WRITTEN QUESTION E-1564/02

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission

(3 June 2002)

Subject: Situation in southern Mongolia

Ever since it was invaded and occupied by the People's Republic of China in 1947, southern Mongolia has been subjected to a brutal policy of colonisation by the authorities in Beijing. The population of this country, which has traditionally led a nomadic life based on stockbreeding, has been the victim of extremely harsh political and cultural oppression, which has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people. In economic terms, China has imposed a sedentary lifestyle on the Mongolian population, based on intensive land use. As a result, 81 % of pasture lands have been turned into desert land.

In the face of this environmental and human disaster, the authorities of the People's Republic of China have in recent years imposed a policy of environmental immigration (in Chinese, Sheng Tai Yi Min), whose official objective is to relieve the pasture lands and protect the ecosystem and whose actual effect is to transfer the Mongolian communities still living on their ancestral lands to urban or agricultural regions the majority of whose inhabitants are of Han origin. To date, more than 160 000 Mongolians have been forced to abandon their lands and settle in regions where they are deprived of everything.

Is the Commission aware of the alarming impact of the policy of intensive land use in southern Mongolia and the tragic human consequences of the environmental immigration policy? What practical steps does the Commission intend to take to persuade the Beijing authorities to abandon their policy of colonisation in southern Mongolia, which is the cause of the ecological disaster and human tragedy faced by the Mongolian people? Does the Commission intend, in particular, to condemn the current policy of land expropriation and to support demands for the expropriated land to be returned to its legitimate occupants?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(4 July 2002)

As the Honourable Member will be aware, human rights are a high priority in Union policy and represent a central issue in the Union's relations with third countries.

The Union raises human rights issues with Chinese authorities on every possible occasion and within the framework of the Union-Chine human rights dialogue, established in 1996. Particular emphasis has been placed on obtaining tangible results in those areas of our main concerns: religious freedom, freedom of expression, repression of political dissidence, the death penalty, the abolition of arbitrary detention conditions, ratification and implementation of the United Nations (UN) Covenants, implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and protecting the rights of minorities throughout China.

In this context, the Union has raised the case of the Mongolian activist, Hada, who has been imprisoned since 1996 on charges of separatism. It has also taken the view that the Chinese criminal code which punishes all forms of separatism, including non-violent separatism, is contrary to UN Human Rights Covenants.

However, the Commission is unaware of the forced displacement through land expropriation of people from southern Mongolia to which the honourable member refers and would be grateful to receive any details that can be supplied.