Germany’s Human Rights Commissioner visits Tibet for a dialogue with the Chinese counterparts
DHARAMSALA, Dec 6: Germany’s top official for human rights is in Tibet for a dialogue with the Chinese counterparts.
The delegation led by Germany’s Human Rights Commissioner Barbel Kofler has reportedly travelled to Tibet late yesterday and will take part in a dialogue with the Chinese counterparts today and tomorrow.
Conditions in Tibet are of “great cause for concern” due to restrictions on traditional Buddhist culture and “excessive controls,” Kofler said in her statement according to a report on Associated Press.
Prior to her visit to Tibet, the German Human Rights Commissioner was reportedly denied permission to visit the heavily policed northwestern region of Xinjiang, the report added.
I wanted to travel to Xinjiang, where an estimated 1 million members of the Turkic Muslim Uighur minority have been held in political re-education camps in what China calls a campaign against terrorism and religious extremism, she was quoted as saying in the report.
“I am shocked by reports of the treatment of the Turkic Uighur minority, Kofler’s said in her statement and added that she would “continue to push for permission to visit Xinjiang soon.”
As stated by Kunchok Yaklha, the Special Appointee for Human Rights, the Tibet Bureau, Geneva at the 7th UN Forum on Business and Human Rights, the report noted that the crackdown in Xinjiang was preceded by a massive security campaign against anti-government sentiment in China occupied Tibet.
