The Forum 2000 Foundation joined the initiative Czechs Support Tibet, and a coalition of more than 10 Czech NGOs in a public gathering, which was held on Monday, May 5, 2014, at 17.30 in front of the office of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Prague.
The event was held in reaction to the statements of the Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, who claimed that the Czech government cannot recognize the exile Tibetan government, and the subsequent signing of an agreement between Czech Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing on April 29, 2014. The agreement endorses the policy of non-intervention in China’s domestic affairs.
The steps taken by the Czech government are void and unnecessary concessions, failing principle of defending human rights in foreign policy that the Czech Republic should be striving for, following the legacy of Václav Havel. In addition, they violate a valid resolution of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament from 2008 which urges all its representatives to actively defend human rights in China and the Tibet Autonomous Region. Both Bohuslav Sobotka and Lubomír Zaorálek have voted in favor of the document.
Such discrepancies discredit the Czech government not only in the international arena, but also at home. Thus, the Forum 2000 Foundation, along with the coalition of NGOs, asks the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as the government as a whole to reconsider their position in this matter.
Neither His Holiness the Dalai Lama, nor the exile Tibetan government or any Czech NGO is calling for the secession or the independence of Tibet, but demand true autonomy in line with the Chinese constitution and adherence to human rights in China in practice.
You can read the full text of the proclamation of participants in the gathering Czechs Support Tibet in Czech here.