This is to inform you that we are organising a big gathering on 25 April, 1999 in front of the United Nations in Geneva to celebrate the Tenth Birth Anniversary of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Eleventh Panchen Lama of Tibet. Mr. Richard Gere and several European personalities have agreed to lead the gathering in Switzerland.

As the gathering coincides with the on-going 55th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, we would like to use this gathering to once again highlight the incommunicado detention of Panchen Lama, the worldÆs youngest political prisoner. As you may know, the case of Panchen Lama has been taken by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances and the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance (of the UN Commission on Human Rights) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Governments, parliaments and NGOs have made repeated appeals to the Chinese authorities to ascertain the whereabouts and well-being of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima. However, the Chinese authorities have so far failed to declare publicly the whereabouts of the Panchen Lama.

Therefore, this gathering will appeal to the UN Commission on Human Rights and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to urge the Chinese authorities to allow a delegation of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to meet with Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his parents. Such a meeting will enable an independent body to ascertain the personal well-being and the status of religious education Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is receiving today as required by the Buddhist tradition of Tibet.

We, therefore, appeal to all of you to actively participate in this action in Geneva which we hope will ultimately help achieve the unconditional release of the worldÆs youngest political prisoner.

We regret the inconvenience that this short notice has caused to your schedule and hope you will support our initiative to make the Geneva gathering a big success.

Within the next two weeks we will be forwarding to you the programme foreseen for the Action in Geneva on 25 April, 1999.

For more details contact:

Mr. Choekyong Wangchuk (TYC) +41 77 880510 (mobile) or +41 22 732 0736

Mr. Kalsang Chokteng (Tibetan Community in Switzerland) +41 56 402 0240 (mobile)

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Last updated: 1-April-99