The Potala Palace, habitual residence of the Dalai Lama, in a file photo / TEA ENG KOON /AFP
In it Senate, that territorial Chamber that is sometimes given little importance, things happen. Not only when it goes Pedro Sanchez to debate with Alberto Núñez Feijóo or when senators give final approval to a controversial law. The parliamentary machinery is always active, although it is far from the media spotlight with many of its initiatives going unnoticed. However, there are times that would surprise us, as with the decision of thirty senators to become friends of tibet for “defend fundamental rights” of its citizens.
The association, powered by ERC, aims to give a voice to the Tibetan people and denounce “the repression of the Chinese regime”
Last Tuesday, 25 April (a date marked on the calendar for Tibetans), a dozen formations constituted the Senate Parliamentary Association to Support the People of Tibet. The announcement went practically unnoticed, but the ERC senator Robert Still, promoter of the initiative, explains that the Senate “can also play an important role in international issues”. That is somewhat the intention of these thirty senators from ERC, EH Bildu, More for Mallorca, commitment, Together for Catalonia, PNV, Canarian Coalition, Gomera Socialist Association, More Madrid, Later Yes and the Regionalist Party of Cantabria
In conversation with EL PERIÓDICO, Masih assures that “Tibetans suffer a lot for their cultural freedom and expression”, given that “everything is very controlled by the Chinese authorities“. In this sense, points out that the initiative seeks to make this town “also have their rights like other communities and other countries in the world”. In this regard, the association has set itself the objective “be a speaker for the complaint violation of human rights in Tibet”.
Report the situation
Masih narrates that this idea arose thanks to the close relationship he maintains with the Tibet House in Barcelona and that when he presented it to several of his fellow senators, he observed that it was well received. To the point that 11 parties, with a total of 38 senators, they have decided to support him. The two major parties have been left out of this consensus., PP and PSOE, and training like Cs, Teruel Exists, Vox, he PAR o UPN.
“We are not against anyone, nor against the Chinese Government“, asegura Still, although in the press release they issued for the constitution of the association they do clearly denounce “the repression against Tibetan dissent perpetrated by the chinese regime, with arbitrary arrests, torture, internments in illegal detention centers, mistreatment and extrajudicial deaths”. Even so, The Republican senator emphasizes that what they ask “It's just that the rights of the Tibetans are respected”.
In this sense, anticipates that they will present an initiative in the Senate to publicize the situation in this autonomous region of China, although he does not know if the PSOE would give its support.
The constitution of this friendship group with Tibet the past 25 April was not random. This past Tuesday they fulfilled 34 years since Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the eleventh Panchen Lama from Tibet, the second most revered figure in Tibetan Buddhism, his whereabouts are unknown. in 1995, el actual Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatsho, pointed out this boy as the second religious authority in Tibet. However, The Government of China recognized another child named Chökyi Gyalpo.
After that, Tibetans denounce that Chinese authorities kidnapped Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, making him the youngest political prisoner in the world. Since then, The Chinese Government has been reporting on their whereabouts. The last update was in May 2020, when the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian. Stop, revealed that he had already fulfilled 31 years, He had gone to university and now had a job. However, He assured that neither he nor his parents want to be bothered. In it 34 birthday, the House of Tibet has requested a “proof of life” a China.
