News Features Nepal-China Agreement Targets Tibetans Continued from page 1
illegally or without proper documentation within seven days of their custody. This is seen as a move targeting the already vulnerable Tibetan refugees who cross over into Nepal from Tibet to flee Chinese persecution. This clarification by Minister Gyawali was due to the legislation in the Nepalese constitution requiring the government to appraise Parliament within one month of the session’s resumption about any international treaty or agreement the government has signed. Higher officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the above agreement will come into effect “soon”, as the internal procedures required to bring this into play are being worked out. “It may still take at least one month to bring this into implementation,” said an official, asking not to be named. While such legislation may be relevant for border security, experts say that this provision will immediately target “refugees” from Tibet who cross the border to make a safe passage to India and elsewhere through the United Nations refugee agency in Nepal. China officially claims that there are no Tibetan refugees in the world, but simply those who have crossed the border illegally. The report cited that the “gentleman’s agreement” Nepal
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had reached with the international community in the early 1980s, under which Kathmandu agreed to provide “safe passage” to those fleeing Tibet, and adhering to a “nonrefoulment policy” on humanitarian grounds, will be overridden. This will dramatically restrict the likelihood of illegally entering Nepal from Tibet on the Chinese side of the border. The report further quoted officials as saying Nepal would stick to its gentleman’s agreement, but only verbally. Nepal is home to 13,514 Tibetan refugees, the vast majority of whom have been born there and are undocumented. According to the report, this “was the first point of the 20-point agreement signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Nepal”. While it will officially come into effect from February “Nepal seems to be under an influence to enforce it before time”. The agreement is facing criticism within Nepal. Nepal has not signed the United Nations Convention Relating to Refugee Status which guarantees their refugee populations certain rights; New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch says that Nepal cannot send back refugees to countries with threats to their life or freedom, due to several international legal obligations and that they are bound by the principle of non-refoulment.
Religious Activities Banned
Parents of children at Lhasa Chengguan Haicheng Elementary School have been sent an official announcement from the Education Department. Parents have been told to follow the seven-point guidelines which relate to school projects, healthcare and forbidden behaviours, including the ban on engaging in religious activities The seventh point states, “Students are not allowed to participate in any form of religious activity during the break, and in principle long-distance travel with students is not allowed. In the event of an accident, all consequences are the responsibility of the parents”. “By banning schoolchildren from religious activities, Chinese authorities are infringing upon basic principles of freedom of religion, as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – which China agreed to — and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which China ratified in 1992,” said ICT in a statement. ICT reported that the prohibition of children’s participation in religious activities in Tibet was also announced during summer and winter holidays in 2018 and 2019. A separate report by Radio Free Asia in May 2018 said that Chinese authorities in Tibet’s Chamdo city ordered children and their parents to avoid attending religious festivities during the Buddhist holy month of Saga Dawa,
with warnings of unspecified punishments for people who did not comply. A separate report, Tibetan Buddhist Temples Monitored, Monks Controlled, was published on bitterwinter.org, a magazine that focuses on religious liberty and human rights in China. This states that China has intensified its efforts to curb the development of Tibetan Buddhism through surveillance and indoctrination. It mentioned that over 200 HD surveillance cameras were installed in Youning Temple, a 400-year-old renowned Tibetan Buddhist temple in Huzhu Tu County in Kham [Ch:Qinghai] province. Notices saying “You are in a surveillance area” have been displayed throughout the place of worship, the report stated. The article added that the government spares no money or effort to teach Tibetan monks Han culture and indoctrinate them with patrotism and other propaganda. “Now Uighurs and Tibetans are persecuted, are being ‘hanified’ gradually. The CCP aims at stopping the development of Tibetan culture and religion, cutting them at the root,” said a monk to bitterwinter. *The International Campaign for Tibet works worldwide to help Tibetans in their peaceful struggle for democracy and human rights, and seeks to preserve Tibet’s ancient culture of wisdom.
Contact magazine | January 2020| Page No 3