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World Tibet Network News

Thursday, July 20, 2000


2. Shutting its doors on the Dalai Lama:the UN's Millenium peace summit of spiritual leaders


1000 spiritual leaders have been invited to attend a four day
conference at the United Nations in NYC from August 28-31st: the
Millennium Peace Summit. For many religious leaders and human rights
activists, the problem with this seemingly auspicious gathering is
that His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, is glaringly missing from the list
of invitees.

What makes the omission of the Dalai Lama so remarkable is that he is
one of the most respected spiritual leaders on the planet, as well as
a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, perhaps the greatest honor one can
receive today.

The Conference was organized by Bawa Jain, under the authority of UN
Secretary General, Kofi Annan, nominal director of the Summit.
According to Trustees of the Parliament of World Religions (for which
Bawa Jain is the International Ambassador), Jain had said the Chinese
government exerted great pressure on conference organizers against
any invitation being sent to His Holiness. In an effort to explain
away His Holiness not being invited, Jain had said UN protocol
permitted any security council member to have veto power over any
invitations being extended. The problem with that excuse is that
according to the Protocol Office of the UN, no member nation has such
power, and that responsibility lies instead with conference
organizers.

For many activists for religious freedom and human rights, and also
for supporters of the Tibet cause, the perceived mistreatment of His
Holiness by the UN reflects the UN's longstanding practice of
ignoring human rights abuses in Tibet by the Chinese government, one
of the five permanent members of the Security Council. (Since the
invasion of Tibet in 1949 by the Chinese army, over one fifth of the
Tibetan population have died under the Chinese occupation and more
than 6000 monasteries have been destroyed.) Activists feel it also
reflects the Chinese government's concerted campaign to oppose any
invita-tion to His Holiness by any government or conference, anywhere
around the world.

The Parliament of World Religions, one of the major international
interfaith organizations in the world, is issuing a statement this
week, strongly critical of this snub to His Holiness and to the
Tibetan people by organizers of the Millennium Summit. This is the
first statement on any issue in the history of the Parliament, even
more remarkable since the Parliament is itself a partner in the
Millennium Summit.

As news has been leaking out about His Holiness not being invited to
this Summit, protest letters are pouring in from around the world to
Kofi Annan, (Many of these letters have been posted on the internet
and are accessible.)

At this Millennium Summit, the spiritual leaders who attend are
expected to issue a Declaration for World Peace and they're also
supposed to form a permanent International Advisory Council of
Spiritual and Religious Leaders. According to Brahma Das, Director of
the Interfaith Call for Universal Religious Freedom, "Any Advisory
Spiritual Council formed at this Summit will be severely devalued -
due to the absence of His Holiness, and also from the lack of moral
courage of Summit organizers in bowing to pressure and blandishments
from the Chinese government."

According to Brother Wayne Teasdale, a Trustee of the Parliament of
World Religions and the strongest critic within the Catholic Church
of the Church's silence on Tibet, "By working to exclude the Dalai
Lama from this conference, the Chinese will accomplish exactly the
opposite of what they hoped. They wanted no attention to the Chinese
issue. Instead the whole world will be watching and thinking about
His Holiness. And now for the religious and spiritual leaders of the
world, Tibet is a test of whether they can exercise and demonstrate
their moral authority and leadership."

[[For more information, please contact Brahma Das Founder and
Director, Interfaith Call for Universal Religious Freedom And
Freedom of Worship in Tibet (561) 388-0699 Fax: 561-388-9906
E-mail: brahmadas@aol.com Interfaith Call Website:
http://www.interfaithcall.com]]


Articles in this Issue:
  1. Destruction of Tibetan Culture through a New Socialist Culture (DIIR)
  2. Shutting its doors on the Dalai Lama:the UN's Millenium peace summit of spiritual leaders
  3. Quake prediction gives town shakes (TA)



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