Political Quotes

“I offer a resolution which speaks to many of the issues now facing the Tibetan people in their long struggle. This has been threatened for a half-century now, but there are efforts underway to resolve these issues. This resolution puts the Congress on record in support of these goals. Begin with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), which has closely followed the situation in Tibet since the Dalai Lama was forced to flee into exile. In 1959, 1960, and 1964, the ICJ examined Chinese policies in Tibet and reported its findings to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The 1960 report made the important international legal determination that 'acts of genocide had been committed in Tibet in an attempt to destroy the Tibetans as a religious group . . .' and concluded that Tibet was at least 'a de facto independent State' prior to 1951. Now the ICJ has returned to the issue of Tibet and produced another important report. It finds that repression in Tibet has increased since 1994. This is an assessment which my daughter Maura shares after having visited Tibet and having worked closely for many years with Tibetan refugees who continue to make the dangerous journey over the Himalayan mountains to flee persecution in their homeland. In 1996 she returned from Tibet to report, . . . in recent months Beijing's leaders have renewed their assault on Tibetan culture, especially Buddhism, with and alarming vehemence.…”