During 2005, ICT strategically campaigned for the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to demand of China that an independent body verify the well-being and whereabouts of the 11th Panchen Lama, who was kidnapped by Chinese authorities in 1995.
In September 2005, China came before the UN Committee for the Rights of the Child for the first time since 1996, when it first admitted to the Committee and the outside world that it held the then six-year old religious leader.
Over 212,000 emails, faxes and letters of appeal were sent by ICT members to the UN Committee for the Rights of the Child during 2005. In February, ICT submitted an Alternative Report to the Committee about the Panchen Lama case and was consequently invited to present an oral statement before the Committee in June.
In response to these consistent expressions of concern by ICT members and Tibet supporters world-wide, the Committee for the Rights of the Child questioned China about the Panchen Lama - also known as Gedhun Choekyi Nyima. Following this, the Committee recommended that China "allow an independent expert to visit and confirm the well-being of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima while respecting his right to privacy, and that of his parents".
The campaign to free the Panchen Lama continues. You can take part here.
Further Information
- 2005 ICT Alternative Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Concluding observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2005
- CRC Chair Asks China to Receive an Independent Body to Visit Panchen Lama
