Parliamentary question - E-000786/2012Parliamentary question
E-000786/2012

VP/HR — Tibet: violations of the Tibetan people's human rights and freedom of expression by the Chinese authorities

Question for written answer E-000786/2012
to the Commission (Vice-President/High Representative)
Rule 117
Roberta Angelilli (PPE) , Gianni Pittella (S&D) , Gabriele Albertini (PPE) , Sonia Alfano (ALDE) , Alfredo Antoniozzi (PPE) , Raffaele Baldassarre (PPE) , Paolo Bartolozzi (PPE) , Mario Borghezio (EFD) , Frieda Brepoels (Verts/ALE) , Antonio Cancian (PPE) , Lara Comi (PPE) , Leonidas Donskis (ALDE) , Kinga Gál (PPE) , Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg (S&D) , Mikael Gustafsson (GUE/NGL) , Salvatore Iacolino (PPE) , Philippe Juvin (PPE) , Filip Kaczmarek (PPE) , Othmar Karas (PPE) , Tunne Kelam (PPE) , Seán Kelly (PPE) , Giovanni La Via (PPE) , Vytautas Landsbergis (PPE) , Eva Lichtenberger (Verts/ALE) , Monica Luisa Macovei (PPE) , Thomas Mann (PPE) , Erminia Mazzoni (PPE) , Clemente Mastella (PPE) , Claudio Morganti (EFD) , Tiziano Motti (PPE) , Cristiana Muscardini (PPE) , Kristiina Ojuland (ALDE) , Mariya Nedelcheva (PPE) , Alfredo Pallone (PPE) , Aldo Patriciello (PPE) , Mario Pirillo (S&D) , Niccolò Rinaldi (ALDE) , Raül Romeva i Rueda (Verts/ALE) , Licia Ronzulli (PPE) , Anna Rosbach (ECR) , Oreste Rossi (EFD) , Matteo Salvini (EFD) , Amalia Sartori (PPE) , Giancarlo Scottà (EFD) , Marco Scurria (PPE) , Joanna Senyszyn (S&D) , Debora Serracchiani (S&D) , Sergio Paolo Frances Silvestris (PPE) , Joanna Katarzyna Skrzydlewska (PPE) , Peter Šťastný (PPE) , Gianluca Susta (S&D) , Rui Tavares (Verts/ALE) , Ramon Tremosa i Balcells (ALDE) , Giommaria Uggias (ALDE) , Manfred Weber (PPE) , Andrea Zanoni (ALDE) , Keith Taylor (Verts/ALE) , Jarosław Leszek Wałęsa (PPE) and László Tőkés (PPE)

In the last six months alone, no fewer than 15 Tibetan Buddhists, most of whom were monks, have set themselves on fire in public, suffering terrible injury or even dying in the process, to make world public opinion aware of China’s aggressive policy towards Tibet and the dramatic situation there.

In the most recent incident, a 40-year-old monk who ran an orphanage in Darlang set himself on fire after pouring kerosene over his body. However, faced with such acts of desperation, the Chinese authorities have responded by imposing police restrictions and tightening controls, while suicide and attempted suicide have been defined by the Chinese authorities as acts of terrorism instigated by the Dalai Lama. In addition to a police crack-down, the Chinese authorities have stepped up mandatory ‘patriotic re-education’ programmes for monks, i.e. coercive indoctrination of Chinese history in order to eradicate Tibetan cultural and religious identity.

Accordingly, will the Vice-President/High Representative say:

OJ C 211 E, 25/07/2013