Tibet Bureau Geneva submits petition to UN to press China for the release of Tibet’s Panchen Lama
Geneva: On the 26th anniversary of the enforced disappearance of Tibet’s Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, on behalf of Tibetans and supporters worldwide, the Tibet Bureau Geneva submitted a petition to the United Nations on 17 May 2021. The petition called the United Nations for immediate attention and actions towards the release of Tibet’s 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.
The petition was submitted to UN Secretary-General Mr. Antonio Guterres; UN Security Council; President of UN General Assembly; Chair of the Third Committee of General Assembly; President of UN Human Rights Council; UN High Commissioners for Human Rights; UN Treaty bodies and the relevant UN Special Rapporteurs.
Tibet’s 11th Panchen Lama was barely six-year-old when the Chinese authorities abducted him on 17 May 1995. Since then, Panchen Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family have not been seen in public. Despite repeated communications by UN Special Rapporteurs and treaty bodies, China has continuously refused to divulge any sufficient and satisfactory response to the queries on the well-being and whereabouts of Panchen Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family. The case of Panchen Lama is still open and remains one of the unresolved cases of the UN working group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances.
The 26 years of the enforced disappearance of the 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family members is a continuous crime not just against him, his family and the Tibetan people but also against every individual who believes in the sanctity of human rights.
The Tibet Bureau Geneva urged the United Nations to press China: to release Tibet’s 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, his entire family and Chadrel Rinpoche; to stop meddling in the religious practices of the people’s under its regime, including Tibetan Buddhist, Uighur Muslims and Christians; to allow an independent fact-finding mission to assess the human rights violations perpetrated against Tibetans in Tibet and other regions under China and raise concerns and call for the immediate release of the 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima by issuing public statement and note.