Ngawang C. Drakmargyapon
Phayul Special Correspondent
Geneva, 30 March – According to news appearing in the Swiss media, Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama will join a public rally in Zurich on 10 April to thank the people of Switzerland for fifty years of hospitality to the Tibetans.
The 1989 Nobel Peace Laureate will be in Switzerland from 7 to 11 April during which he will participate in a series of public gatherings and lectures. Thousands of Tibetans and their sympathisers are expected to attend the rally. The Tibetan Community in Switzerland and Swiss Tibetan Friendship Association (GSTF) will hold another event, “Merci Schwiiz (Thank You, Switzerland): 50 Years of Tibetans in Switzerland” on 8 April at Swissotel in the city.
A press statement issued on 24 March by the two biggest Tibetan organisations in Switzerland said the event was being marked to express the Tibetan people’s gratitude to the government and people of Switzerland. “The Tibetan Community in Switzerland and the Swiss-Tibetan Friendship Association will celebrate this important anniversary and take this opportunity to thank the Swiss people and government for their hospitality and solidarity during these 50 years.”
His Holiness the Dalai Lama will address this anniversary event for which dignitaries from the federal, state, municipal authorities of Switzerland and aid agencies have been invited by the organisers.
However, the Swiss Foreign Minister declined the invitation for the 8 April event citing “lack of time.” Last August, Bern did not officially receive the Dalai Lama, stating that all the seven cabinet Ministers would be on “vacation” during the Tibetan leader’s visit.
Meanwhile, the Swiss Parliament refused to kowtow to the pressure from Beijing and confirmed that Ms. Pascale Bruderer, the President of the Swiss Parliament will share the dais with the Dalai Lama at the ceremony on 8 April at Choekhor Ghon (Tibet-Insitut) in Rikon, according to media reports. Tibet-Institut is one of the oldest Tibetan Buddhist centres in Europe. Five years ago, Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin met His Holiness the Dalai Lama during a visit to Switzerland which is one of the first countries after India to provide rehabilitation to Tibetan refugees.
Swiss government had said though its Ministers had met the Dalai Lama in the past China will now consider it as supporting “Tibetan separatists.” Mr. Kelsang Gyaltsen, Envoy of H. H. the Dalai Lama on 2 August 2009 told swissinfo.org: “As a Swiss-Tibetan I also believe that this decision is not in Switzerland’s interest. Switzerland has a reputation as a country committed to humanitarian values and traditions and to the ideals of freedom and democracy. By not meeting with the Dalai Lama the decision of the federal council [government] is in some way damaging the credibility of these values for which Switzerland stands in the eyes of the international community.”
Stating its official position on Tibet, the Swiss Foreign Ministry website acknowledges that Tibet “is a region of the People’s Republic of China with an Autonomy Statute for the Tibetan population.” This position under the heading, “Bilateral relations between Switzerland and Tibet” also stressed that the strong Tibetan presence “in Switzerland and successful integration into Swiss political life have prompted Switzerland to take great interest in the situation in those areas of China populated by Tibetans. It focuses particularly on social, economic, cultural, religious and human-rights topics. The subject of Tibet is regularly discussed as part of the human-rights dialogue that Switzerland and China have been conducting since 1991. The Dalai Lama, who is reviled by Beijing as “separatist” has visited Switzerland several times in the past.
In connection with the 10 April afternoon rally, “Swiss for Tibet-Tibet for the World”, an online petition has been launched calling upon the people of Switzerland to show their solidarity with the Tibetan people and to express their disappointment with the Federal authorities for refusing to receive the Dalai Lama. This petition drive has now prompted an online debate on the Swiss policy towards the Dalai Lama, Tibet, China and human rights.
Organisers of “Merci Schwiiz” campaign said that the first Tibetan refugees to settle in Switzerland were 20 children who arrived at the Pestalozzi Children’s Village in Trogen in the autumn of 1960. A year later, 23 Tibetans arrived in Waldstatt. This encouraged the Association of Tibetan Homes in Switzerland to campaign for the resettlement of 1,000 Tibetans. The Swiss government approved the request on 29 March 1963 stating: “Keeping with our tradition in humanitarian issues, we should allow 1000 Tibetan refugees in Switzerland.”
Another group of Tibetans who settled in the country were the 158 children adopted by Swiss families between 1961 and 1964.
Current estimates put the Tibetan population in Switzerland over 4,000 but this figure is expected to grow further as family members reunite with Tibetans who have settled in the country during the past few years.
The Dalai Lama is scheduled to address the Tibetan Community in Switzerland and Liechtenstein on the afternoon of 11 April.
The Tibetan Leader will also address the First Tibetan Youth Parliament session on the morning of 10 April. Tibetan Youth Association in Europe (TYAE) which will host this “unique” meeting said: “We want to give the Tibetan youth the opportunity to participate democratically by freely expressing their views on important issues as well as to develop new political solutions for Tibet, thereby strengthening the Tibetan youth’s perspective in the Tibet movement.”
“We Are Tibet” is the theme of this youth gathering from 9-11 April.
