Staff at Brussels Office Opening

Staff at Brussels office opening – Isabella Nitschke, European Liaison Officer of Human Rights in China; Antoine Madelin, EU Representative of FIDH, Tsering Jampa, Executive Director; Sharon Hom, Executive Director, Human Rights in China; JohnAckerly; Vincent Metten, EU Policy Director, ICT Europe

On 28 March 2007, the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) organized a reception to mark the formal opening of its EU Office in Brussels. The reception was co-organised with Human Rights in China (HRIC) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), whose offices are also located in the same building.

Vincent Metten, ICT’s Brussels-based EU Policy Director, said, “It is a great opportunity for ICT to share space office together with HRIC and FIDH.” “I am convinced that it will create construtive synergies and that the close collaboration between our three organisations will increase the impact of our activities towards the EU Institutions,” Metten added.

More than 100 people, including representatives from EU Institutions, national governments, NGO and members of the Tibetan Community based in Belgium, attended the reception. ICT President John Ackerly and ICT Europe Executive Director Tsering Jampa welcomed the guests.

The main tasks of ICT’s Office in Brussels are to increas awareness within EU institutions of the situation in Tibet, as well as to establish new EU initiatives that defend human rights inside Tibet and ensure a more coherent EU policy on Tibet. The adoption by the European Parliament on the 15 February 2007 of an urgency resolution on the dialogue between the Governement of China and the Envoys of the Dalai Lama is an important political step in that direction.