Tibetan Parlimentary & Policy Research Centre

Australia:
After the New Delhi Convention, the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament had a lengthy discussion on Tibet issue on June 6, 1994. Six Members of Parliament spoke in detail about the current situation in Tibet, and about the statement of the World Parliamentarians Convention on Tibet held in New Delhi. Members called upon the Australian Government to play a more active role on the Tibet issue.

The Australian Senate passed a resolution on June 29, 1995 asking the Minister for Foreign Affairs to urge the United Nations not to censor a quotation by His Holiness the Dalai Lama from its 50th anniversary publication. On the same day the Senate also passed a resolution supporting the right of Tibetan women to attend the Beijing Women's Conference.

On September 26, 1994 at Hobart in Tasmania, the National Conference of the ruling Labour Party of Australia passed a resolution condemning the "widespread human rights abuses occurring in Tibet" and called "earnest negotiations between the government of the People's Republic of China and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile on the future status of Tibet." The resolution has now become Labour Party policy, and this is the first time that the Labour Party has adopted a policy on Tibet.

The Australian Senate approved at the beginning of October, 1996 a resolution condemning the violation of human rights in Tibet with a special mention of the detention of the eleventh Panchen Lama.

Germany:
On June 19, 1995, a hearing on Tibet took place in the Bundestag, the German Parliament. The hearing was opened by Dr. Karl Hainz Hornhes, Chairman of German Bundestag's Committee of Foreign Policy, and chaired by Dr. Christian Schwartz-Schilling, Chairman of the Bundestag's Sub-Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid. The hearing was also addressed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The hearing addressed three main issues: the current situation in Tibet, China's population transfer in Tibet and the extent to which the international community can influence China's policy and thus, improve the situation in Tibet.

The European Parliament had held a hearing in 1990. Other than that, this was the first hearing on Tibet officially convened by the parliament of a European state.

At the end of the hearing, 26 members of the Bundestag expressed support for all the submissions that had been made regarding the gravity of situation in Tibet and dissatisfaction with the German Government's policy on Tibet. The representatives of the German Foreign Ministry said that Tibet should have genuine autonomy and expressed the German Government's determination to continue to discuss Tibet with the Chinese leadership. It said that the meeting of the German Foreign Minister with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on May 4, 1995 was in recognition of His Holiness the Dalai Lama as both the spiritual leader and the political leader of the Tibetan people.

On June 20, 1996, two days after the conclusion of the 2nd International Conference of Tibet Support Groups held in Bonn, the German Bundestag passed a resolution on Tibet, condemning China's human rights record in Tibet. The resolution said the Tibetan people have the right to self-determination and asked the Chinese government to engage in dialogue with the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.

European Parliament:
In a resolution by the European Parliament on the organisation by the Chinese government of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, the Chinese government was called on to allow women from Tibet who are accredited to NGOs to attend the conference.

The European Parliament on July 13, 1995 passed a resolution on Tibet calling on the Chinese authorities to ensure the immediate release of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the real Panchen Lama recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and his parents. While urging the Chinese authorities to end its violations of human rights in Tibet, the resolution expressed its support for the efforts of the Dalai Lama restore by peaceful means the cultural and religious freedom of Tibetan people, as well as their political autonomy.

The European Parliament passed a resolution on December 14,1995, condemning China's intervention in the selection of the eleventh Panchen Lama and its imposition of a fake Panchen Lama. Besides calling upon the Chinese authorities to respect the wishes of the Tibetan people by accepting the Panchen Lama as recognized by the Dalai Lama, the resolution also urged China to accord full freedom of movement and worship to Tibetan monks, and to respect the Tashi Lhunpo monastery, the historical seat of the Panchen Lama.

Canada:
A senate resolution on the situation in Tibet, the first of its kind in both the houses of the Canadian Parliament, was passed on June 14, 1995. The resolution called upon the Senate to urge the Government of Canada to encourage negotiations between China and representatives of Tibetan Government-in-Exile. It also instructed the Senate to urge the Government of Canada "to extend support to the Tibetan people in their struggle to regain their freedom and the preservation of their culture."

Inter-Parliamentary Union:
Like the stand taken by the nine Tibetan women in Beijing during the UN Women's Conference, which took the struggle of the Tibetan people right into the heart of China, the stand adopted by the Inter-Parliamentary Union's 12+ Group's statement on the issue of Tibet was unprecedented. Indeed, it was for the first time an international parliamentary group meeting in Beijing had given notice to the Chinese leadership of the depth of international concern of their policies of Tibet.

At the 96th Inter-Parliamentary Conference in Beijing from September 16 to 21, 1996, the IPU 12+ Group issued a statement which expressed its concern about the violations of human rights of the Tibetan people, and recognised their right to preserve their cultural and religious identity, and called on the Parliamentarians of the Union to support the efforts of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people to solve the Tibetan problem non-violently.