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The 9th International Conference of Tibet Support Groups, which took place from February 22 to 25 in Brussels, could not have had a better ending. After the closing of the conference in a downtown hotel in the Belgian capital, the one hundred and seventy attendees from forty-two different countries, including Argentina, went out into the street to take a group photo. At the same moment, a large column of demonstrators in support of Ukraine was marching down the street. It was a poignant moment, with Tibet support groups shouting "Free Ukraine!" and then protesters in support of Ukraine responding "Free Tibet!"
A woman from the Ukrainian march approached a participant of the Tibet conference and handed her a Ukrainian flag and she then received in return a typical white Tibetan scarf. It was a magical moment of international democratic solidarity, where those who demand freedom and sovereignty for two territories invaded by autocracies - Russia in Ukraine and China in Tibet - converged in the capital of the European Union.
Thus culminated three days of support for the Tibetan people, having addressed, among other topics: the current human rights situation in Tibet, by Dukthen Kyi of the Central Tibetan Administration; surveillance and security in Tibet by Tenzin Dalha, researcher at the Tibet Policy Institute; colonial boarding schools in Tibet by Dr. Gyal Lo, Tibetan activist and sociologist of education; and ecological changes and destructions in Tibet by Dr. Martin Mills, Director of the Scottish Centre for Himalayan Studies. Gyal Lo, Tibetan activist and education sociologist; and ecological changes and destructions in Tibet by Dr. Martin Mills, Director of the Scottish Centre for Himalayan Studies. Also participating in the meeting were Dolkun Isa, President of the World Uyghur Congress, and Joey Siu, researcher of Hong Kong Watch.
The opening of the conference was attended by Czech Mikuláš Peksa, Chairman of the Tibet Interest Group in the European Parliament; German Hans Gert Pöttering, former President of the European Parliament; Sikyong Penpa Tsering of the Central Tibetan Administration; and Vincent Metten, Director of the International Campaign for Tibet in Belgium.
Christian Democrat Hans Gert Pöttering recalled that he did not accept an official invitation to China because he was not allowed to visit Tibet and also his critical role in the context of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
For her part, Dukthen Kyi of the Human Rights Section of the Department of Information and International Relations of the Central Tibetan Administration, highlighted the increasing claims on Tibet in the fourth and most recent Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council, held last January 23. In 2009, four countries had done so, in 2013 there had been seven, in 2018 nine and in 2024 they reached twenty: Germany, Austria, Australia, Canada, Denmark, United States, Estonia, France, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Montenegro, Norway, New Zealand, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Sweden and Switzerland.
As can be seen, no Latin American country made a recommendation to China on Tibet in its recent human rights review in Geneva, which reflects how far the Latin American region is from inserting itself internationally in the claim for noble causes, including countries such as Argentina, Chile and Uruguay that lived through terrible military dictatorships.
Anniversary of the Tibetan national uprising
Despite the propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party regime, with a narrative that assures that Tibet has always belonged to China, this territory of 2.5 million square kilometers, located in the highest mountains of the planet and where ten of the largest rivers of this region originate, was invaded by China under the command of Mao Zedong between 1949 and 1950. As Marco Antonio Karam, Director of Casa Tibet Mexico, points out, "As an independent nation, Tibet had a sovereign government, a national flag and currency, a postal system, its own language, laws and customs".
Karam adds that "Following China's military invasion, the restrictions that Tibetan families and monasteries have experienced are increasing ... Tibetans have become outcasts in their own country, the Chinese government has attempted to stamp out Tibetan culture and society, fundamental human rights continue to be denied, and more than 1.2 million Tibetans have died since China's illegal occupation."
The 9th International Conference of Tibet Support Groups culminated two weeks before the 65th anniversary of the Tibetan national uprising on March 10, a day that commemorates the brutal repression of the Tibetan national uprising in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, by the Chinese army, which left hundreds of Tibetans dead and many others imprisoned, forcing the exile of the 14th Dalai Lama. The story was popularized in the movie "Seven Years in Tibet", starring Brad Pitt.
In many democratic countries, March 10 is remembered through the campaign "A flag for Tibet", as for example in the Czech Republic with one of the most active organizations: "Czechs Support Tibet". In this regard, it is worth remembering that the Czech writer and dissident Václav Havel (1936-2011), after the fall of communism, invited the Dalai Lama in February 1990, a month after taking office as president of the then Czechoslovakia, in a clear gesture of international democratic solidarity.
When Argentina considers the importance of international insertion, this must include support for noble causes in defense of human rights, as in the case of Tibet. Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948, the national interest of States that respect human rights is the international defense of human dignity, above economic and commercial exchanges.
Argentina will take an important step in its international democratic insertion when its foreign policy includes the claim for the situation in Tibet and when every March 10, as in the Czech Republic, the flag of Tibet is flown at the buildings of the national public administration as a gesture of solidarity in defense of human rights.
