The Tibet-Intergroup

Thomas Mann: "Konsequenterweise muss der EU-Ratspräsident in Paris bleiben!" / Erfolglose Gespräche und abgeschalteter Sender - Düstere Aussichten vor den Olympischen Spielen in Beijing

Pressemitteilung
9. Juli 2008

In seiner Rede zu "China nach dem Erdbeben und vor den Olympischen Spielen" im Europäischen Parlament, zog der CDU-Europaabgeordnete Thomas Mann eine düstere Bilanz: "Peking hat die Meinungsfreiheit vor den Spielen massiv eingeschränkt. Dem letzten unzensierten Fernsehsender Chinas, NTD-TV, wurde einfach der Strom abgedreht", so der Präsident der Tibet Intergruppe des Europäischen Parlaments.

Mann zeigte sich enttäuscht über das Verhalten vieler Regierungschefs, die entgegen dem Appell des Europäischen Parlaments und entgegen der Haltung der deutschen Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel, des britischen Premierministers Gordon Brown und des Präsidenten des Europäischen Parlaments, Hans-Gert Pöttering, an der Eröffnungsfeier am 8. August in Beijing nun doch teilnehmen wollen. "Frankreichs Staatspräsident Sarkozy machte seine Reise von den Ergebnissen der 7. Gesprächsrunde zwischen den Gesandten des Dalai Lama und den Chinesen abhängig. Das Ergebnis ist bekannt: Da es keine konkreten Verhandlungserfolge gab, muss der EU-Ratspräsident konsequenterweise in Paris bleiben", sagte der CDU-Europapolitiker mit Nachdruck.

Schließlich schrieb er in seiner Rede den Politikern und Medienvertretern vor ihrer Abreise nach Peking ins "Stammbuch": "Mehr als 200 Tote nach den Aufständen vom 14. März in Lhasa. 5.000 in Gefangenschaft, meist ohne gerichtliche Beschlüsse. Tausende Verletzte infolge physischer Gewalt bei der so genannten staatlichen 'Patriotischen Umerziehung'." Der Europaabgeordnete setzt auf die Vernunft und die kritische Meinungsäußerung der Reisenden.

Imprisonment of human rights activist Hu Jia - A bad omen for the Olympic Games

Press release: Brussels, April 3rd, 2008

This Thursday, after only a one-day trial, the Chinese human rights activist and cyber-dissident Hu Jia was sentenced to three and a half years of prison for criticizing the ruling Communist Party as well as an alleged incitement of subversion of state power.

Thomas Mann, President of the Tibet Intergroup of the European Parliament (EPP-ED Group), strongly condemned this verdict: "China shows once more how little it respects human rights. Free speech is a value that we cannot cherish highly enough. The fact that diplomats and journalists were refused admittance to the trial demonstrates that Beijing has not learned anything," the CDU-MEP said.

Thomas Mann pointed to the emergency sitting of the European Parliament on January 17th, where the plenum condemned the arrest of Hu Jia and unanimously passed a resolution demanding his immediate release.

"For years, Hu Jia has passionately devoted himself to the fight for human rights. I especially want to point to his participation at our press conference on human rights in Brussels in October 2007 through a live broadcast. That was very courageous," Mann added.

The President of the Tibet Intergroup appealed to Beijing to finally realize that a politics of systematic restriction of human rights is ostracized by the world community. The conviction of Hu Ja should further reduce the chances to smoothly conduct the Olympic Games. "I appeal to the International Olympic Committee to insist that the Chinese comply with the commitment they made when they were awarded the Olympic Games: that they will improve the human rights situation."

President of the Tibet Intergroup: Events in China are cultural genocideEuropean Parliament is urged to actLet Tibetans participate at the Olympic Games!

Press release: Brussels, March 18th, 2008

Thomas Mann, the President of the Tibet Intergroup of the European Parliament, has fiercely condemned the most recent Chinese excess of violence against Tibetans. Around one hundred of them have died up to this point. These targeted arrests and killings by the Chinese authorities are a "cultural genocide".

According to Thomas Mann, Beijing attempts to turn the "gathering of the youth" into a propaganda show, presenting the illusion of an ideal world that does not exist. "The Tibetans have been provoked intentionally by leading   the Olympic Torch Relay through their homeland, all the way to the peak of Mount Everest. I believe that communist China's treatment of minorities and its true face as a totalitarian regime will become apparent during the worldwide media-attention of the Olympic Games. That's why a boycott would not lead us very far."

The hope of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), that awarding the games to China would open up the country and improve the human rights situation, has not been fulfilled. At his speech on Tiananmen Square last year, IOC-President Jacques Rogge did not even once mention the situation of human rights. Apparently, China concluded that also the Olympic community practices a "culture of looking away". Thomas Mann urged the IOC as "worldwide active civil society organization to not only fulfill its sporting but also its social responsibility. I recall the European Parliament Tibet-Conference in November 2007 in Brussels, where Olympic champion Dieter Baumann called on the IOC to let Tibetan athletes march under the Olympic flag."

Thomas Mann suggests a similar initiative as was practiced at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, where the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony was lit by an Aborigine, the athlete Cathy Freeman. Back then the IOC pointed towards the social and cultural repression of the Aborigines in Australia and made an impressive contribution to international understanding.

The Christian-Democratic Member of the European Parliament, Thomas Mann (EPP-ED), has appealed to the President of the EP, Hans-Gert Pöttering, to intervene against the violence of the Chinese regime in Beijing. Furthermore, the EU Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, should place the brutal course of action of Chinese security forces against the Tibetans high up on the agenda of the EU-China-Dialog. Mann advocated an emergency-debate of the European Parliament and the passing of a pertinent resolution.

Thomas Mann MEP, President of the Tibet Intergroup

 
Background Information:
Thomas Mann, Member of the European Parliament, has been President of the Tibet-Intergroup of the EP (approx. 100 members) since 1999. The TIG organizes regular meetings in the European Parliament, where exile-Tibetans as well as international experts provide information on social, cultural and religious questions. The Tibet-Intergroup substantially influences the European Parliament's human rights resolutions.

Human rights situation in China remains unsatisfactory despite Olympic Games. Thomas Mann MEP

Strasbourg, 17 January 2008

German MEP Thomas Mann has today expressed his disappointment with the human rights situation in China on the occasion of the arrest of the Chinese dissident Hu Jia: "Seven months before the start of the Olympic Games in Beijing, China demonstrates how little its respect of human rights still is. The hope that the decision of the International Olympic Committee to award the Olympics to China would also promote the human rights situation there has not been fulfilled."

Thus Chinese security services had kidnapped and mistreated the two lawyers Gao Zhisheng and Li Heping. Then at the end of December, Hu Jia, human rights activist and cyber-dissident, was arrested under accusation to undermine government authority via the internet. "In October 2007, Hu Jia participated via telephone at a European Parliament press conference on human rights. We have to thank him for his courage. Therefore Hu Jia and his wife, Zeng Jinyan, have been nominated for the Sakharov prize for freedom of thought annually awarded by the European Parliament", Thomas Mann said.

Hu Jia also reported in his internet blog about political prisoners and the victims of expropriations due to the Olympics. "He thanked German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her meeting with the Dalai Lama in a letter. That was obviously too much for Chinese officials", the Chairman of the Tibet Intergroup continued. The public demand of 57 Chinese intellectuals to release Hu Jia is in the meantime also supported by the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering. "It is a slap in the face if human rights fighters are arrested on the basis of their contact with the European Parliament. We must consequently use all diplomatic possibilities so that Hu Jia is immediately released. China promised the best Olympic Games ever to the world. However, the price for it may be neither censorship nor the ignoring of constitutional principles", stressed Mann.

Translation from the original German

For further information:
Thomas Mann MEP, Tel: +33-3-88-177318
Knut Goelz , EPP-ED Press Service, Tel: +32-479-972144

Notes to Editors:

The EPP-ED Group is the largest political group in the European Parliament with 289 Members from all 27 Member States.

Statements of Tibetan Athletes for the Tibet Conference in the European Parliament

The four statements were made by four Tibetans on behalf of Team Tibet, now numbering more than 30 athletes who live as refugee in all parts of the world.

Rigzin Gyaltag
ROAD CYCLING, Male 25

I grew up in the Pestalozzidorf in Trogen AR together with people from different countries and cultures. Being a child it was possible to play with children from so many different nations. Becoming adult, I had to realize that even on huge world-events such as the Olympic Games there are peoples who are excluded. We, the Tibetans, are one of them. I want to change this. This is my motivation to join the Team Tibet. In a refreshing, positive and sporty manner we draw the attention towards Tibet without pointing the finger at someone as usual.

Tsultrim Dolma Gope
SHOT PUT, Female 25

I have such nice memories of the Olympic Games for Youth in Denmark. It was a fantastic feeling to enter the stadium together with all the other athletes. I was proud to represent Switzerland as a shot-putter. Nevertheless, secretly I was dreaming about how wonderful it would be to enter the stadium under the Tibetan flag - with a Tibetan team. Even though I feel very well here in Switzerland, I was born here, I grew up here and I live here, Tibet is my country as well.

Chomphel Gelek
Soccer, Male 29

Tashi delek to you all. My name is Chomphel Gelek,I am here today as the coordinator of Team Tibet in Italy. I am highly inspired and moved by the spirit of the Team Tibet. That is the reason why I joined Team Tibet as a football player.
I was a fan of Roberto Baggio, for me the greatest Italian football player, when I was a small boy.
I was brought up in a Tibetan children village in North India. We used to play soccer a lot. Often under the torrential rains, on a muddy playground with hundreds of other schoolmates with tens of goal posts in a single playground and at times you could see also cows and dogs passing across the playground. Yet, the matches were never interrupted. There is immense passion in the hearts of the young Tibetans for the sports. We all wanted to be like Baggio.
With years passing by I realized the painful reality of being a Tibetan refugee.  A reality that caused pain, pain of reaching no where, pain of no future, pain of being denied the dream of a carreer in the field of sports. Today, I also came to talk about this pain, and make the voices heard that were silenced by desperation. This is for me also a way to express the wishes of many Tibetans and to pave the way for young Tibetans for a better future.

I am very much inspired by the speech of the President of the European Parliament and the sincere concern he showed for the Tibetan cause. With your support and our forces united, I firmly believe we will bring TEAM TIBET to 2008 olympics in Beijing.

Dominik Kelsang Erne
SINGLE TABLE TENNIS, Male 26

My name is Dominik Kelsang Erne and I am half Swiss and half Tibetan. I did not have frequent contacts  with Tibetans when I was a child. It was during a trip to Dharamsala (India) when I felt an urgent need to learn more about my eastern roots.
Back to Switzerland I got in contact with other Tibetans and joined the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe. I will represent Team Tibet in Table Tennis. I have been practising this sport for 16 years and became Vice- Champion of Switzerland (Single U13 and Team U15) and Swiss Champion (Team U18). Thanks to regular training camps and sessions with the Swiss national team members and professional trainers I am aware of the important factors regarding appropriate training methods. With the experiences I gathered, I hope being able to support the team in the best possible way.

For me, the aim of being represented at the Olympic Games in Beijing is to make the public aware that we still exist and it would be our dream to attend the games. It’s also in your hands; please support us to make our dream true.
Thank you very much.

EU Urged to promote Political Dialogue on Tibet's Autonomy / European Parliament adopts Resolution on the Environmental Situation in Tibet and the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics

Press Release in PDF (english/ german)

Report on the german tv (starting at minute 06:38)

Brussels, 08.11.2007

The European Parliamentarian Conference on Tibet in Brussels today expressed deep concern about the continuing violation of the rights of Tibetan people by the Peoples Republic of China, and unanimously called upon the European Union (EU) and national governments of European countries to push for a political settlement of the long standing Sino-Tibetan issue.

More than 200 participants from 20 countries - Members of the European and National parliaments, Members of the EU Commission and the Council, Ambassadors, Human Rights and Environmental activists and Olympic gold-medallists - attended the conference at the European Parliament in Brussels. They were invited by the European Parliament's Tibet Intergroup.

The conference was opened by President of the Tibet Intergroup, Mr. Thomas Mann and the President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering and comprised two workshops on the Tibetan Environmental Situation and on the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. In a statement to the conference, Mr Poettering welcomed the renewed contact between the government of the People's Republic of China and the envoys of H.H. the Dalai Lama, but urged the Chinese leadership to embark upon earnest and sincere negotiations with the object of finding a just and lasting political solution on Tibet's Autonomy situation.

"The EU must ensure that the EU and its member States implement effective policies to promote an end to the tragic oppression of the Tibetan people," said Mr. Mann.

Bring Tibet to the 2008 Games

In August 2008, the eyes of the world will be on China, when the sporting spectacle that is the Olympic Games is celebrated. Tibet as a nation is not allowed to take part in these celebrations. The Tibet Intergroup asks for support to bring Tibet to the 2008 Games.