FW: URGENT - Urge your Congressperson to sign Tibet letter!
donald ross
If Andy Harris is your congressman
Washington Office Phone: 1 202 224 3121
Salisbury Office Phone: 1 443 944 8624
Thank you for your consideration
Namaste'
Don
From: tencho...@savetibet.org
To: tencho...@savetibet.org
Subject: URGENT - Urge your Congressperson to sign Tibet letter!
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 10:55:49 -0500
Dear friends,
Congressmen Jim McGovern and Frank Wolf are circulating a Congressional sign-on letter to President Obama on Tibet. We ask you to contact your Representative and urge him or her to sign the letter (text below). The deadline for the letter is Wednesday, December 19, so we need to act fast.
The letter asks President Obama to:
- take a leading role with partner nations on measures to bring near-term improvements in the human rights situation in Tibet;
- employ the recent statement on Tibet by UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay as a tool for coordinated pressure with the Chinese government on the Tibetan issue;
- promote dialogue between Chinese officials and Tibetan leaders in order to achieve a negotiated solution, and
- nominate a Secretary of State who will champion the Tibet issue.
Please call your Member of Congress (House, not Senate; see http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/) and urge him or her to sign the McGovern-Wolf letter.
Thanks,
Todd and Tencho
Respond to Tibet’s Desperate Cries for Help
Sign Letter to President Obama
Dear Colleague,
Please join us on a letter to President Obama asking that he make Tibet a top priority for U.S. advocacy and ensure that the next Secretary of State will also be a champion of Tibet. The situation inside Tibet is worsening, and China’s response is to increase its crackdown on basic human rights and freedoms (http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/tibets-desperate-toll-keeps-climbing/). The United States must exercise greater leadership with its international partners to bring near-term improvements in the human rights situation in Tibet and in pressing the Chinese government to respect human rights and the preservation of Tibetan religion, language and culture.
To sign onto the letter, or for more information, please contact Cindy Buhl (McGovern) at 5-6101 or cindy...@mail.house.gov or Kalinda Stephenson (Wolf) at 5-5136 or kalinda.s...@mail.house.gov. The deadline for signing the letter is Wednesday, December 19th.
Sincerely,
James P. McGovern Frank R. Wolf
Member of Congress Member of Congress
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The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Obama,
We write to strongly urge you to make Tibet one of your top priorities for U.S. advocacy, especially given the desperate protests occurring in Tibet this past year. It is critical that the U.S. take a leading role and engage actively with partner nations on measures that could bring near-term improvements in the human rights situation in Tibet. As you consider candidates to be the next Secretary of State, we urge you to nominate someone who will champion this issue.
It has long been U.S. policy to promote dialogue without preconditions to advance a solution on Tibet and to press for respect for human rights and the preservation of Tibetan religion, language and cultural heritage.
Regrettably, the policies of the Chinese government towards the Tibetan people have only increased in their level of repression, their intrusion into all Tibetan institutions, most particularly religious and educational, and their denigration of Tibetan culture. These repressive conditions have led to the self-immolations and protests by Tibetans. As incidents of self-immolation increased in frequency, so have reports of mass gatherings of Tibetans to mourn and express solidarity with those who have undertaken these often mortal acts of protest. Continued crackdowns by Beijing threaten to escalate the situation.
It is in this context that we welcome the strong November 2nd statement on Tibet by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. She cited “continuing allegations of violence against Tibetans seeking to exercise their fundamental human rights of freedom of expression, association and religion,” and pointed to “reports of detentions and disappearances, of excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrators, and curbs on the cultural rights of Tibetans.”
We believe Commissioner Pillay’s statement requires stronger efforts on the part of the United States and the international community to press China to respect human rights in Tibet. It should serve as a clarion call for a new level of collaborative and coordinated pressure and engagement with the Chinese government on the Tibetan issue, including but not limited to allowing access by independent and impartial monitors to assess conditions on the ground, including the 12 outstanding requests for official visits by U.N. special rapporteurs; adoption by the Chinese government of policies recommended by U.N. special rapporteurs, such as suspension and review of Chinese policies and incentives that promote the settlement of mainland Chinese into Tibet; the suspension of non-voluntary resettlement of Tibetan nomadic herders; an independent inquiry into alleged excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrators of 2008, and allegations of torture and ill-treatment against those arrested and detained; lifting restrictions on media access to the region; respect for Tibetans’ rights to peaceful assembly, expression and religious practice, and the release of anyone detained for exercising those rights; and renewed engagement in dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives without preconditions.
The Chinese government appears to believe that by sealing off Tibet, international interest and concern will diminish. It will not. We were therefore pleased to see the recent statements by Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Under Secretary Maria Otero and by Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Michael Posner expressing U.S. concern over the increasing frequency of self-immolations by Tibetans and rejection of the continuing violence by Chinese authorities in Tibetan areas. But much more must be done.
We urge you, Mr. President, to take a leading role in support of Commissioner Pillay’s statement and actively engage partner nations on measures that could bring near-term improvements in the human rights situation in Tibet and serve to de-escalate rising tensions brought about by hard-line and destructive Chinese policies and actions. In addition, continued attention must be paid to promoting dialogue between Chinese officials and Tibetan leaders in order to achieve a negotiated solution to the problems afflicting Tibet and the Tibetan people.
We have the moral obligation to speak out for the Tibetan people and confront China about these abuses, to convey the aspirations for change that are being expressed so desperately by the Tibetan people directly to those who have the responsibility to heed Tibetans’ demands for change, respect and basic dignity. We ask that you make this a top priority and lead the way.
Sincerely,
Members of Congress
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Tencho Gyatso
Special Assistant for Advocacy
International Campaign for Tibet
1825 Jefferson Pl, NW
Washington, DC
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