OPINION / VIEWPOINT
Open letter from Chinese Civil Society Organizations to the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council
Published: Jan 25, 2024 08:07 PM
Children wear traditional Tibetan costumes in Lhasa Experiment Kindergarten of Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on March 22, 2023. Photo: Shan Jie/GT

Children wear traditional Tibetan costumes in Lhasa Experiment Kindergarten of Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on March 22, 2023. Photo: Shan Jie/GT


Dear President of the UN Human Rights Council,

As a crucial organ of the United Nations General Assembly aimed at promoting and protecting human rights, the Human Rights Council plays a pivotal role in advancing global human rights development. We sincerely admire this role and express high appreciation for your commitment to upholding guiding principles such as universality, impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity, as well as constructive international dialogue and cooperation in your work.

Over the past period, we have noticed organizations including the so-called International Federation for Human Rights, International Campaign for Tibet (Xizang), and Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy have been using the platform of the Human Rights Council to spread false information and cause trouble on a large scale, with the purpose of attacking and smearing China. They fabricated lies such as "colonial boarding school system," "repression of Tibetan Buddhism," "systematic attacks on the Tibetan language," "limit the rights to freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of peaceful association and assembly," "denial of the legal rights of detainees and prisoners," "torture and other forms of ill-treatment", attempting to manipulate the Human Rights Council into making biased statements on the issue of Xizang, inciting other countries to attack and criticize China. These practices of distorting right and wrong completely ignore the history and the tremendous achievements of Xizang, disregarding the development of human rights in Xizang, and lacking basic objectivity and truthfulness. If these organizations are successful, it will significantly impact the credibility of the Human Rights Council. Furthermore, this will seriously disrupt the enthusiasm and expectations of normal participation by countries worldwide and global NGOs in the working mechanisms of the Human Rights Council. It will also greatly harm the sentiments of the 1.4 billion people in China including Xizang, and severely misguide the global populace's accurate understanding and international public opinion of Xizang. We strongly oppose the maliciously fabricated and baseless accusations, and object to the politicization, instrumentalization and stigmatization of human rights in Xizang.

In today's Xizang, governments at all levels and people of all ethnicities are making efforts to promote political stability, social harmony, economic development, national unity, religious harmony, rule of law and ecological well-being. They are working to ensure more comprehensive protection of basic human rights. The people of Xizang have firsthand experiences of these efforts, and many foreign media outlets that have visited Xizang have also provided extensive and objective coverage.

Rumors originate from schemers, thrive among the foolish and cease with the wise. 

We strongly urge the Human Rights Council to remember the original intention and mission of establishing the universal periodic review mechanism, eliminate confusing noises, and prevent lies and false accusations from impacting the Council's consideration of significant human rights issues with genuine practical significance. We call for legitimate information provided by member states to be respected and judgments objective, rational and fair.

Organizations
1. Chongqing Centre for Equal Social Development
2. China Society for Human Rights Studies
3. China Foundation for Human Rights Development
4. China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture
5. China Tibetology Research Center
6. High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China
7. Xizang's Academy of Social Science
8. Xizang Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences
9. Tibet University
10. Xizang Minzu University
11. University of Xizang Medicine
12. Xizang Agriculture and Animal Husbandry University
13. Women's Federation of Xizang Autonomous Region
14. Xizang Federation of Literary and Art Circles
15. Xizang Autonomous Region Federation of Industry and Commerce
16. Xizang Branch of China Buddhist Association
17. Xizang Disabled Persons' Federation
18. Internet Society of Xizang
19. Xizang Youth Development Foundation
20. Xizang Autonomous Region Women's Development Association
21. Xizang Starlight Social Work Service Center
22. South Asia Research Center of Sichuan University
23. Human Rights Law Research Center of Sichuan University
24. Pan-Himalayan Communication Research Center of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
25. Sichuan Normal University China Western Frontier Research Institute
26. Southwest Minzu University Tibetan-Qiang-Yi Corridor Research Base for Fostering a Stronger Sense of the Chinese Nation as One Community
27. Research centre for Fostering a Stronger Sense of the Chinese Nation as One Community
28. Aba Vocational College
29. Aba Teachers College
30. Ganzi Vocational College
31. Sichuan Architecture Industry Chamber of Commerce
32. Sichuan Chuanlian Retail Industry Chamber of Commerce
33. Sichuan Tourism Chamber of Commerce
34. Sichuan Chuanlian Agricultural Industrialization Leading Enterprise Association
35. Sichuan Chuanlian Sports Industry Chamber of Commerce
36. Sichuan Cultural Industry Chamber of Commerce
37. Sichuan landscape Industry Association
38. Sichuan Chuanlian SME Chamber of Commerce
39. Aba Teachers College non-party intellectuals Association
40. Yunnan University
41. Kunming University of Science and Technology
42. Yunnan University of Finance and Economics
43. Yunnan Agricultural University
44. Yunnan Normal University
45. Southwest Forestry University
46. Dali University
47. Kunming University
48. Yunnan Province Association for Southeast Asian Studies
49. Yunnan National Unity Progress Association
50. Yunnan Youth Development Foundation
51. Yunnan Alternative Development Association
52. Yunnan Charity Federation
53. Institute for Central Asian Studies Lanzhou University
54. Research Center of Northwest Minority Education Development, Northwest Normal University
55. Gansu National Unity and Progress of the Cause of Innovation and Wisdom of the Treasury
56. Gansu Institute of Silk Road Economic Studies
57. New Urbanization Construction and Research Center for Precision Poverty Alleviation in Minority Areas of Gansu
58. Research Center of Ecological Construction and Environmental Protection
59. The Research Center for Modern Agriculture and Rural Social Integration Development in Gansu Province
60. Gansu Traditional Chinese Medicine Culture Inheritance and Development Research Think Tank
61. Research Center for Rural Governance and Development-Oriented Poverty Alleviation of Lanzhou Jiaotong University
62. Key Laboratory of Digital Protection Technology Research Intangible Cultural Heritage
63. Qinghai University
64. Qinghai Minzu University
65. Qinghai Normal University
66. Qinghai Open University
67. Qinghai Association for Science and Technology
68. Qinghai Disabled Persons' Federation
69. Qinghai Provincial Federation of Literature and Art Circles
70. Red Cross Society of Qinghai
71. Qinghai Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce
72. Qinghai Federation of Trade Unions 
73. Qinghai Provincial Women's Federation