The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) held a press conference at the Press Club of India (PCI), New Delhi, on 23 October 2006.
41 Tibetan refugees who reached New Delhi yesterday interacted with various media agencies based in Delhi. Venerable Thupten Tsering, 36, Dolma Palkyid, 16, and Lobsang Choeden, 27, representing the group testified before media about their experience escaping Chinese armed police shooting incident at Nangpa La pass. Later the media met with the remaining refugees outside the PCI for a group shoot and to learn their personal stories.
Media present at the press conference were Reuters, AFP, AP, Sydney Morning Herald, CNN-IBN, Infocell, Deutsche Walle, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Societe Radio-Canada, Swedish Radio, Press Trust of India, Pio TV, CBS News, Deutsche Radio Free Asia, Voice of Tibet, Phayul.com and other media personnel.
Press Statement
Contact Person:
Mr. Urgen Tenzin (Executive Director) Mr. Tenzin Norgay (Personnel for UN Affairs)
Date: 23October 2006
First hand account by refugees surviving Chinese police bullets
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) condemns the Chinese People’s Armed Police (PAP) firing live ammunitions on a group of Tibetan refugees on 30 September 2006. The shooting, which resulted in at least two known deaths, happened as 75 refugees were preparing to cross the glaciated Nangpa La, an 18,753 ft. pass close to Everest base camp. Several other reports say up to seven Tibetans may have been killed after the group was fired upon by the Chinese troops.
The whereabouts of the 32 refugees is unknown. Fourteen of these were children, the youngest is eight years old. Of the refugees who were not injured or arrested, some are missing, whilst 41 (27 minors below eighteen years) managed to reach Kathmandu, Nepal, where they were kept under the protection of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. The group is now in Delhi enroute to Dharamsala, the seat of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Four Tibetans among the group will today testify to the media personals of the torment they had to undergo while on their quest for freedom in exile.
Recently the Chinese government has taken the unusual step of issuing an official statement on the shootings. The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed that several Tibetans had been injured in a border incident, but denied anyone was killed as a result of gunfire. The authorities claim one of the injured succumbed to ‘oxygen shortage’ in hospital. The official news agency, Xinhua, stated that when asked to turn back, Tibetan refugees ‘refused and attacked the soldiers’ so ‘[t]he frontier soldiers were forced to defend themselves and injured two [refugees].’ The Foreign Ministry agreed with the claim that any violence on the part of the PAP was in self-defense.
However, according to testimony of the fleeing refugees corroborated by eyewitness accounts of nearby Everest mountaineers testify that the refugees were running uphill, away from the shooting. They also claim that at least one refugee was killed by gunfire. According to mountaineering website, MountEverest.net, an American climber reported, ‘Without warning, shots rang out. Over, and over and over. The line of people started to run uphill – they were at 19,000ft. 2 people were down, and they weren’t getting up.’ There are no reports of any Tibetans carrying weapons. A British climber reported that climbers ‘could see Chinese soldiers quite close to Advance Base Camp kneeling, taking aim and shooting, again and again, at the group, who were completely defenseless.’ while Romanian climber Sergiu Matei, reported, “The Chinese militias were hunting Tibetans onto the glacier… shooting them like rats, dogs, rabbits – you name it.”
In light of testimonies by the refugees, the foreign eyewitnesses and confirmed by video, TCHRD dismisses the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s comment of “self defense” by the PAP officers. The Centre demands a detailed accounting by the Chinese government.
The actions of the PAP violate a number of international and national laws. Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides ‘everyone the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution’. The 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees also accords legitimate refugees with the same human rights as those enjoyed by nationals.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s claim of self-defense is also illegitimate under international law. Whilst Article 51 of the UN Charter does enshrine a right to self-defense, this right can only be legitimately exercised if a national is under armed attack. The refugees testimony corroborated by foreign national eyewitnesses confirm that the refugees were not armed. The 27 July 2006 ‘Prevention of human rights violations committed with small arms and light weapons’ report, submitted by the UN Special Rapporteur Barbara Frey, further clarifies the rights of states in self defense: ‘Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations applies to States acting in self-defense against armed attacks against their State sovereignty. It does not apply to situations of self-defense for individual persons.’ She adds that ‘[s]tate officials must refrain from violations [of human rights] with small arms’.
TCHRD calls upon the UN High Commission for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council to seek justice for the Tibetan refugees shot in the Nangpa La incident, and to ensure that the Tibetans now in custody of the Chinese police are freed immediately and without harm.
