(TibetanReview.net, Mar09, 2017) – The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, has on Mar 8 expressed concern over “cultural and religious restrictions” in Tibet while seeking an “effective dialogue on important human rights issues” with Beijing. The High Commissioner made his remark during the presentation of his annual report to the ongoing 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council which had opened in Geneva on Feb 27.
“I am also disturbed by cases of restrictions on cultural and religious rights, particularly in Xinjiang and Tibet, and I will continue to reach out to China for an effective dialogue on important human rights issues,” the High Commissioner was quoted as saying.
Earlier, on Feb 24, six independent UN human rights experts had made public a joint statement on a range of serious human rights violations in Tibet, especially on the large-scale expulsion of monks and nuns and the destruction of their residences at the famed Larung Gar and Yachen Gar monastic academies in Serta (Chinese: Seda) County of Kardze (Ganzi) Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The experts expressed alarm over China’s violations of international human rights laws and wide-scale religious repression in Tibet.