Senior EU representatives recently undertook a three-day visit to Tibet, including schools, places of worship, and a prison, in order to engage in a frank exchange with China regarding human rights. This visit, situated in Nyingchi and Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, was facilitated by the Chinese government, however, the places to be visited were determined by the EU delegates.
According to a statement by the European External Action Service (EEAS), the visitation schedule comprised of a range of locations such as boarding schools, councils, heritage and spiritual locales, displaced Tibetan households, and a penitentiary. Although the itinerary fulfilled most of the EU’s requests, meetings with individual inmates were not incorporated. The highly packed tour, though brief, provided some level of understanding of Tibet’s real situations and the obstacles experienced within the autonomous region. In response to the visit, the EU advised several measures to guarantee comprehensive bilingual education, preserve Tibet’s cultural heritage, its identity, and the basic liberties of its citizens.
Last year, the EU labelled the human rights situation in Tibet as critically concerning and blamed China for systematically curtailing the rights of ethnic minorities to preserve their culture and use their native tongue. Paola Pampaloni, the EEAS deputy chief director for Asia and the Pacific who led the delegation visiting Tibet, also co-organised the EU-China human rights dialogue with Shen Bo, the Director-General for International Organisations and Conventions at the Chinese foreign ministry.
Visiting Tibet necessitates a special permit for all outsiders, and access for diplomats and journalists has been limited in recent years. The visiting EU delegation’s stopover at a Tibetan jail last week marks the first instance in two decades. Throughout the human rights dialogue, the EU brought up individual cases, such as that of Gui Minhai, a Hong Kong-Swedish writer who vanished in 2015 and was subsequently given a 10-year imprisonment sentence in 2020.
According to the EEAS, the EU repeated its profound concerns regarding China’s severe human rights situation, focusing on regions such as Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong. Of special concern were reports on the suppression of human rights activists, legal professionals, and journalists in China. The EU demanded China to explore and curb human rights abuses, and expressed concern for instances of illegal detention, forced disappearances, torture, and misconduct.
The European Union is enacting new laws that insist corporations perform due diligence on human rights, inclusive of their supply chains, and rules that ban the trading of goods created through forced labour. Multiple allegations have surfaced indicting China of using forced labour from the Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang region as part of a counter-terrorism “re-education” scheme that resulted in mass imprisonment in internment camps.
Contrary to the laws recently enacted in the United States, the EU’s regulations, due to become effective in 2027, are not directly pointed towards Xinjiang or China. Unlike the European rules, the American law assumes that all products manufactured in Xinjiang are a result of forced labour unless evidence is presented otherwise.
During their discussion on human rights, China brought up Europe’s handling of refugees and migrants and also voiced their concerns on racism and xenophobia within the EU. China highlighted their concentration on economic, social, and cultural rights, yet both entities maintained their consensus on the significance of adhering to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The EEAS stated, “The EU again emphasised that total respect for all human rights is a prerequisite for sustainable and inclusive development, economic growth and prosperity”.