China conflict, a Washington-based advocacy group said.
“China’s unconscionable efforts to cut Tibetan children off from their language, religion, culture and families is an existential threat to the survival of Tibetan culture inside Tibet,” said the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) which promotes human rights and democratic freedoms for the Tibetan people.
“The international community must increase pressure on Beijing to return to the negotiating table with the Dalai Lama’s envoys to peacefully settle the decades-long conflict over Tibet while His Holiness can still play an active role in negotiations and before Tibetans’ beautiful culture is erased by China’s government.”
In a statement on February 6, three UN experts — Fernand de Varennes, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues; Farida Shaheed, the Special Rapporteur on the right to education; and Alexandra Xanthaki, the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights — warned that nearly one million Tibetan children have been separated from their families and sent to residential schools, where they are forced to learn in Mandarin Chinese in a curriculum built around Chinese culture.
“As a result, Tibetan children are losing their facility with their native language and the ability to communicate easily with their parents and grandparents in the Tibetan language, which contributes to their assimilation and erosion of their identity,” they said.
The experts expressed their concerns in a letter to the Chinese government on November 11, 2022 and said they remain in contact with Chinese officials.
The experts’ statement earlier this month met with deep concern from Tibetans as well as global leaders, including the Chairwoman of the Human Rights Committee in the German parliament, the US Permanent Representative to the UN Human Rights Council and the chairs of the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
