Hunger strikers end fast on 30th day after UN promises to send officials to Tibet/ENG

2012. március 23./Phayul.com/TibetPress

DHARAMSHALA, March 23: The three Tibetan independence activists ended their hunger strike in front of the United Nations headquarters on the 30th day of their fast, after the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights promised to take up their demands about assigning special rapporteurs to look into the ongoing crisis inside Tibet.

Two senior UN officials walked across the street on Thursday to deliver a letter of assurance from UN human rights chief Navi Pillay to the hunger strikers Shingza Rinpoche and Yeshi Tenzing.

After reading the UN letter, the hunger strikers said that they were willing to “indefinitely suspend” their month-long fast.

The third hunger striker, Dorjee Gyalpo, who was forcibly removed by city medical and security officials to a hospital on Monday, but had continued to fast, also accepted the UN assurances.

The letter from Pillay said that the rights chief had "assigned special rapporteurs of the United Nations to look into the situation inside Tibet," protest organiser Tsewang Rigzin told reporters.

He added that the United Nations states in the letter that they have contacted the Chinese government several times about delegations going into Tibet.

"Navi Pillay herself has an open invitation to China and the UN is working on finalising a date for the trip,” the president of Tibetan Youth Congress, the largest Tibetan pro-independence group in exile said.

The three hunger strikers began their indefinite fast for Tibet on February 22, the first day of Tibetan new year, demanding an immediate UN intervention into the ongoing crisis inside Tibet.

There have been 30 known cases of self-immolations inside Tibet since 2009 and a recent upsurge in mass protests has left scores of Tibetan dead and many injured and arrested.

Richard Bennett, Special Advisor to the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, talking to reporters after delivering the letter said that the UN was “relieved” that the hunger strikers accepted the rights body’s assurances.

"The letter is addressed to the three hunger strikers, and they have agreed to end their fast," Bennett said without discussing the contents of the letter.

"I think everyone has the right to peaceful protest. But we are also relieved that this particular protest has concluded," Bennett added.

Rigzin called the UN assurances "a small victory" on which Tibetans will continue to build on.

“This is a victory that we the Tibetan people will build on going forward,” Rigzin said. “We will continue to knock on the doors of the UN until Tibet regains its independence and until His Holiness the Dalai Lama returns to Tibet where he belongs.