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Swiss NGOs urge respect for Tibetans’ human rights

Tibetan protestors with flag
Last year, the Tibetan community handed in a petition with more than 11,000 signatures calling on the Swiss government to improve the protection of the Tibetan diaspora in Switzerland. © Keystone/Alessandro Della Valle

Tibetan organisations and human rights groups in Switzerland have called on the government to step up protection for the Tibetan community in China.

The Society for Threatened PeoplesExternal link said the Chinese authorities continue to exert pressure on Tibetans, notably banning monks in monasteries from teaching the Tibetan language.

“We ask Switzerland to seek ways both through bilateral contacts and at a multilateral level to ensure the human rights and the protection of minorities are observed,” Christoph Wiedmer, co-director of the Society for Threatened Peoples said.

He pointed out that relations between Switzerland and China have become closer since both countries signed a free trade agreement in 2013.

The NGO warned that Tibetans in exile have been subject to attempts by the regime in Beijing to intimidate them and put them under digital surveillance.

The appeal comes on the 60th anniversary of the uprising of Tibet against China in 1959.

For its part, the Swiss-Tibetan Friendship AssociationExternal link has urged the Swiss government to intervene with Chinese authorities to insist on the right to privacy of the Tibetan diaspora.

Around 7,500 people of Tibetan descent live in Switzerland, including about 400 asylum seekers, constituting the largest Tibetan exile community in Europe.

Last September, the NGOs handed in a petition to the Swiss authorities demanding that basic rights of the Tibetan diaspora be better protected. However, the government has not responded, according to Wiedmer.

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