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Estonians raise Tibetan issue in European Parliament

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Kristiina Ojuland, left, and Roy Strider during a presentation on “The Human Rights in Tibet after the Beijing Olympics” at the European Parliament in Brussels on 6 May 2010.Photographer unknown/Belgium

Estonians parliamentarians and human rights activists raised the issue of Tibet in the European Parliament, and asked the president Jerzy Buzek to raise the issue of Tibet during his upcoming visit to China.

Kristiina Ojuland, Member of the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament; Raül Romeva I Rueda, Member of the Tibet support group of the European Parliament; Silver Meikar, Member of the Estonian Parliament; and human rights activist Roy Strider stressed the immediate need to develop a common European Union policy on Tibet earlier this month at the public hearing on “The Human Rights in Tibet after the Beijing Olympics”.

“We must continue the dialogue both with the People’s Republic of China as well as the Tibetan government-in-exile in order to establish respect for human rights and civil liberties in Tibet,” Ojuland who organised the presentation said.

“The handwriting of totalitarian regimes has been similar throughout history all over the world. Therefore, we cannot turn a blind eye on the misery of the people of Tibet to pursue our economic interests.”

Writer and human rights activist Roy Strider drew attention to alternative measures that may be used for supporting the freedom in Tibet. “The citizens of the World are able to put pressure on China by consciously changing their consumption habits and as voters by creating a political demand to have Tibet on the agenda,” Strider explained. At the same time he expressed his regret that, regarding Tibet, conventional diplomacy has failed and the motives of Realpolitik have prevailed.

Silver Meikar said that we are losing the media war against China. “Social networks and the Internet are becoming weapons in the hands on non-democratic regimes,” Meikar said. “China wishes to suffocate true information on Tibet by the means of a robust information flow.”

Kristiina Ojuland concluded the public hearing with the promise to ask Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, to raise the issue of Tibet during his upcoming visit to the People’s Republic of China on 25 May.

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