(TibetanReview.net, Jun02’23) – A committee of the Czech Republic’s Senate has adopted a resolution May 30, strongly objecting to China’s assimilation boarding schools system imposed on Tibetan children with the aim destroy the Tibetan culture and identity. The Committee on Education, Science, Culture, Human Rights and Petitions has also called for an end to China’s interference in the succession of the Dalai Lama.
The committee, which has referred to a recent UN human rights report on the boarding school issue, has called on the Chinese government to move away from the practice of forcibly placing Tibetan children in residential schools and forcibly assimilating them, and instead allow Tibetan children to remain in their family environment, be educated in their native language and develop Tibetan culture and tradition.
On the Dalai Lama reincarnate-succession issue, the committee has expressed concern that the traditional practice of selecting and recognizing the reincarnation of Tibetan clerics, including the Dalai Lama, has been disrupted and influenced by the intervention of the Chinese authorities and that this situation constitutes a serious obstacle to the freedom of religion and belief of the Tibetan people.
Earlier, in Nov 2022, during the Czech Presidency of the EU, the Senate organized a conference on Tibet in Prague that was presided over by the Vice-Presidents of the Czech Senate Ms Jitka Seitlová and Mr Jiří Oberfalzer, with the participation of Jiří Kozák, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; and Marek Havrda, Deputy Minister for European Affairs.
Reacting to the resolution, Katerina Bursik, member of Czechs Support Tibet, has said: “The Tibetan issue is losing the attention of the world because it has been unresolved for a very long time and has been overlooked by other causes and events on the international scene. It is therefore important to examine what is happening in Tibet again and again and to draw attention to the human rights violations that are taking place.
“It is also necessary to be concerned about the future of Tibetans not only in Tibet but in exile throughout the world. I am glad that the Czech Republic, at various levels, from non-profit organizations to Parliament to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, has not forgotten the Tibetans.”
Bursik believes the Czech Senate committee resolution will resonate in other countries at various political levels, and “we will send a clear signal to the Chinese representatives that the Tibetans are not forgotten and that violations of their rights will not be overlooked.”