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STUDENTS for a FREE Tlfiff 545 EIGHTH AVENUE, 23RD FLOOR HK-9J989 NEW YORK, NY 10018 USA TEL (212) 594-5898 FAX (212) 594-6536

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STUDENTS for a FREE Tlfiff 545 EIGHTH AVENUE, 23RD FLOOR HK-9J989 NEW YORK, NY 10018 USA TEL (212) 594-5898 FAX (212) 594-6536 jd STUDENTS FOR A FREE Tlfiff 545 EIGHTH AVENUE, 23RD FLOOR HK-9J989 NEW YORK, NY 10018 USA TEL (212) 594-5898 FAX (212) 594-6536 http://www.tibet.org/sft. [email protected] December 9, 1999 H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan The Secretary General of the United Nations, The Office of the Secretary General The United Nations New York Dear Secretary General, On behalf of Students for a Free Tibet, a network of nearly 500 student chapters in over thirty countries dedicated to supporting the Tibetan people in their nonviolent struggle for human rights in freedom, I would like to present you with this appeal. More than 200 organizations from thirty-four countries have signed the appeal, asking you to use your leadership to assist the people •of Tibet. I will be happy to provide you with any additional information you may need to move forward, either about Tibet or the signatory organizations. I thank you for your careful consideration of this appeal, and look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, John Hocevar Executive Director THE OFFICE OF TIBET 241 EAST 32ND STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10016 iol4JJJ.l; 11 -"**~-tv • i December 9,1999 His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan Secretary-General The United Nations New York, NY 10017 Your Excellency, I have the pleasure and honor of forwarding here the appeal letter addressed to Your Excellency from over 200 Tibet Support Groups in 34 countries in the world. As Your Excellency will be aware, the current situation in Tibet continues to remain grim and critical. Various international reports indicate a continuing suppression and repression of religious, political and social rights of the Tibetan people. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has always sought to resolve the problem in Tibet through peaceful dialogue with the Government of China without any precondition. We, therefore, urge Your Excellency to encourage the Chinese government to engage in dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama without any precondition. With the expression of my deepest appreciation and highest esteem, Yours Sincerely Nawang Rabgyal Representative of H.H. the Dalai Lama Tel: (212) 213-5010 Fax:(212)779-9245 WORLD TIBET APPEAL TO THE UNITED NATIONS December 9, 1999 I » H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan DEC - 9 The Secretary General of the United Nations, II The Office of the Secretary General i EXEC(JT(VE The United Nations • .Of THE New York Dear Secretary General, In the light of your recent visit to China, and with regard to the USA-China preliminary agreement on entry to the World Trade Organization, China's record on human rights remains a major issue. In view of your own affirmation of the universality of Human Rights, (Annual Report to the UN General Assembly on the 20th. September 1999) it is all the more important that China, whose abuse of human rights has been virtually institutionalized under the present regime, be persuaded that it is time to move onwards from the present, deplorable position. China always claims that human rights, far from being universal, are strictly a matter of "internal affairs," a position we do not accept. Equally unacceptable is President Jiang Zemin's recently re-iterated view that subsistence is the basic human right, and that the others must come later, in contradiction to the UN Convention China has signed. Nor indeed can we accept the Chinese view that human rights are somehow a western concept, not applicable in Asia, or with different standards for different races. As the Tibetan monk Palden Gyatso pointed out in his account of 33 years in Chinese prisons, "Fire under the Snow," eastern people feel the pain of electric shocks, beatings torture and bullets just the same as everyone else. Doubtless the victims of the recent Falun Gong suppression would feel the same. It is sad to reflect that as long as the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been in existence, Tibet has suffered under Chinese occupation. The UN Charter declares that the fundamental human right is that of self-determination. In this regard, we recall that only last year several Tibetans in exile in Delhi went on prolonged hunger strike, one even burning himself to death, followed by a second hunger strike at the UN in Geneva this year, in the desperate hope that the UN would do something to help Tibet. In recent years the Tibetans have seen the UN intervene on behalf of Kuwait, Kosovo, and East Timor, but still Tibet is ignored and underrepresented at the UN. We recall that both the PLO and the ANC enjoyed observer status at the UN. Furthermore, the Chinese occupation of Tibet is an "unresolved dispute," and therefore as a party to that dispute China should not be eligible to vote on any S:ecurit$ Council motion concerning Tibet. The Tibetan hunger strikers, with the support of the International Commission of Jurists, called for: 1. Resumption of the UN debate on Tibet based on the General Assembly Resolutions adopted in 1959, 1961 and 1965, the latter two of which specifically recognized the Tibetan people's right to self-determination. 2. Appointment of a Special Rapporteur to investigate the human rights situation in Tibet. 3. Appointment of a Special Envoy to promote a peaceful settlement of the Tibetan question, and a UN plebiscite of Tibetans to decide their future. We would especially ask that you insist, as a matter of urgency, on personal contact between a UN representative and the young Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Panchen Lama recognized by the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people, who have not been seen since he and his family were kidnapped by the Chinese authorities in May, 1995. Very recent reports have emerged from China , South China Morning Post, 5th. November) which suggest that he may have died in Lanzhou No.l Prison last month, and may already have been cremated. As the Chinese authorities have consistently forbidden access to the young boy and his family, it is a matter of the greatest urgency that you personally establish whether he is indeed alive, and call for his release. He is now aged 10, still officially the world's youngest political prisoner. We understand the limitations within which your visit to China operated, but we sinceiv'v hope, inasmuch as China is slowly opening to le?r, totalitarian ways of being, that you will use every resource to make some substantial progress on the status of Tibet. Yours sincerely: Anthony OBrien, TSG Ireland, International Appeal Co-ordinator Signatures of participating organisations: INTERNATIONAL International Network of Engaged Buddhists Society for Threatened Peoples Tibet Online International Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation AUSTRIA Austria Family Planning Organisation Austrian Parliamentarians for Tibet Friends of Tibet, Austria Save Tibet, Austria S.O.S. Mitmensch Austria Tibetan Community in Austria Women in Development Europe, Austria AUSTRALIA Australia Tibet Council Tibet Independence Movement, Australia BELGIUM Comite de Soutien au Peuple Tibetain, Belgium Les Amis du Tibet, Belgium BELORUSSIA Zen Center Belorussian Mogilev, Belorussia BRAZIL S.O.S.Tibet, Brazil CAMBODIA Maryknoll Missionaries CANADA Association des Etudiants de Sherbrooke, Canada Buddhist Social Action Network of B.C., Canada Canada Tibet Committee Canada Tibet Committee, Edmonton,Alberta. Canada Tibet Committee, Calgary Chapter Canada Tibet Committee, Victoria Chapter Canadian Labour Congress China Tibet Initiative, Canada Friends of Tibet Newfoundland, Canada Ottawa Friends of Tibet, Canada Students for a Free Tibet, Canada Students for a Free Tibet, Concordia University, Canada Students for a Free Tibet, McGill University, Montreal, Canada Students for a Free Tibet, Montreal, Canada Tibet Committee, Edmonton Alberta, Canada Tibetan Community of Quebec, Canada DENMARK Tibet Support Group, Denmark ESTONIA Estonian Nyingma Centre Estonian-Tibetan Cultural Society FINLAND Campaign for Tibet, Finland Parliament of Finland Friends of Tibet FRANCE Alpes Tibet, Grenoble, France Comite de Soutien au Peuple Tibetain, France f SPT-Midi Pyrenees C:>i', •'••- . ..'• CSPT - Herault ECOTibet, France Association France Tibet Les Verts, ( The Green Party ),France Lions des Neiges,Lyon, France Observatoire des Libertes en Asie Orientale, France Solidarite Tibet, France Solidarite Tibet- Blois, France Tibet59/62, Lille, France GERMANY Aryatara Institut eV Munchen, Germany Bodaisan Shoboji Zentempel Hakuin Zen Society of Germany Deutsche Buddhist Union, Germany ECOTibet, Germany Engaged Buddhist Network, Germany Friends of Tibet, Germany Gelugpa Berlin, Germany Karma Kagyu Verein, Germany Herr Thomas Mann, Chairman, European Parliamentary Group for Tibet Rigpa, Germany Tibet Foerderkreis eV, Germany Tibet Forum, Germany Tibet Initiative Deutschland eV, Germany Tibet Initiative Muenster, Germany Tibet Initiative Munchen, Germany Tibet Information Service, Germany Tibetisches Zentrum eV., Germany GREECE Friends of Tibet, Greece INDIA Comite de Soutien au Peuple Tibetain, India Friends of Tibet, India IRELAND AFRI, Ireland CONCERN (International Aid ) Ireland Earthwatch, Ireland East Timor Solidarity Campaign, Ireland ECOTibet, Ireland Galway One World Centre, Ireland Des O'Malley, TD, Chairman of Irish Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee founder of Progressive Democrat Party, former Minister of Trade, Industry & Commerce, and Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Ireland Irish Parliamentarians for Tibet Latin American Solidarity Centre, Ireland Michael O'Kennedy, TD,former Foreign Minister, Minister of Finance, and EEC Commissioner, Ireland Noel Davern, TD, Minister of State, former Minister of Education, Ireland Pax Christi, Ireland Ruairi Quinn, TD, Irish Parliamentary Labour Party Leader. Senator David Norris, Irish Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Commitee Senator Joe Doyle, former Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ireland Senator Brian Mullooly, Chairperson of the Irish Senate Tibet Support Group Ireland ISRAEL Israel Friends of the Tibetan People Karma Kagyu, Israel ITALY Associazione Ttalia-Tibet C.I. S.L.Italy Friends of Tibet, Florence, Italy Friends of Tibet, Italy JAPAN Friends of Tibet, Japan Tibetan Snowlion Friendship Society, Kyoto, Japan KOREA Stream of Free Tibet, Korea LITHUANIA Buda Jr. Lithuania Didelis Pasaulis (Experimental Music Group ) Echidna Aukstyn ( Experimental Music Group ) Ersdirhe Vis.
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