Brussels, March 23rd 2009.

A Group of Nobel Prize Laureates, leading human rights activists and Members of Parliament from several countries joined an appeal promoted by the Nonviolent Radical Party calling on China to resume dialogue with the Envoys of the Dalai Lama.

Supporters of the appeal include Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Máiread Corrigan-Maguire, former EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gijs de Vries, former EU Commissioner Emma Bonino and leading parliamentarians from Italy, France, Hungary, Sweden, Estonia, Cambodia and Kosovo.

Despite the recent arrest of nearly 100 monks by Chinese security forces in northwestern China, the appeal calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to seize the opportunity provided by a hearing, organized by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament on the situation of talks between Chinese Authorities and the Envoys of the Dalai Lama, as a first opportunity to re-open direct talks between the two parties. The hearing will take place on March 31st at the European Parliament, in Brussels.

So far, only the Tibetan side decided to be represented at the meeting by Mr. Kelsang-Gyaltsen, a Special Envoy of HH the Dalai Lama. The Chinese government has not yet replied positively to the invitation issued by the European Parliament.

For more information, please contact the office of Marco Cappato at the European Parliament 003222847288 or marco.cappato@europarl.europa.eu.

FULL TEXT OF THE APPEAL AND LIST OF SUPPORTERS

We undersigned

considering

- Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's statement "China is ready to dialogue with the Dalai Lama", made during a press conference in Beijing on March 13, that hopefully opens the door to a more positive mutual relationship;

- that the European Parliament adopted by overwhelming majority a resolution calling for the re-opening of direct talks, considering the "Memorandum for Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People of November 2008 as a basis for substantive discussion leading towards positive, meaningful change in Tibet, consistent with the principles outlined in the Constitution and laws of the People’s Republic of China";

- that the Commission on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament decided to put on the agenda of the meeting of March 31 a hearing on the situation of talks between Chinese Authorities and the Envoys of the Dalai Lama;

- that both the Representatives of the People's Republic of China and of the Dalai Lama have been invited to take part in the said hearing;

- that this is a first opportunity to re-open a dialogue, firmly hoped by both the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and the Dalai Lama;

- that the People's Republic of China have not yet replied positively to the friendly and trustful invitation of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament;

call on the Government of the People's Republic of China to seize the positive momentum and dispatch representatives for the hearing of March 31, as the Tibetan authorities did, as a first step to re-open a dialogue between Beijing and the Tibetan Government in-exile, regarded by the international community and the European Union with much interest and respect. This dialogue should be finalized to the affirmation of Peace as well as democratic and civil progress in the People's Republic of China and a genuine autonomy for the Tibetan populations.

Mart Laar
Former Prime Minister of Estonia

Máiread Corrigan-Maguire
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Sir Richard Roberts
Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine

Martin Perl
Nobel Laureate in Physics

Gijs de Vries
Member of the Board of the European Council on Foreign Relations and former EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator

Wei Jingsheng
1996 Sakharov Prize Laureate

Emma Bonino
Vice President of the Italian Senate
Former European Commissioner

Osvaldo Payá
2002 Sakharov Prize Laureate

Alaksandar Milinkievič
2006 Sakharov Prize Laureate

Hélène Flautre
Chairman of the Human Rights Subcommittee
Member of the European Parliament

Göran Lindblad
President Political Affairs Committee
Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Mart Nutt
Member of the Parliament of Estonia

Peeter Tulviste
Member of the Parliament of Estonia

Leoluca Orlando
Member of the Italian Parliament

Hans Rothenberg
Member of the Parliament of Sweden

László Iván
Member of the Hungarian Parliament

Son Chhay
Member of the Cambodian Parliament

Behxhet Brajshori
Member of the Parliament of Kosovo

Daniel Sachs
Chief Executive Officer PROVENTUS, Sweden

Vo Van Ai
President, Quê Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam

Penelope Faulkner
Vice-President, Vietnam Committee on Human Rights

Vanida Thephsouvanh
Mouvement Lao pour les Droits de l'Homme

Kalypso Nicolaïdis
Director, European Studies Centre University of Oxford

Sarmite Elerte
Chairperson of the Baltic to Black Sea Alliance, Latvia

Asma Jahangir
Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

Paolo Alberti
Press Officer

ALDE - Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats for Europe

European Parliament
paolo.alberti@europarl.europa.eu

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