Dharamshala, India — Over 60 Parliamentarians from different countries across the world issued a joint statement condemning the totalitarian communist regime in China on recent reports of instituting a mass forced labor system in Tibet similar to the one in neighboring Xinjiang, despite intensifying global scrutiny of China’s repressive policies toward the occupied regions.
"63 Parliamentarians from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) issued a joint statement today condemning China on reports of forced labour in Tibet. The report authored by Adrian Zenz titled “Xinjiang’s Militarized Vocational Training System Comes to Tibet” was co-published by the IPAC and describes the widespread system of forced labour in Tibet," according to the Tibet Bureau Geneva.
The report documents the coercive nature of the labour training and transfer system being carried out in Tibet under the “2019-2020 Militarized Vocational Training and Labor Transfer Action Plan” which are very similar to the ‘system of coercive vocational training and labor transfer’ established in Xinjiang. It says "over 500,000 laborers have been enlisted from rural areas in Tibet with notable accounts of enforced indoctrination, intrusive surveillance, military-style enforcements, and harsh punishments notes the report. The report further documents clear elements of coercion starting from the recruitment, training, and job matching to the ‘centralized and strongly state-administered and supervised transfer process.’
In the joint statement, the 63 legislators strongly note, “We stand united in unequivocal condemnation of these practices and call upon the Chinese government to halt these atrocities immediately.” The legislators further called upon their respective governments to take actions to condemn the atrocities and prevent further human rights abuses including:
- Governments should impose targeted Magnitsky-style sanctions upon those responsible;
- Governments should urgently revise their risk advice to businesses currently sourcing from areas affected by Tibetan and other Chinese forced labor schemes to keep goods and services purchased in our respective jurisdictions from being tainted by Tibetan forced labor;
- Governments must call for reciprocal access to Tibet in order to conduct an independent international investigation into the situation of the Tibetan people;
- The Secretary-General of the United Nations should install a Special Rapporteur to investigate forced-labor and ethnic persecution in the People’s Republic of China.
“We thank all the parliamentarians for their strong united stand against the atrocities being carried out by the Chinese government in Tibet. Your unwavering support to justice and basic freedoms of Tibetans sends a positive message to Tibetans suffering under the repressive policies of the authoritarian regime of the Chinese Communist Party," President of the Central Tibetan Administration Dr Lobsang Sangay said, thanking the 63 parliamentarians.
"The governments across the world should unite and take decisive actions against China’s persecution of Tibetans and other peoples living under the Chinese Communist Party’s regime. The time has come for the United Nations to break its silence on Tibet and heed the global calls for the appointment of Special Rapporteur to enquire into the human rights violations in Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and other regions in the People’s Republic of China,” the Tibetan President added.
The communist-authoritarian regime led by dictator Xi Jinping is pushing Tibetan rural laborers off their land and into military-style training centers or concentration camps where they are turned into factory workers, in a program similar to Xinjiang’s internment camps. Over 1 million Muslim Uyghurs are believed to be imprisoned in the concentration camps, with countless children separated from their families.
Established on 4 June 2020 the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China is an international cross-party alliance of parliamentarians focusing on reforms necessary on how democratic countries should approach China.
The joint statement is signed by George Christensen MP (Australia), Andrew Hastie MP (Australia), Sen. Kimberley Kitching (Australia), James Bezan MP (Canada), Hon. Irwin Cotler (Canada), Garnett Genuis MP (Canada), Sen. Thanh Hai Ngo (Canada), Pavel Fischer MP (Czechia), Jan Lipavský MP (Czechia), Uffe Elbæk MP (Denmark), Isabelle Florennes MP (France), Sen. André Gattolin (France), Margarete Bause MdB (Germany), Michael Brand MdB (Germany), Enrico Borghi MP (Italy), Andrea Delmastro Delle Vedove MP (Italy), Paolo Formentini MP (Italy), Roberto Giachetti MP (Italy), Sen. Lucio Malan (Italy), Sen. Roberto Rampi (Italy), François-Xavier Bellamy MEP (EU), Engin Eroglu MEP (EU), Sandro Gozi MEP (EU), Karin Karlsbro MEP (EU), David Lega MEP (EU), Miriam Lexmann MEP (EU), Rep. Gen Nakatani (Japan), Sen. Hiroshi Yamada (Japan), Rep. Shiori Yamao (Japan), Mantas Adomėnas MP (Lithuania), Dovilė Šakalienė MP (Lithuania), Martijn van Helvert MP (Netherlands), Henk Krol MP (Netherlands), Louisa Wall MP (New Zealand), Joar Forssell, MP (Sweden), Hampus Hagman, MP (Sweden), David Josefsson, MP (Sweden), Elisabet Lann (Sweden), Fredrik Malm MP (Sweden), Maria Nilsson, MP (Sweden), Fabian Molina MP (Switzerland), Nicolas Walder MP (Switzerland), Lord David Alton MP (UK), Steve Baker MP (UK), Chris Bryant MP (UK), Alistair Carmichael MP (UK), Rosie Cooper MP (UK), Judith Cummins MP (UK), David Davis MP (UK), Iain Duncan Smith MP (UK), Damian Green MP (UK), Baroness Helena Kennedy (UK), Imran Ahmad Khan MP (UK), Tim Loughton MP (UK), Anthony Mangnall MP (UK), Baroness Catherine Meyer (UK), Craig Mackinlay MP (UK), Andrew Selous MP (UK), Alyn Smith MP (UK), Henry Smith MP (UK), Sen. Bob Menendez (USA), Sen. Marco Rubio (USA) and Rep. Ted Yoho (USA).
