Swiss gov’t questioned for lack of results in rights dialogue with China

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Maya Graf, Vice President of Swiss Parliamentarian Group for Tibet.

(TibetanReview.net, Jun24’19) – Members of the Swiss Parliamentarian Group for Tibet have recently questioned the efficacy of their government’s years of rights dialogue with China, saying there was no result to show for it.

The questions were raised by Maya Graf, Vice President of Swiss Parliamentarian Group for Tibet, as well as Fabian Molina and Niklaus Gugger with support from various other parliamentarians during the session that concluded on Jun 21, according to Geneva-based Tibet Bureau Jun 24.

Questioning the effectiveness of Switzerland’s bilateral human rights dialogue with China, Graf ws stated to have asked, “Is the Federal Council willing to reconsider its fundamental assessment of the situation [Tibet and East Turkestan] and realign its policy towards China accordingly?” And she has also suggested, “Isn’t multilateral oriented strategy more effective than asymmetric bilateral dialogue with China?”

Questioning the allocation of resources for human rights dialogue and economic exchange with China, Gugger has remarked that results from bilateral human rights dialogues were “not visible”.  And he has demanded to know whether the federal government would step up “its effort in the field of human rights”.

Molina was stated to have asked Switzerland to use bilateral and multilateral forums to pressure China to allow a visit by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to Tibet and East Turkestan.

The parliamentary questioning took place in the backdrop of the conclusion in Beijing earlier this month of the 16th round of human rights dialogue between Switzerland and China.

An official press statement from the Swiss federal council said the human rights situation in Tibet was raised “critically”.

The federal is expected to respond to the MPs’ questions in the September sesson.

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