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Tibetans call for a Moratorium

Tibetans from around the world have issued a statement calling for a halt to resource extraction in Tibet.

 
Tibetans from around the world have today issued a joint statement, calling for a moratorium on resource extraction and megadevelopment projects in Tibet.

 

 

A video jointly created by Tibetans from Free Tibet, International Tibet Network, Students for a Free Tibet Netherlands, Students for a Free Tibet International, Tibetan Youth Congress, Tibetan Youth Association in Europe, Tibet Action Institute, Den Norske Tibetkomite, and Australia Tibet Council outlines how the voices of Tibetans living in Tibet are not being respected by the Chinese government, and how they are being stripped of all forms of self-determination.

A detailed statement, setting out the full terms and urging international governments and businesses to support a moratorium, can be found on the campaign website TibetMoratorium.org and is reproduced below.

The call for a moratorium comes six months after peaceful protests against the Kamtok Dam project in Dege County saw hundreds of Tibetans assaulted by police and detained.

The crackdown in Dege County has created an information blackout, which makes it difficult to determine the wellbeing of those arrested, or if they are still being detained.

Those behind the statement make it clear that the moratorium should remain in effect until Tibetans in Tibet are able to give full prior, free, and informed consent to such projects, and can freely, and for their own ends, make decisions about the use of their mineral wealth and natural resources.

Furthermore they state that, in addition to the social and environmental costs of these projects, their overarching concern is that Tibetans as an occupied people are prevented from deciding how Tibet’s land is used, which development or mining projects are carried out and who benefits from them. 

The moratorium statement can be viewed on Free Tibet’s Youtube channel.

Moratorium Operative Statement

 

We, a group of concerned Tibetans living around the world and with roots across occupied Tibet, are calling for a moratorium on resource extraction and megadevelopment in Tibet.

We want the extraction and commodification of all Tibet’s natural resources, and damming for hydroelectric power generation, along with the issuing of exploration licence thereof, to be paused until such time that the Tibetan people:

  • Can give full prior, free, and informed consent to such projects
  • Can freely, and for their own ends, make decisions about:
    • the extraction and disposal of their mineral wealth and natural resources including water
    • the commodification of the natural resources and geographical advantages inherent to Tibet
  • Enjoy the highest standards of participatory governance and ecological stewardship for such projects.

This moratorium is:

  • Based on the principled position that under occupation, local Tibetan people impacted by megadevelopment are not in a position to give free, prior, and informed consent
  • Applicable to all individuals, governments and companies engaged in or seeking to be engaged in resource extraction inside Tibet
  • Applicable to all of historical Tibet.

Calling for a moratorium on the extraction and exploitation of Tibet’s natural resources when:

  • Carried out without the free, prior, and informed consent of the Tibetan people, and
  • the Tibetan people are not free to enjoy the benefits of such development for their own ends

is consistent with the aims and objectives of the Tibetan Government in exile.

 

We are Free Tibet, and we stand with Tibetans around the world. For their homeland, for their future and against China’s brutal occupation.