WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2318/98 by Gianfranco DELL'ALBA to the Council. European Troika in Tibet
Date: 1998-07-28
Institutions: DELL'ALBA, European Parliament
Subjects: Tibetan question, Troika (EU), diplomatic profession, homicide, official visit, penal institution, political prisoner, prisoner

8.4.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 96/73

It follows that, under Community law, the first recognition of the diploma for professional reasons is not
compulsory. Such recognition is, therefore, a matter for the Member States. Naturally, if the profession is not
regulated, it is not necessary to seek recognition of the diploma.

For the person concerned to be able to find out about the steps, if any, that need to be taken to obtain recognition
of his diploma, copies of the list of the institutions to be contacted in each Member State are being sent direct to
the Honourable Member and to Parliament(cid:146)s Secretariat.

(1) OJ L 19, 24.1.1989.

(1999/C 96/103)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2318/98

by Gianfranco Dell(cid:146)Alba (ARE) to the Council

(28 July 1998)

Subject: European Troika in Tibet

From 1 to 4 May 1998 an EU delegation consisting of the Troika of ambassadors to Beijing went on a fact-finding
mission to Tibet. In the course of the Troika(cid:146)s visit to the Lhasa prison disturbances broke out which resulted in
the death of seven Tibetan monks held in the prison and the injury of twenty or thirty other prisoners. More than
two months after this mission has taken place the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, whilst it has just adopted
the outline of the programme for EU-China relations, has still not made the report on the mission public. Instead,
in reply to a question I asked on the subject on 23 June 1998 during a hearing before the European Parliament(cid:146)s
Subcommittee on Human Rights the minister Lloyd stated, on behalf of the Council, that the report was (cid:145)in
preparation(cid:146).

In view of the fact that exactly two months have gone by since the mission took place, what is the Council

1.
waiting for to make the report public?

Is the truth not rather that the document is ready but cannot be released because it cannot avoid referring to

2.
the tragic events that took place in the Lhasa prison which, it appears, the members of the Troika witnessed?

Reply

(9 November 1998)

The report referred to by Honourable Member was made public on 19 June 1998. The Troika delegation which
was in Tibet from 1-10 May indeed paid a visit in Lhasa on 4 May to the Drapchi prison. It reported in detail on
this visit with the following introduction remarks about the alleged incidents.

The main interest was the treatment of political prisoners. It was subsequently reported that there had been a
major disturbance in the prison on 1 May. The delegation was not aware of these reports at the time of their
visit to the prison. There had been some doubts raised by the Tibetan authorities (paragraph 8) over the visit,
but no explanation was given for these, and the delegation formed the impression that this was a negotiating
tactic on the part of the Tibetan authorities. The delegation were also briefed, they felt unusually, in the open
air outside the inner prison gates before the actual prison visit. Nonetheless, there were no visible signs of the
after effects of a riot, and naturally the Prison authorities made no mention of any such incident. As far as
could be ascertained the guarding was normal, with no obvious signs of extra guards or heightened security.

In August 1998 further reports of disturbances, including up to 10 deaths, before, during and after the Troika(cid:146)s
visit reached the Presidency and some Member States. It has not been possible to confirm these reports so far.