From fourniel@ere.umontreal.caFri Sep 8 09:16:53 1995 Date: Wed, 6 Sep 1995 22:28:26 -0400 (EDT) From: CTC National Office Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org To: Beijing Conference on Women Subject: From TWA Central Executive Committee, New Delhi (fwd) Subject: From TWA Central Executive Committee, New Delhi FROM: TWA CENTRAL, New Delhi DATE: Monday, September 4, 1995 ============================================================================== 1. Press Release from TWA Central Executive Committee 2. Letter to Premier Li Peng 3. Letter to His Excellency Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali 4. Beijing Conference Update 5. Letter to Mr. Sponach, Resident Director of UN Information Center ============================================================================== ---------------------------------------------------------- 1. Press Release from TWA Central Executive Committee ----------------------------------------------------------- PRESS RELEASE Monday, September 4, 1995 September 4th marks the beginning of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women - official government meeting - in Beijing, China. The United Nations has succeeded in having many women's groups world-wide excluded from participating at this important event including Tibetan exiled women from India, The United States, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Norway and The Netherlands. The Tibetan Women's Association has made repeated attempts to seek accreditation from the United Nations formal Conference body and has appealed on more than one occasion to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. However despite meeting all the required criteria for the women's conference Tibetan women have been deliberately denied access. This is obviously a political move to silence the voices of Tibetan exiled women and represents the United Nation's inability to stand up for the rights of vulnerable and oppressed groups. During the preliminary conference proceedings the Chinese government gave the United Nations a guarantee that all registered participants for the parallel NGO forum would be issued with visas. However Tibetan delegates with all the relevant registration and documentation have been consistently denied visas by Chinese embassies world-wide, with little explanation or justification. Even a Tibetan representative from India who had received official accreditation to participate at the official government forum as part of an international women's delegation, was refused a visa by the Chinese authorities although the Chinese themselves had promised to endorse all registered women for participation at the Conference. No action has been taken by the United Nations despite protest by various governments and the groups themselves over this issue. In Beijing, the nine Tibetan women delegates who have been able to attend have secured much publicity for the difficulties imposed upon them by the Chinese government and authorities including threats to security, safety and freedom of expression. TWA President Mrs. Tsering Norzum said today "If the Tibetan delegates in Beijing are receiving such appalling treatment at an official world-wide event, imagine the extent of restrictions and confinement imposed on women inside Tibet. The lack of freedom of expression at a United Nations conference and the threats to personal and public security only serve to highlight the oppression and violation of fundamental human rights by the Chinese Government." In their appalling treatment of these official representatives, China is making a mockery of this international women's event initiated to address world-wide women's issues of freedom, equality and empowerment. In protest to the United Nations for their lack of assistance and intervention over both accreditation and visas, and for their apathy in attending to the security and safety of exiled Tibetan representatives in Beijing, the Tibetan Women's Association and its regional chapters from India and abroad are holding a public protest and demonstration in the form of a HUNGER STRIKE outside the UN Centre in New Delhi - September 4 - 15, 1995. Similar demonstrations are being held world-wide. We appeal to the international women's community, the international audience, to governments, human rights bodies and the United Nations to support the right of Tibetan women to be heard at this global women's event. This is a united quest for equality, peace and freedom. We request the United Nations to send the Special Rapporteur On Violence Against Women to investigate the factual conditions of Tibetan women in Tibet and we urge the United Nations and the international community for an immediate end to human rights violations against Tibetans, in particular the gender-specific violations against Tibetan women be they religious, political, reproductive, social, economic or other. We request the international community to support us in our quest to make Tibet a Zone of Peace. The Tibetan Women's Association asks: HOW LONG WILL THE UNITED NATIONS BE A SILENT SPECTATOR TO THE VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES AND AGREEMENTS BY CHINA? WE ARE WOMEN FIRST AND OUR CULTURE, RELIGION AND NATIONALITY ARE SECONDARY. RELEASE THE SILENCED VOICES!!! --------------------------------- 2. Letter to Premier Li Peng --------------------------------- His Excellency Mr. Li Peng Premier of the People's Republic of China c/o The Embassy of the People's Republic of China New Delhi INDIA August 30, 1995 Your Excellency, We, the exiled Tibetan women living in India, on behalf of our Tibetan sisters living in The United States, Switzerland, Norway, The Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden, express our deepest concern and anger over access denied to us to attend the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women being held in Beijing China. At an international gathering of over 40,000 women designed to discuss and formulate the strategies for the advancement of women into the next century, the needs of ALL women from every different situation regardless of race, colour, caste and creed should be represented and addressed. However by the nature of denying Tibetan refugee women access to this conference, in both an official rejection by the United Nations accrediting body and your government in denying visas, the very purpose of this conference is invalidated. Firstly, by accepting the challenge of hosting this important global meeting, your government agreed to become impartial hosts to an international Conference and you saw yourselves as legitimised in the eyes of the world's government and non-government participants. However by the very deliberate acts of refusing visas to confirmed women's groups you and your government have politicised the Conference and robbed it of any validity. You and your government have imposed personal viewpoints specific to Chinese ideology which completely reject and disregard the purpose and intention of this United Nations event. Secondly, how can the People's Republic of China stand before a critical international audience and claim to be a suitable and appropriate host venue for a global meeting on women's issues, given the gross gender-specific human rights violations committed against women in both China and seized Tibet? The denial of fundamental freedoms imposed upon Tibetan women are well documented by the international and Western community and include suppression of religious, political, economic, reproductive and social freedoms. How can your government justify the right to host this event when women's issues are obviously not a priority to Chinese political and social doctrine. In the build up to this Conference there has been widespread criticism and speculation at the way in which your government has handled the preliminary proceedings. The eyes of the world are on China during this important event and the very act of denying marginalised women access to this Conference has confirmed doubts of China's suitability as the host. As the Fourth World Conference on Women takes place, so the rest of the world will witness the injustices and inadequacies of China. While we express disappointment at the handling of the conference proceedings by the People's Republic of China, we are confident that through the circumstances and plight of Tibetan women denied access to the Conference the world will realise China's bias and political implication and will respond accordingly. Furthermore, we have formally requested the United Nations to send the Special Rapporteur On Violence Against Women to investigate the factual conditions of Tibetan women in Tibet and we have requested the United Nations to initiate an independent human rights investigation into the consistent violations of fundamental freedoms imposed on the Tibetan people by the People's Republic of China, be they political, religious, reproductive or other. And finally we have urged the United Nations and the international community for an immediate end to the oppression of Tibetans and to work towards making Tibet a Zone of Peace. Yours sincerely, Mrs. Tsering Norzom PRESIDENT THE TIBETAN WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION, DHARAMSALA, INDIA on behalf of all Tibetan women, living inside and outside Tibet. Cc: His Excellency, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali Secretary General UNITED NATIONS ---------------------------------------------------------- 3. Letter to His Excellency Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali ---------------------------------------------------------- His Excellency Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali Secretary General THE UNITED NATIONS New York, NY - 10017 USA September 2, 1995 Your Excellency, We, the exiled Tibetan women living in India, on behalf of our Tibetan sisters living in The United States, Switzerland, Norway, The Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden, express our deepest concern and anger over access denied to us to attend the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women being held in Beijing China. At an international gathering of over 40,000 women designed to discuss and formulate the strategies for the advancement of women into the next century, the needs of ALL women from every different situation regardless of race, colour, caste and creed should be represented and addressed. However by the nature of denying Tibetan refugee women access to this conference, in both an official rejection by the United Nations accrediting body and by the Chinese government in denying visas, the very purpose of this conference is invalidated. The themes of this conference were identified as "Equality, Development and Peace" but in denying certain groups of women the basic right to participation how can these themes be upheld and assured? For all those grass-roots women's organisations world-wide that need access to large decision making bodies who have the power and experience to facilitate change, will their voices be heard and more importantly will anyone listen? How can the agenda for Equality and Peace become a reality for women all over the world when marginalised groups including Tibetan refugee women are not treated equally in the international process? What are the values of these terms if they are meant only to suit certain vested nations and groups exclusively? Your Excellency, the issue of access to this global forum is but one facet of a more serious question - that of Tibetan refugees, displaced women and representation. Exclusion from this important event is not about ineligibility or disqualification from the criteria of the conference, but rather it is an obvious political decision based on the views of the host country and their influence over the decision-making bodies of the United nations. We therefore request you to introduce more appropriate measures that will ensure fairer and unbiased representation and access to United Nations meetings in the future. Furthermore, we urge the united Nations to send the Special Rapporteur On Violence Against Women to investigate the factual conditions of Tibetan women in Tibet and we request the United Nations to initiate an independent human rights investigation into the consistent violations of fundamental freedoms imposed on the Tibetan people by the People's Republic of China, be they political, religious, reproductive or other. And finally we urge the United Nations and the international community for an immediate end to the oppression of Tibetans and to work towards making Tibet a Zone of Peace. In conclusion we seek your support and commitment to assist the needs of thousands of Tibetan women living in exile. Tibetan women's voices have a right to be heard! We are women first and our culture, religion and nationality are secondary. Release the silenced voices! Yours sincerely, Mrs. Tsering Norzom PRESIDENT THE TIBETAN WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION, DHARAMSALA, INDIA on behalf of all Tibetan women, living inside and outside Tibet. ---------------------------------- 4. Beijing Conference Update ---------------------------------- TWA CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE - BEIJING CONFERENCE EVENT UPDATE September 5, 1995 For the attention of TWA (Dharamsala, The Kashag, The Bureau in Delhi TYC and other NGOs) 1. ACTIVITIES IN DELHI BY TWA CENTRAL a) HUNGER STRIKE: It had been our intention to begin a Hunger Strike on the opening day of the Beijing Conference NGO Forum (August 30) but repeated efforts to secure permission from Indian authorities in Delhi had failed. The Delhi RTWA had been trying unsuccessfully to get permission to hold it outside the UN Centre. Matters became more complicated with the murder of Beant Singh which resulted in a clamp-down by Delhi authorities on all public protests until further notice. Then on September 1, the anniversary of the TAR, Majnu-ka-Tilla was surrounded by police as they suspected the Tibetan community here to demonstrate. So it was decided that we would go ahead and demonstrate anyway and risk arrest. Tibetan women from different parts of India (Rajpur, Dharamsala, Bir, Majnu-ka-Tilla, Pritampur) had assembled in Delhi and there were enough women to have several sittings. A massive Press drop was organised and we received much support from the media. So the Hunger Strike was rescheduled to begin on the first day of the official government UN meeting in Beijing - Monday September 4 1995. Just minutes before the Tibetan women assembled outside the UN centre, permission came through from Delhi authorities and the peaceful demonstration went ahead. However the weather was terrible and it rained heavily. Everyone was thoroughly drenched and one woman fainted and was taken to hospital. The police were very kind and supportive and the UN representative, Resident Director Mr. Sponac, was also very supportive. He met with us and offered his sympathy and support and stated he would take the issue of Tibetan women who had been denied visas to the Conference, to the United Nations Sub-Commission on Human Rights. For your information our formal letter to him has been attached. We also submitted formal letters of protest to Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary General of the United Nations care of the UN centre here in Delhi, and a letter to Li Peng care of the Chinese embassy. These letters have also been attached. b) THE PRESS CONFERENCE: A Press Conference was held - (Wednesday August 30) at Hotel Kanishka. But Delhi experienced massive rains and flooding which caused traffic mayhem and kept the majority of the Indian Press away. Some foreign press came though including Tim McGirk, the ABC, API, UNI, UPI and VOA. That night Tsering Norzom and Tsering Tsomo visited the remainder of the Press individually, briefing them about the situation and issued Press Releases. This was very successful and we received coverage in many local papers as well as broadcast interviews on Australian radio and Voice of America. c) THE PUBLIC HEARING To be held on Wednesday September 6th at Triveni Auditorium in Delhi. We have invited all the embassy officials, Indian women activists, scholars, parliamentarians, the Press and members of the Tibetan and Indian communities. At the Hearing we will have a public screening of our TWA video Voices in Exile: Tibetan Women's Journeys that was confiscated and banned at the Beijing Conference only a few days ago. This event alone has attracted wide public interest. We will also launch our latest book The Trek To Freedom: Tibetan Women and the Refugee Experience which is an account of recently arrived Tibetan women's experiences in Tibet, their reasons for escape and the toll on their lives. It has been produced for the Beijing Conference and will simultaneously be launched in Beijing, Australia, America, and Europe. (We will send you some copies as soon as possible) At the Hearing we will have Tibetan women speakers (Ama Adhe and Ani Kelsang Pelmo) who will recount their stories of arrest, imprisonment, torture and escape into exile. Tsering Norzom la will also address the gathering. The final programme is to be finalised today and it is our intention to have several prominent members of the Indian community to speak. We have invited MPs and activists and wait to hear their reply. 2. REGIONAL and INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES: The branches of RTWAs in India and abroad have organised parallel Hunger Strikes to protest our exclusion from the Conference. - In the south the RTWAs have held a demonstration which has been successful and attracted attention.- Other regional branches have orgainsed demonstrations in conjunction with ours.- In Europe there have been demonstrations by the Swiss Tibetan community and the Norwegian Tibetan community and the Netherlands Tibet Support Group including a mass protest outside the Chinese embassy in Oslo organised by the Norwegian Human Rights House and supported by over 15 independent NGOs such as Amnesty, SCF and the Anti-Racist Centre and hunger strikes. 3. UPDATE ON THE TIBETAN DELEGATION IN BEIJING: There has been extensive media coverage of the activities of our (16 including 9 Tibetan women) courageous delegates in Beijing and amidst 40,000 women they have attracted massive media interest and support. We have had telephone and e-mail communication from them as well as frequent updates via fax, phone and e-mail from Thupten Samdup in Canada and Chungdak Koren in Norway. They were very relieved and happy to know that special prayers are being said at Namgyal and Nechung plus at Dolmaling and Genden Choeling nunneries. The nine Tibetan women delegates staged a silent protest on September 1, 1995 to demonstrate against the TAR formation. Wearing traditional Tibetan dress but with their mouths gagged by coloured scarves, our Tibetan sisters staged an emotional and powerful protest that was applauded by the international women's community and the media. With so much support and coverage from everywhere the Chinese remained powerless. For 15 minutes they stood silently while hundreds of other women circled them and sang songs of solidarity and freedom. It was a very emotional experience and many of the Tibetan women were in tears. The international media loved this display of defiance and it conveyed the message of peace and freedom that the conference intended. Many newspapers covered this event articles and photos appeared on the front page of the International Herald Tribune, The Australian, The Age (Australia), The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), The Daily Telegraph (UK), The Independent (UK), The Hindustan Times, The Indian Express, and The Statesman. Television and radio also covered the protest and they received good coverage on CNN and the BBC. The delegation managed to screen the TWA film Voices in Exile successfully although Chinese delegates (including some "Tibetan" from Tibet) tried to interrupt the screening by making loud noises, clapping and yelling over the top. When the film concluded a plain clothes Chinese security official snatched the cassette out of the machine and headed for the door, only to be stopped by the crowd of women in the room. Complaints have been filed with the NGO forum organisers by the Tibetan delegation and by Liz Fabel. Similarly, when the Tibetan delegation held a workshop it was interrupted by yet more Chinese and this time they were forced to close the session. It seems both security, plain-clothes police and other Chinese were "planted" deliberately to disrupt any activities by the Tibetans. The Tibetan delegation report that they are followed and watched constantly and that threats to their personal security are real. However they remain determined and courageous. Support by the international women's community has been enormous with many foreign women offering to be their "buddies" as a security measure. This support has been overwhelming. However International Committee of Lawyers for Tibet (ICLT) US lawyer Eva Herzer said that she had experienced harassment by Chinese security who had breached rules of conduct. She had had personal materials confiscated and had been shoved and punched by plain clothes police. This incident was covered by major television networks including CNN and BBC and she has filed formal complaints. The Tibetan team from Tibet have proved a constant problem and there has been little contact between the two groups. They have been sighted wearing "strange" Tibetan clothing constituting badly made chupas with Chinese blouses underneath, dancing imitation Tibetan dances to Chinese music. This is such a tragedy and the delegation are very upset about this. Their expensive tent however, of glossy photos and propaganda on how successful and empowered Tibetan women are in Tibet, had to be closed down because of the continuous rain that Beijing witnessed! But their presence is confusing other representatives who are not sure who is who anymore. Our Tibetan delegates are dealing with this problem as best they can. However our delegation have successfully managed to distribute information and materials on Tibetan women and human rights, reproductive issues and repression of freedoms. They have distributed stickers ( which we were successful in sending from here) bearing the slogans "SPEAK OUT FOR TIBETAN WOMEN" and "EQUALITY, PEACE AND FREEDOM FOR TIBETAN WOMEN" which other women are wearing enthusiastically. One women was even seen wearing one on CNN! The report Trek to Freedom will also hopefully be released in Beijing. So we are extremely proud of the achievements and courage of our delegates in Beijing. Against enormous odds they have secured massive interest, support and media attention and have achieved our goals of greater exposure and awareness. Well done! Please share this information with all at our Office, the Government plus with the NGOs, especially TYC! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Letter to Mr. Sponach, Resident Director of UN Information Center ------------------------------------------------------------------------- September 4, 1995 Mr. Sponack Resident Director United Nations Information Center New Delhi Honourable Mr. Sponack, This is with reference to the silent relay Hunger Strike the Tibetan Women's Association is holding in front of the United Nations Information Center from September 4th to 15th. The Hunger Strike has been initiated to express our disappointment and frustration at the exclusion of Tibetan women from the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. In spite of legal and formal documents issued by the NGO Forum, including the NGO Registration Form and the Hotel Confirmation letter and the UN accreditation letter to attend the Official Conference, Tibetan women in exile from India have been denied visas by the Chinese Embassy to participate in the current Women's Conference in Beijing. Tibetan Groups were also denied accreditation to participate in the official Conference due to political manipulations and pressure by the Chinese Government. Despite meeting the Conference criteria and in spite of our relevance to the Conference objectives Tibetan women from exile have been deliberately excluded. China signed an agreement with the United Nations that in order to host this event every interested woman and individual who has official registration for the conference would be granted a visa. This agreement has since been violated by China, while the United Nations have done nothing in response. Exiled Tibetan women from India, Switzerland, Norway, The Netherlands, The United States, and Germany, as well as other marginalized groups were deliberately excluded by Chinese authorities in this visa fiasco. In the act of deliberately refusing visas and thus access to this world event, the Conference themes of "Equality, Development and Peace" are invalidated. What are the values of these terms if they are meant to suit only certain nations and groups exclusively? How can women's rights be improved by the next century when all women representing all sections of the international women's community are not included in the international process? The way China handled the Conference, has certainly set a bad precedent for future UN Conferences and has seriously questioned the legitimacy of the United Nations. Please find enclosed the copies of our formal documents needed to obtain visas and participate in the Conference. We have also listed the Tibetan women world-wide who were refused visas by their respective Chinese embassies. Respected Sir, we appeal to your kindself to take appropriate measures to see that such injustices in the international system do not recur in the future. We request the United Nations to introduce more appropriate measures that will ensure fairer and unbiased representation and access to United Nations meetings in the future. We hope that the silenced voices of Tibetan people particularly our women will be heard and protected by the United Nations. We also appeal to you to kindly bring to the attention of the United Nations Secretariat the need to send the Special Rapporteaur on Violence Against Women to visit Tibet to find the actual prevailing conditions of Tibetan women there. On behalf of all the Tibetan women in and outside Tibet, I thank you and your staff for your sympathy and understanding. Your support to us at this crucial period has certainly encouraged us to continue with our endeavours. Thank you and with my best wishes, Yours Sincerely, Tsering Norzom Thonsur (Mrs) President LIST OF TIBETAN DELEGATES DENIED VISAS TO ATTEND THE FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN, BEIJING, CHINA. NAME: ORGANISATION: INDIA 1. Yangchen Dolkar Tibetan Youth Congress 2. Tsering Norzom Tibetan Women's Association 3. Tsering Tsomo -do- 4. Nawang Lhamo -do- 5. Lobsang Dechen -do- 6. Choni Sangmo -do- 7. Doma Tsomo -do- 8. Yudon Aukatsang -do- 9. Tashi Lhamo -do- 10. Ama Adhi -do- 11. Kesang Palmo -do- SWITZERLAND 1. Karma Dolma Namling Tibetan Women's Organisation 2. Dickie Shitsetsang -do- 3. Kelsang D. Zatul -do- NORWAY 1. Chungdak Koren Norwegian Tibet Comite 2. Pema Tsamchoe -do- NETHERLANDS 1. Tsering Yudon Jampa Unrepresented Nations and People's Organisation GERMANY 1. Youlha Tawo Tibetan Women's Organisation U.S.A. 1. Dechen Wangdu Tibetan Women's Association, East Coast 2. Julie Berriault Unrepresented Nations & Peoples Organisation SWEDEN 1. Ingegerd Hellner Tibet Support Group Sweden