U.N. Human Rights
Experts Unite to Condemn China Over Expulsions of
Tibetans
EDWARD WONG FEB. 27,
2017 New York Times
A half-dozen United Nations experts who
investigate human rights abuses have taken the rare step of banding
together to condemn China for expulsions of monks and nuns from
major religious enclaves in a Tibetan region.
In a sharply worded statement, the experts
expressed alarm about “severe restrictions of religious freedom” in
the area.
Most of the expulsions mentioned by the
experts have taken place at Larung Gar, the world’s largest
Buddhist institute and one of the most influential centers of
learning in the Tibetan world. Officials have been demolishing some
of the homes of the 20,000 monks and nuns living around the
institute, in a high valley in Sichuan Province.
The statement also cited accusations of
evictions at Yachen Gar, sometimes known as Yarchen Gar, an enclave
largely of nuns that is also in Sichuan and has a population of
about 10,000.
“While we do not wish to prejudge the accuracy
of these allegations, grave concern is expressed over the serious
repression of the Buddhist Tibetans’ cultural and religious
practices and learning in Larung Gar and Yachen Gar,” the statement
said.
It was signed by six of the United Nations
experts, or special rapporteurs, who come from various countries.
They each specialize in a single aspect of human rights, including
cultural rights, sustainable environment and peaceful assembly. It
is unusual for so many of them to collaborate in this
manner.
The statement was sent to the Chinese
government in November, but was made public only in recent days,
before the start of this year’s session of the United Nations Human
Rights Council in Geneva. The session began Monday and is scheduled
to end on March 24.
The United Nations experts have asked Beijing
to address the reports of evictions and demolitions. The release of
the statement before the session in Geneva puts more pressure on
China to explain the actions taking place at the two Tibetan
Buddhist institutions. China says matters related to Tibet are
internal affairs, but Chinese officials in Beijing have privately
expressed some concern over outside perceptions of the demolitions
and evictions at Larung Gar and related Western news
coverage.
Over the summer, Chinese officials began
deporting monks and nuns living at Larung Gar who were not
registered residents of Garze, the prefecture where the institution
is. Since then, hundreds of clergy members have been forced out,
and workers have demolished small homes clustered along the valley
walls. One day last fall, I watched workers tearing and cutting
apart wooden homes, sometimes using a chain saw.
Official reports have said the demolition is
part of a project to improve safety in the area because people live
in such tight quarters there. In 2014, a fire destroyed about 100
homes.
Residents said the government planned to bring
the population down to 5,000 from 20,000 by next year. The
government evicted many clergy members once before, in 2001, but
people returned. The encampment was founded in 1980 near the town
of Sertar by Jigme Phuntsok, a charismatic lama, and is now run by
two abbots. Those abbots have not protested the demolitions or
evictions.
The United Nations experts said in the
statement that while they awaited China’s response, they “urge that
all necessary interim measures be taken to halt the alleged
violations and prevent their reoccurrence.”