Panchen Lama’s Disappearance a Continuous Crime, UN Told

By Ngawang C. Drakmargyapon
Phayul Special Correspondent

United Nations, Geneva, 22 March -– This morning the UN Human Rights Council heard a joint statement by 15 NGOs describing the disappearance of the Eleventh Panchen Lama of Tibet “a continuous crime.” The joint NGO statement was made in reaction to the report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance (WGEID), one of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, which was presented yesterday.

The statement delivered by a representative of Movement against Racism and Friendship among All Peoples (MRAP) was making a specific reference to the WGEID report which said: “All cases of enforced disappearance remain under active consideration by the Working Group until they are clarified. The crime of enforced disappearance, as defined in the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, is a continuous crime until the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person becomes known.”

“Accordingly, the enforced disappearance, since 1995, of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Eleventh Panchen Lama of Tibet, is a continuous crime,” the NGO statement told the Council.

The joint statement made on behalf of human rights groups who are based in Asia, Europe, North America and Africa wondered why the WGEID did not engage in a fresh intervention on the case of the Panchen Lama with the China.

“Tibetans and followers of Tibetan Buddhism remain deeply concerned about the whereabouts, well-being and fate of this boy. Therefore, we wish to know why the report of the Working Group failed to consider a renewed urgent intervention on this case, especially when the Working Group publicly stated on 2 May that its first session in 2006, “coincided with the 17th birthday of the Panchen Lama who disappeared when he was only 6 years old.”

The statement was supported by the following NGOs, Asian Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Network, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Society for Threatened Peoples, International Fellowship of Reconciliation, Interfaith International, France Libertés – Fondation Danielle Mitterrand, Pax Romana, International Educational Development, International Federation for the Protection of the Rights of Ethnic, Religious, Linguistic and other Minorities, Transnational Radical Party, Nonviolence International, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS) and Commission africaine des promoteurs de la santé et des droits de l’homme (CAPSDH).

The Report of the WGEID had observed that with respect to disappearance in present-day China, the Working Group “hopes that the Government will continue to make serious efforts to elucidate the fate or whereabouts of persons who have allegedly disappeared, including children and mentally challenged individuals.”

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima’s case was one of those reportedly raised to the Chinese authorities by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Louise Arbour, during an official visit to China from 29 August-2 September, 2005.

Since 1997, China failed to provide written document as requested by the WGEID to support China’s claim that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family wished not to be disturbed by outsiders…The Working Group stated that it “would appreciate being provided by the Government of China with documents supporting its statement that he and his parents had appealed to the Government for protection and at present are “leading normal lives and enjoying perfect health.”

On 7 September 2005, China informed the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, “is in good health and just like other children, is leading a normal, happy life and receiving a good cultural education.” That official communication from China said that the boy was not the “Panchen Lama” but merely an ordinary Tibetan child.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on 30 September 2005 took note of “the information provided about the Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, but remains concerned that it has not yet been possible to have this information confirmed by an independent expert.” The Committee further recommend that China: “Allow an independent expert to visit and confirm the well‑being of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima while respecting his right to privacy, and that of his parents.”

The WGEID Report to the Council this year with regards China said: “Most of the cases of disappearance reported to the Working Group occurred between 1988 and 1990, and between 1995 and 2005. The majority of these cases concerned Tibetans, 19 of them monks, who were allegedly arrested in Nepal and handed over to the Chinese authorities.”

The WGEID cites the disappearance of Thubten Samten from Tibet as one of the recent cases transmitted to the Chinese authorities for clarification. “The Working Group transmitted one case to the Government under its standard procedure, concerning Thubten Samten, a 19-year-old Tibetan monk who was allegedly taken by Chinese police officers from his room in a monastery in May 2006 for displaying prohibited items in his room, such as pictures of the Dalai Lama and a Tibetan national flag.”

Last December the UN General Assembly adopted a new human rights instrument, which is the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Article 2 of this Convention said that for the purposes of this Convention, “enforced disappearance” is considered to be the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.”

On 6 February 2007, the Convention was opened for signature at a ceremony in Paris hosted by the French Government. A total of 57 states signed the Convention on that day, which included 18 from African states, 19 European states, 11 Latin American states and six states in Asia and the Pacific. The Convention will enter into force when 20 countries have ratified it.

On 30 August 2006, on the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared, the WGEID reiterated “its solidarity with all those who suffer from enforced disappearance and pays tribute to the efforts of human rights defenders working for disappeared persons and their relatives.”