Students for a Free Tibet

JUST NOW—3 Tibetan youth activists drop a banner on the Moscone Center where the APEC Summit will start in <24hrs Xi can’t hide from the countless people united against his authoritarian regime Generations of Tibetans will always resist his dictatorship until Tibet is free.

SFT will continue to fight for the right of Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhists to practice their religion—and to shine the truth on China's lies, wherever they may sow them. #HHDL #ReligiousFreedom #FORB

This blatantly contradictory statement was rebuked by Thinley Chukki—The Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Geneva—as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief.

The Chinese government also appeared at the event and made a formal intervention, declaring that any future Dalai Lama must be born within the PRC and be approved by the CCP. They claimed that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has no role to play in the selection of His successor.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief stated that the CCP has no authority to interfere in the Tibetan Buddhist religious practice of recognizing reincarnated lamas—citing the UDHR, ICCPR, and other international human rights legal precedents.

Today, Tibet activists were able to deliver His Holiness's statement on the continuation of the Dalai Lama institution and address the governments of 27 nations at an official Side Event during the 59th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.