Geneva: A UN human rights panel on Wednesday asked China to disclose the fate and whereabouts of more than 300 Tibetan monks who disappeared after being arrested by the security forces in April.
More than 300 monks of the Ngaba Kirti Monastery, located in Ngaba County, Sichuan Province, were allegedly arrested by the Chinese People's Armed Police on April 21. Until now, their whereabouts are unknown and repeated efforts to find where they are detained proved I vain, according to UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
"We call on the authorities to provide full information on the fate and the whereabouts of the persons who have disappeared," said the Working Group, reminding the Chinese authorities that enforced disappearance is a terrible practice that must be stopped without any delay.
The Working Group which includes five independent human rights experts is chaired by Jeremy Sarkin of South Africa. In a scathing indictment on the forced or voluntary disappearance of Tibetan monks, who are kept incommunicado, it said Beijing must provide full information.
"Enforced disappearance is a terrible practice that must not be permitted to occur anywhere and no exceptional circumstances whatsoever may be invoked to justify an enforced disappearance," the Working Group emphasised.
"Family members should be promptly informed on the fate and whereabouts of people reportedly disappeared. Those who have suffered the fate of being subject to an enforced disappearance should be provided with integral reparations."
"China has an obligation to abide by the strictest standards in the field of human rights. It also should fully cooperate with the UN special procedures and in particular with the Working Group," the group said.
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