March 17, 2008: Czech Government’s Statement on the Current Situation in Tibet

The Government of the Czech Republic and the Czech public traditionally lay great accent on the protection of human rights, fundamental freedoms and the protection of the cultural and religious heritage all over the world.
Therefore, the Government of the Czech Republic has been following the events in Tibet, which have claimed a number of wounded and loss of life, with profound concern. The Government condemns violence against demonstrators who freely come to express their opinion, and demands immediate stop to such violence.

The Government of the Czech Republic calls for the release of those preventively detained persons, and demands that they should not be exposed to degrading treatment.

The Government of the Czech Republic calls on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to enable free access to objective information about developments in Tibet. A necessary step to meet that goal is to enable representatives of the independent media access to the region, and to lift the information blackout. The Government of the Czech Republic hereby appeals to the Government of the People’s Republic of China not to resort to a violent solution of the situation after the expiry of the “ultimatum“, and to resolve it by dialogue to which it is desirable to invite also His Holiness the Dalai Lama.


Press Department of the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic