Image:bbs
Does anyone know of what has happened to the Charter of the Tibetans in Exile? Has its commitments to justice, freedom and human rights for Tibetans been abandoned by the exiled Tibetan Administration? Was there a democratic agreement to consider it no longer a formal and binding Charter? Were Tibetans given an opportunity to decide if the Charter be surrendered?
The Charter has a very fundamental objective:
“The future Tibetan polity shall uphold the principle of non-violence and shall endeavour to be a Free Social Welfare State with its politics guided by the Dharma, a Federal Democratic Republic…”. (Article 3)
In light of that objective Tibetans should ask themselves how exactly the current policy of seeking so-called ‘genuine autonomy’ (within the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China) conforms to the above Article of the Tibetan Charter. Unless sharing the mad-hatter view of the exiled Tibetan Administration, it is difficult to conceive that communist China’s constitution on Regional Ethnic Autonomy can accommodate principles of federalism, or democracy! Indeed communist China’s statutes on regional autonomy oppose any notion of separation of ‘nationalities’ through what is described as ‘local nationalism’, whilst Beijing forcefully rejected any suggestion of a federalist solution along the lines of Hong Kong.
In rushing to accept the draconian conditions of communist China’s law on regional and ethnic autonomy (which would in practice and law prevent any genuine enjoyment of democracy and federalism for Tibetans), the exiled Tibetan Administration is now in conflict with a central objective of its own Charter! Moreover, having surrendered Tibetan nationhood has it now discarded its democratically agreed principles of seeking a democratic and federal Tibet?
Image:tibetnet
If so then Tibetans should be demanding their exiled administration to provide details of when this was decided, and by what process. According to the Charter an amendment to Article 3 requires two thirds majority support from the Tibetan Assembly, and the assent of the Dalai Lama. If no such amendment has been formalised through due democratic process, in accordance with the procedures detailed in the Charter, then the exiled Tibetan Administration has not only violated its own state document, but grossly failed its people by undermining democratic process.