Dharamshala December 14 – Reverberations of the recent crackdown on Drepung monastery through patriotic re-education was felt in the Norwegian parliament.
Olav Gunnar Ballo, MP Socialist Left Party (SLP) raised a question about the recent incidents of violence in the Drepung and asked how the foreign minister of Norway was thinking of taking up the human rights violation in Tibet with China.
“Several monks have been arrested in one of the Lhasa’s largest monastery in Tibet, and curfew has been imposed on the rest of the monks in the monastery after they refused to sign a declaration that would have led to a break with their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in practice. Foreign witnesses describe the situation in Lhasa as having been deteriorated in the last few weeks, with new violations on the fundamental human rights of the population. How does the foreign minister intend to take up the violations on human rights in Tibet with Chinese authorities?”
The foreign minister in his answer said that Human rights is a main issue in the dialogue between Norway and China and that there is a significant Norwegian involvement in connection with Tibet and the human rights situation.
“The Norwegian opposition to the death penalty, promotion of freedom of religion and protection of Tibetan culture is emphasised both in our regular bilateral contacts with the Chinese authorities at different levels as well as in all relevant multilateral connections- like the UN Human Rights Commission”.
The foreign minister said he also raised individual cases with the Chinese authorities where Tibetans have been imprisoned on improper grounds.
The Norwegian embassy in Beijing is now looking into the incident in the monastery that the member of parliament referred to, and the embassy will take up the current situation with the Chinese authorities, he said.
The minister said that the question concerning this particular case would be raised during the next Norwegian Chinese Round Table Conference about human rights depending on the findings of Norwegian Embassy in China. The Round Table Conference will take place from the 4th to 6th of January 2006. The round table conference will present a good opportunity to take up the situation in Tibet , and that too to at a political level . The Norwegian delegation will be lead by the State Secretary Raymond Johansen.
Norwegian educational institution and the voluntary organizations have also got involved with Tibet – especially The Oslo Coalition of Freedom of Religion or Belief is actively working on the question of freedom of religion in China, with a special focus on Tibet and Buddhism, the minister stated.
with inputs from Norwegian Tibet Commitee and Chungdak Koren
