Iron Hare 2011 – flames of resistance
na, Member of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the House and former Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. “I cannot forget all those Tibetans driven to self-immolation in protest against the régime of the People’s Republic of China which continues to deny the Tibetan minority their fundamental rights,” said Mr Vernetti, who headed a four-member parliamentary delegation to Dharamsala coinciding with the Tibetan National Uprising Day. Mr Vernetti blamed the PRC’s policy since it’s military occupation of Tibet for the self-immolation incidents. “These episodes are evidence of the extreme despair to which Tibetan people and religious have been driven by the systematic denial of one of the most important fundamental rights – the freedom of expression and freedom to freely practise their religion. For more than sixty years after the military occupation of Tibet in 1959, the government of the People’s Republic of China has been implementing a policy of human rights are being systematically denied to the Tibetan people. They are deprived of all political freedom, the Tibetan language and culture are being gradually assimilated, there is no religious freedom and even being in possession of an image of the Dalai Lama is a criminal offence, while the Tibetan people are being systematically marginalised from economic activities and access to education,” he said. He made a special metion about the resolution on Tibet that he introduced and which was passed by the Italian Parliament with a very positive discussion by MPs from all the parties on 8 February. “We clearly ask the Italian and the European Governments to promote a formal steps vis-à-vis the People’s Republic of China, requesting the immediate cessation of the violene against the Tibetan people and Tibetan monks and nuns, and the establishment of a climate of dialogue and tolerance in 352