abducting a family and imprisoning a small child for no offense. How can we let that happen?
In May 1995, Chinese occupying forces abducted the six year-old Panchen Lama from his home in Tibet. No one there has seen or heard from him since. His abduction was a crime not only against an innocent child, but against the Tibetan nation and its way of life.
In this, the tenth anniversary of his abduction, Free Tibet Campaign will relaunch the campaign for his freedom, determined to make 2005 the year of his release.
you can sign the online petition and find out how to help the campaign for his release at www.freetibet.org
it may seem like a small thing but it is amazing how effective large petitions can be in securing the release of political prisoners.
Foreign governments imprison these people so that people will forget them. Showing them that we won't accept human rights abuses can make them realise that it isn't helpful to their world image if so many people are still prepared to write to them about this.
It took me 2 minutes to send a letter of support to this campaign, and maybe it might help in even the smallest way. What have you got to lose, when your actions could help a child return to his home?
I decided that a way I could help was at least by starting this blog where I can post info about free tibet and amnesty campaigns. If even one person sees this and signs the petition, then it has worked...
here is some further info on the background of the Panchen Lama child. I got this info from the www.freetibet.org site:
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is the child recognised by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. He is probably the world's youngest political prisoner.
The last Panchen Lama (the 10th) died in 1989. He was sometimes regarded as a controversial figure, but he spoke out against Chinese rule on many occasions and wrote a report chronicling Tibet's famines in the 1960s. He spent more than 8 years in jail. He is remembered with great affection by the Tibetan people.
Shortly after his death, the search began for his reincarnation: the 11th Panchen Lama. Chadrel Rinpoche, Abbot of Tashilhunpo Monastery, was chosen by Beijing to lead the search and he requested that the Dalai Lama be kept informed of developments in the search. A list of possible candidates found its way to Dharamsala and on 15 May 1995, the Dalai Lama recognised the (then) 6 year old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama.
Shortly after the Dalai Lama's announcement, the boy and his family were taken under escort from their home to Beijing, and have not been seen since. Numerous arrests followed, including Chadrel Rinpoche, who served a six year sentence for "selling state secrets". Chadrel Rinpoche was released at the beginning of 2002, though it is believed he is now under house arrest in Lhasa. In November 1995, the Chinese authorities selected Gyaltsen Norbu, a boy from the same area of Tibet as Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, to be Panchen Lama. Norbu has been educated away from Tashilhunpo monastery, but returned there briefly in June 1999 for the first time since his enthronement in 1996.
On 28 May 1996, the Chinese authorities admitted that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family were being held at a secret location. In response to a formal question put by the United Nations Committee for the Rights of the Child, Wu Jianmin, China's ambassador to the UN stated that, "(Gedhun) has been put under the protection of the government at the request of his parents." Wu did not say where the child was being held. Xinhua reported that, "the boy was at risk of being kidnapped by separatists and his security has been threatened."
The Chinese Government have consistently denied requests from the United Nations and Governments for access to Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family, claiming that he was leading a normal life and did not want to be disturbed. In October 1999 a Chinese underground News Association reported that Nyima had died in a top security prison in Lanzhou. Witnesses to the transportation and cremation of the dead child claimed the corpse resembled photographs of the Panchen Lama. The Chinese Government has denied these rumours, telling the British Foreign Minister John Battle in November 1999 that the boy was "unharmed". There have been a number of rumours of his death in recent months, and concern for his well-being remains acute.
In this, the tenth anniversary of his abduction, Free Tibet Campaign will relaunch the campaign for his freedom, determined to make 2005 the year of his release.
you can sign the online petition and find out how to help the campaign for his release at www.freetibet.org
it may seem like a small thing but it is amazing how effective large petitions can be in securing the release of political prisoners.
Foreign governments imprison these people so that people will forget them. Showing them that we won't accept human rights abuses can make them realise that it isn't helpful to their world image if so many people are still prepared to write to them about this.
It took me 2 minutes to send a letter of support to this campaign, and maybe it might help in even the smallest way. What have you got to lose, when your actions could help a child return to his home?
I decided that a way I could help was at least by starting this blog where I can post info about free tibet and amnesty campaigns. If even one person sees this and signs the petition, then it has worked...
here is some further info on the background of the Panchen Lama child. I got this info from the www.freetibet.org site:
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is the child recognised by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. He is probably the world's youngest political prisoner.
The last Panchen Lama (the 10th) died in 1989. He was sometimes regarded as a controversial figure, but he spoke out against Chinese rule on many occasions and wrote a report chronicling Tibet's famines in the 1960s. He spent more than 8 years in jail. He is remembered with great affection by the Tibetan people.
Shortly after his death, the search began for his reincarnation: the 11th Panchen Lama. Chadrel Rinpoche, Abbot of Tashilhunpo Monastery, was chosen by Beijing to lead the search and he requested that the Dalai Lama be kept informed of developments in the search. A list of possible candidates found its way to Dharamsala and on 15 May 1995, the Dalai Lama recognised the (then) 6 year old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama.
Shortly after the Dalai Lama's announcement, the boy and his family were taken under escort from their home to Beijing, and have not been seen since. Numerous arrests followed, including Chadrel Rinpoche, who served a six year sentence for "selling state secrets". Chadrel Rinpoche was released at the beginning of 2002, though it is believed he is now under house arrest in Lhasa. In November 1995, the Chinese authorities selected Gyaltsen Norbu, a boy from the same area of Tibet as Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, to be Panchen Lama. Norbu has been educated away from Tashilhunpo monastery, but returned there briefly in June 1999 for the first time since his enthronement in 1996.
On 28 May 1996, the Chinese authorities admitted that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family were being held at a secret location. In response to a formal question put by the United Nations Committee for the Rights of the Child, Wu Jianmin, China's ambassador to the UN stated that, "(Gedhun) has been put under the protection of the government at the request of his parents." Wu did not say where the child was being held. Xinhua reported that, "the boy was at risk of being kidnapped by separatists and his security has been threatened."
The Chinese Government have consistently denied requests from the United Nations and Governments for access to Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family, claiming that he was leading a normal life and did not want to be disturbed. In October 1999 a Chinese underground News Association reported that Nyima had died in a top security prison in Lanzhou. Witnesses to the transportation and cremation of the dead child claimed the corpse resembled photographs of the Panchen Lama. The Chinese Government has denied these rumours, telling the British Foreign Minister John Battle in November 1999 that the boy was "unharmed". There have been a number of rumours of his death in recent months, and concern for his well-being remains acute.
posted by mybigtoe | 1:19 PM
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