China in the UN Human Rights Council

“In the course of the upcoming session of the UN Human Rights Council, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock should urge the Chinese government to investigate the fate of the Tibetan Panchen Lama, who was abducted 29 years ago,” the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) demanded on the occasion of the anniversary of the abduction. The Tibetan boy Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who was six years old at the time, had disappeared on May 17, 1995, together with his family – only a few days after the Dalai Lama had recognized him as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama. To this day, there no trace of the now 35-year-old and his parents. Back then, the Chinese government had introduced a boy named Gyaltsen Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama, who is the son of officials of the Communist Party and serves Beijing as a puppet to make people believe that there is equality in the country.

“The Chinese government is systematically preparing for the death of the 14th Dalai Lama. The aim is to install a successor who will follow the policies of Beijing and is willing to spread the government’s lies about the devastating human rights situation in Tibet. In order to achieve this, it did not shy away from abducting a six-year-old boy and his family, 29 years ago,” stated Hanno Schedler, STP expert on genocide prevention and the Responsibility to Protect. “The regime will instrumentalize the Panchen Lama for an attempt to appoint a Beijing-loyal Dalai Lama,” Schedler warned.

The next session of the UN Human Rights Council will take place on June 18. “Germany must take a clear stand for the Tibetan people’s right to choose the next Dalai Lama,” Schedler demanded. “We expect Mrs Baerbock to address the human rights violations of the Chinese government and to make clear demands to China.”

The 14th Dalai Lama himself has clearly positioned himself, stating that the Chinese government does not have the right to determine his successor. Beijing, however, is making incarnations in Tibetan Buddhism a matter of state – only permitted after approval by the state authorities. “The Chinese government is planning to install its own candidate as the 15th Dalai Lama. If this happens, Tibetan Buddhism will become an instrument of control. It is to be expected that Beijing will use the new Dalai Lama to justify all measures of the Chinese government – be it the violations of religious freedom, the forced resettlement of millions of Tibetan nomads, the collection of DNA samples of Tibetans, or the separation of around one million Tibetan children from their families and their placement in forced boarding schools,” Schedler warned. 

Further, Beijing is systematically discrediting the 14th Dalai Lama by depicting the government-loyal Panchen Lama as the highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism and as the “Leader of Tibetan Buddhism”. The CPC has given him several roles. Among other things, he serves as the Vice President of the Buddhist Association of China and as a member of the Chinese Peoples’ Political Consultative Conference. Since 2019, he is also President of the local branch of the Buddhist Association of China in the Tibetan Autonomous Region.