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The Question of Tibet and the Rule of Law

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The Question of Tibet and the Rule of Law The Question of Tibet and the Rule of Law COMMISSION INTERNATIONALE DE JURISTES G EN EVE/Suisse INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS GENEVA 1959 The International Commission of Jurists is a non-governmental organization which has Consultative Status, Category “B”, with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The Commission seeks to foster understanding of and respect for the Rule of Law. The Members of the Commission are: JOSEPH T. THORSON Honorary President, Ottawa, Canada VIVIAN BOSE President, New Delhi, India PER T. FEDERSPIEL Vice-President, Copenhagen, Denmark JOSEL T. NABUCO Vice-President, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ARTURO A. ALAFRIZ Manila, Philippines GIUSEPPE BETTTOL Rome, Italy DUDLEY B. BONSAL New York, USA PHILIPPE N. BOULOS Beirut, Lebanon U CHAN HTOON Rangoon, Burma A. J. M. VAN DAL The Hague, Netherlands SIR OWEN DIXON Melbourne, Australia OSVALDO ILLANES BENITEZ Santiago, Chile JEAN KREHER Paris, France HENRIK MUNKTELL Upsala, Sweden PAUL-MAURICE ORBAN Ghent, Belgium STEFAN OSUSKY Washington, D.C. LORD SHAWCROSS London, England BENJAMIN R. SHUTE New York, USA KOTARO TANAKA Tokyo, Japan PURSHOTTAM TRIKAMDAS New Delhi, Jndia H. B. TYABJI Karachi, Pakistan JUAN J. CARBAJAL VICTORIA Montevideo, Uruguay EDOUARD ZELLWEGER Zurich, Switzerland Secretary-General JEAN-FLAVIEN LALIVE Administrative Secretary EDWARD S. KOZERA Published in English, French and Spanish and distributed by INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS 6, RUE DU MONT-DE-SION GENEVA, SWITZERLAND CONTENTS I ntroduction ....................................... .......................................................... I Part One T ibet The Land and the People ........................... ....................... 1 Map of T i b e t ...................................................................... 5 Chronology of E v e n ts........................................................... 6 The Tibetan Uprising and the Flight of the Dalai Lama 11 Part Two I ntroduction t o t h e E v id e n c e o n C h in ese A c t iv ities in T i b e t ............................. .............................................................................. 17 A . V io la tio n s by t h e C h in ese P e o p l e ’s R e p u b l ic o f O b l i­ g a t io n s u n d e r t h e Sev en te en -P o in t A g r eem en t I. Obligation to allow national regional autonomy to Tibet............................... ...................................... 21 II. Freedom of religious belief and the protection of the Monasteries................................... ... ........................... 35 III. Trade Policy and the respect for the property of the Tibetan P e o p le .......................................................... 44 IV. Reforms in T i b e t ....................................................... 48 B. V io la tio n s o f H u m a n R i g h t s ............................... .... 58 C . Q u e st io n o f G e n o c id e . ............................................. 68 Part Three T h e P o sitio n o f T ib et in I nternational L a w ..... 75 Part Four D oc u m en ts Document 1 : Convention between Great Britain and China, relating to Sikkim and Tibet.— Signed at Calcutta, March 17, 1890 . 105 Document 2: Regulations regarding Trade, Commu­ nication, and Pasturage, appended to the Convention between Great Britain and China of March 17, 1890 relative to Sikkim and Tibet.—Signed at Darjeeling, December 5, 1893....................................... 107 Document 3: Convention between Great Britain and Tibet.—Signed at Lhasa, September 7, 1904 . ...................................................... 110 Document 4: Convention between Great Britain and China respecting Tibet.—Signed at Peking, April 27, 1906 ........................................... 113 Document 5: Convention between Great Britain and Russia relating to Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet.—Signed at St. Petersburg, August 31, 1907: Arrangement concernant le 116 Document 6: Agreement between Great Britain, China and Tibet amending Trade Regulations in Tibet, of December 5, 1893.—Signed at Calcutta, April 20, 1908 ! ................ 118 Document 7: Convention between Great Britain, China and Tibet, July 3, 1914 (Simla)................ 124 Document 8: Anglo-Tibetan Trade Regulations.—Sign­ ed at Simla, July 3, 1 9 1 4 ....................... 128 Document 9: Exchange of Notes between the Govern­ ments of India and of the People’s Repub­ lic of China concerning the advance of the Chinese army units into Tibet, 1950 132 Document 10: Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet (Seventeen-Point Agreement of May 23, 1951)................... 139 Document 11: Letter from Tibetan Leaders to Mr. Jawaharlal N e h ru ................................... 143 Document 12: Manifesto by Tibetan L e a d ers................ 145 Document 13 : Memorandum by Tibetan Leaders . 150 Document 14: Allegations by Chinese Sources concern­ ing the Dalai Lama and I n d i a ................ 163 Document 15 : Statement by Mr. Nehru in the Indian Parliament, April 27, 1959 ....................... 171 Document 16: The Revolution in Tibet and Nehru’s Philosophy (Peking Review). ..... 177 Document 17: The Dalai Lama’s Statement in Tezpur, India, on April 18, 1959 . 192 Document 18 : Statement by the Dalai Lama made on April 22, 1959 ....................... 195 Document 19 : Text of the Dalai Lama’s Statement of June 20, 1959, at Mussoorie, India . 196 Document 20: From a News Conference Held by the Dalai Lama on June 20,1959, at Mussoorie, I n d ia ........................... ............................... 200 Document 21 : Statements made by Tibetans in India . 204 I The Question of Tibet and the Rule of Law A PRELIMINARY REPORT Introduction The International Commission of Jurists was bom in 1952 of a desire to strengthen and to protect freedom and justice under the Rule of Law. Since then the Commission has endeavoured to promote and foster the Rule of Law and to mobilize world legal opinion whenever there has been a systematic and general violation of the principles which the Rule of Law represents. It has, for example, taken a strong position on violations of the Rule of Law and of human rights in South Africa, in Spain and in Portugal. The efforts made by the Commission in 1957 with regard to the Hungarian tragedy will be especially remembered.1 In view of the recent events in Tibet the Commission feels in duty bound to lay before world legal opinion its preliminary report on “ The Question of Tibet and the Rule of Law The International Commission of Jurists is a non-governmental and non-political organization. This world-wide voluntary associa­ tion of judges, practising lawyers and teachers of law draws its support from some 30,000 lawyers in more than 50 countries. Sympa­ thizers are in a number of cases organized in national groups and sections. In spite of differences of opinion in the political, economic or social field, these lawyers form a spiritual community bound together by common beliefs and ideals. They agree on the basic principles of freedom and justice under law and on the common decencies which should serve as standards of conduct for men in their behav­ iour towards their fellow-men. They consider that the concept of the Rule of Law is as important in the domestic systems of law as in the international relations of countries: the Rule of Law should in both cases prevail. The Commission, which has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, organized an international Congress of Jurists in New Delhi in January 1959; jurists and lawyers 1 See the three reports on Hungary published by the International Commission: The Hungarian Situation and the Rule o f Law; The Continuing Challenge o f the Hungarian Situation to the Rule o f Law; Justice in Hungary Today. I from 53 countries took part, the majority coming from Asian and African countries. This Congress endeavoured to define and clarify the Rule of Law in all its practical manifestations in the field of in­ stitutions, procedures and principles.2 Unanimous agreement was reached on a number of Conclusions by these distinguished lawyers, including a substantial cross-section of Asian lawyers, on these in­ stitutions, procedures and principles. As will be seen from the above, objectives of the Commission are twofold: to promote and foster the Rule of Law and to mobilize world legal opinion in cases where there is a systematic and general violation of the Rule of Law. This second task requires constant vigilance. This will explain the great concern felt by the Commission, along with numerous people and organizations throughout the world, when a series of dramatic events took place in Tibet in March of this year. In the light of the seriousness of the situation, the Commission felt that it had a responsibility and a duty to look into the matter. This was done. This report is an attempt to lay before the people and governments of the world the results of this preliminary investigation. In accordance with its usual procedure, the Commission made a careful and objective study of all available materials and evidence in order to ascertain the facts. For this purpose it requested one of its Members, Mr. Purshottam Trikamdas, 3 to investigate the situa­ tion, paying particular attention to the question of violation of human rights. Mr. Trikamdas organized a small team of experts which was responsible for collecting such evidence as was available. The evidence was reported to the Commission. After approximately two months of work, Mr. Trikamdas and his team completed the preliminary part of the investigation. They collected documents, interviewed people, including reliable witnesses from Tibet, and studied the events as reported by the press and radio —including the Chinese press and radio. During a recent trip to Europe, Mr. Trikamdas gave press conferences to explain some of the facts which had been ascertained and to convey the preliminary decisions made by the Commission. * _______ * * 2 As to the remarkable consensus of opinion which appeared in New Delhi, see Newsletter of the International Commission of Jurists, No. 6, (March-April 1959), with the texts of the Declaration o f Delhi and the Conclusions of the Congress.
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