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ARDA strongly condemns the Chinese Government's most recent brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrations of Buddhist monks, nuns and lay-followers in Tibet, and Szchewan and Gansu provinces.


ARDA fully understands that the current Chinese President was the head of the Tibet Autonomous Region twenty years ago and during that time was responsible for crackdowns that resulted in dozens of deaths. As such, at a minimum, ARDA calls for an urgent high level UN investigative team to go to Lhasa and report on the violence. ARDA also calls on the IOC to reaffirm from China its committment and adherance  to the spirit and the  practices of the Olympic Charter.


The recent demonstrations which began in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and have now spread all over the country, dozens of monks have been arrested, monasteries sealed off, and demonstrators brutally beaten. According to the Dharamshala-based Tibetan Government-in-Exile, a Martial Law situation is now effectively in force in Tibet. They report that Chinese military forces rolled out tanks and armoured vehicles in Lhasa and used tear gas and firearms to crush the demonstrations, killing around 100 Tibetans. These are the largest public protests in Tibet since 1989.


ARDA also calls on the Chinese Government to uphold the spirit and the principles of the Olympic Charter which explicitly calls for the respect for universal ethical principles.


Signed
Chee Soon Juan (Chair, Singapore)
Paul Scott (Japan/USA)
Pema Khangtetsang (Tibet)
Tian Chua (Malaysia)
Saumura Tiouloung (Cambodia)
Sam Rainsy (Cambodia)
Sarwar Bari (Pakistan)
Wang Dan (China)
Emily Lau (Hong Kong)
Ken Coghill (Australia)