Human Rights Violations Highlighted Amid Chinese Premier?s visit to New Zealand and Australia

As Chinese Premier Li Qiang embarks on a relations-mending visit to Australia and New Zealand this week, the issue of human rights violations in Tibet, Uyghur regions and Hong Kong are invariably raised by rights groups.

The most strident and vocal has been the Tibetan community in New Zealand while Amnesty International has also reminded Australia about China?s persistent human rights violations amid economic interests of the countries.

The Tibetan community in Auckland has written to New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon requesting him to raise Tibet-related issues during the visit of Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who is the most powerful politician in China after President Xi Jinping

The Auckland Tibetan Association?s letter to New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon reads, ?Chinese Premier Li Qiang?s visit to New Zealand this week is a significant one and Tibetan-New Zealanders are always in support of what our leaders do to further our nation?s interest. China is New Zealand?s largest trading partner and we understand the government?s focus on further growth opportunities.?

?However, we urge you not to be silenced by China and be complicit in their moral and ethical depravation,? the letter added.

According to the letter, ?In February 2024 alone, over a thousand Tibetans in Dege County protested the planned development of a massive hydro-dam that would flood nearby villages and obliterate six monasteries, each with centuries-old Buddhist murals. The peaceful protestors, many of whom were seen getting down on their knees, wailing and begging the Chinese authorities were arrested for simply trying to protect what was rightfully theirs.?

The Tibetan community has urged the New Zealand government to ?

? Call on China, during meetings with the Chinese Premier, to re-engage in dialogue with the Dalai Lama and Central Tibetan Administration to resolve the Sino-Tibet conflict.

? Reinforce New Zealand?s expectation that China immediately grants meaningful and unfettered access to Tibet for independent observers, including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

? Demand that China end its oppressive policies targeting Tibetan children and end the residential boarding school and pre-school system that separate an estimated one million Tibetan children from their families in denial of their cultural, religious and linguistic rights.

? Demand that China cease interference in the selection and installation of Tibetan Buddhist leaders, including any future Dalai Lama. The determination of Tibetan Buddhist leaders must be determined solely by the Tibetan people, in accordance with international human rights law, without any interference by the Chinese Government.

? Demand that China immediately release the world?s youngest political prisoner His Eminence the 11thPanchen Lama and all other prisoners of conscience.

? Demand that China repeal or amend provisions of their Criminal Procedure Law that violate the rights of detainees to a fair trial, and are routinely used to arrest Tibetans for peacefully exercising their human rights under the guise of ?separatism? and other State Security crimes.

The Auckland Tibetan Association alleged that political repression, social discrimination, economic marginalization, environmental destruction and cultural assimilation are Tibet?s reality today.

China?s ?Sinicization? campaign in Tibet continues to intensify with state-run colonial style boarding schools housing nearly one million Tibetan children forced apart from their parents, while restrictions on the Tibetan language in schools and across monasteries is aimed to dilute and eventually erase the Tibetan cultural and religious identity, the Tibetan community said.

As per reports from Toronto-based Citizen Lab, between 2016 and 2022, Chinese police have collected roughly 1.2 million DNA samples of Tibetans from some as young as five to combat ?crime? and ?social stability? in the region, while the Communist regime also demanded biometric information from Tibetans in other parts of Tibet such as DNA and IRIS records on the pretext of researching altitude sickness and studying male ancestry.

These actions are covertly designed to intensify political surveillance of Tibetans, according to Citizen Lab.

At least 159 Tibetans have self-immolated since 2009 as a form of political protest, as per reports.

Tibet is the least free country on earth with a score of 0 out of 100, while on the other hand, New Zealand is one of the freest countries with a score of 99, according to International watchdog group Freedom House?s ?Freedom in the World 2024? report.

The Tibetan community in Auckland said the Tibetan people?s devotion to the 14th Dalai Lama is viewed as an act of separatism and a national security threat by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which results in continuous crackdown on the Tibetan monastic community and freedom of religion.

China?s Debt Trap Diplomacy in the Pacific Islands feels a little too close to home and not without threats to New Zealand, as per the Auckland Tibetan Association.

China?s alleged state sponsored cyber hacking on New Zealand parliament in 2021 and response from our government just cautioning them to ?refrain from such activity in future? has been lacking lustre, the association added.

The Tibetan community also asked the New Zealand government to shut down Confucius Institutes in its university campuses, adopt Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, adopt Magnitsky Act and oppose China?s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Meanwhile, London-headquartered human rights NGO Amnesty International said as Chinese Premier Li Qiang prepares for his upcoming visit to Australia, it is more important than ever for the Australian Government to prioritise human rights in their discussions.

While recent efforts to address human rights issues in Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, and broader China, highlighted during Foreign Minister Wang Yi?s visit in March, were welcomed, Premier Li?s visit is a unique opportunity to push for concrete commitments and tangible improvements from the Chinese Government, the NGO said.

?Chinese Premier Li?s visit is a critical moment for Australia to reaffirm its commitment to human rights and hold the Chinese government accountable,? said Amnesty International, adding that the Australian government must ensure that economic interests do not overshadow the fundamental rights and freedoms of Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, and Chinese human rights defenders.

(voicesagainstautocracy.org)