Mrs Van Hoof, President of the Foreign Relations Committee of Belgian Chamber of
Representatives, issued a statement on November 16, 2023, concerning the one
million Tibetan children forcibly placed in Chinese state-run boarding schools
and separated from their families and homes. The President also calls on the
Chinese government to put an end the state-run boarding schools for Tibetan
children, which aims to eradicate Tibetan language, culture, religion and
identity. The statement wrote, “The forced assimilation of nearly one million
Tibetan children in Chinese state-run boarding schools, separated from their
families, is a violation of international human rights. The United Nations has
confirmed this figure. The boarding schools are just the latest act perpetrated
by Beijing on Tibetans with the aim to eradicate Tibetan language, culture,
religion and identity. These policies are not acceptable.” “Unfortunately, the
issue is getting too little attention in Europe. Action is needed in order to
prevent a whole generation of Tibetan children to be lost inside the Chinese
system. Tibetans remains subjected to a highly sophisticated surveillance and
monitoring system, even collecting their DNA including from children without
proper consent from their parents evidenced by reports from Citizen’s lab, Human
Rights Watch etc,” President Van Hoof said. “I, therefore, condemn this action
in the strongest possible terms and call on the PRC authorities to end the
coercion of Tibetan children into state-run boarding schools, to cease
repressive assimilation policies and to comply with the PRC’s obligations under
international law,” the President of the Foreign Relations Committee of Belgian
Chamber of Representatives said.
You know it’s bad when Belgium says you have a bad human rights record.