Dharamsala (AsiaNews) – Tibetans “recall the terrible human tragedy of the Tiananmen Square massacre with prayers that their (the students’) wishes will be fulfilled one day. Human rights and democracy are interlinked and up to now the people of China have suffered under the brutal repressive regime [. . .] with continuing human rights violations,” Urgen Tenzin told AsiaNews on the 21st anniversary of the 4 June 1989 massacre.
For the executive director of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, that tragedy is a litmus test for the situation of Tibet. “If the Chinese could carry out the Tiananmen massacre on their own people in front of the eyes of the entire world, the international community can only understand the repressive measures unleashed by the PRC (People’s Republic of China) leaders to the Tibetans living inside Tibet.”
“However, we Tibetans are not merely concerned about Tibetans living inside Tibet. Human rights are a universal right”. For this reason, “we are deeply pained at the suffering of the Chinese people.”
The memory of the massacre reminds us that “repressive measures continue not only for Tibetans inside Tibet, but also for” the people of China.
“There is neither human right nor rule of law inside China and people are suffering. Importantly, even today, due to human rights abuses, so many innocent lives are lost.”
For Tenzin, “the tragedy is that even 21years on, there is neither justice nor freedom—everything is controlled by the Communist regime.”
“We can only hope that the international community imposes some kind of sanctions and restrictions on the Chinese [government] in order to uphold human rights and democracy,” which are “so essential for our times.”
