Dharamsala (AsiaNews) – On April 25 Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama of Tibet, turned 22 years old, 16 of which he has lived under detention along with his family.
Gedhun, born April 25, 1989, was recognized by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of 10th Panchen Lama on May 15, 1995. The Chinese police abducted him three days later, with his family. He was just 6 years old, and has been missing since. There is no information of his whereabouts and no-one even knows if he is still alive.
In March 2010 Padma Choling (Pena Thinley), appointed governor of Tibet from Beijing, told reporters that "Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family live a good life, as ordinary citizens of Tibet", but without providing details or evidence.
The Panchen Lama is the second authority after the Dalai Lama and on the latter's death, the Panchen must recognize his new incarnation. Beijing, having kidnapped Gedhun, appointed its own Panchen Lama, Gyaincain Norbu, who recently also went into politics. The Tibetans have never recognized him.
On 8 April in a document the UN Working Group on Involuntary and Forced Disappearances referred to the recent wave of forced "disappearances" in China, against dissidents and human rights activists, and also discussed the "enforced disappearance" of Gedhun, noting that "although the Chinese authorities admit they have taken him away, they have always refused to give any information about him or where he is." "Several institutions, including the UN Committee against Torture, the Rights of the Child and in particular the Special Rapporteur on Religious Freedom and Faith, have asked to know where he is held, without any result." These institutions have said that "China has violated the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons against Enforced Disappearances."
In these 16 years, numerous governments and independent organizations have called on Beijing to release Gedhun in compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but the Chinese government has responded that "the child and his family have asked to be left in peace."
In recent days, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has asked the international community to insist in the appeal for his release. The Centre urges the Chinese government to allow the Panchen Lama to meet with the Tibetans to continue the centuries-old tradition of succession of the spiritual leader of Tibetan population. Also 5 other organizations of Tibetans in exile have called on China for news about Gedhun, expressing "great concern" about his fate after so many years.
Tenzin Choedon, national director of Students for a Free Tibet, has also reiterated his request that the "international community consider China as responsible and insists on the immediate release" of Gedhun.
Meanwhile, Beijing continues in its persecution of the Tibetan people and monks. On 21 April, the police invaded the Kirti Monastery, Ngaba prefecture (Sichuan), after having besieged it for weeks, and arrested more than 300 monks taken away on buses. Hundreds of Tibetans tried to stop the bus, but were bloodily beaten with two dead, including a 65 year old woman called Sherkyi. Several other demonstrators were seriously injured and dozens were arrested, only the elderly were released the next day. The Kirti monks had refused to participate in "political re-education" courses, ordered on March 17 after a Monk from the monastery set himself on fire to protest the Chinese occupation. (NC) 
