Berlin: On the last day of the visit in Berlin, Tibetan MPs Youdon Aukatsang and Tsering Lhamo held a briefing on Tibet in the Committee Room, Paul-Löbe-Haus of the German Bundestag hosted by MP Michael Brand, Chair of the German Tibetan Parliamentary Group for Tibet.

Present at the meeting were MP Michael Brand, CDU Party and Co-Chair of Inter Parliamentary Alliance on China, MP Peter Heidt, FDP Party Spokesperson on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid, MP Maria Klein-Schmeink, Green Party Spokesperson on Health Policy and MP Frank Müller, member of FDP working group on Foreign Policy.

In addition to the UN Advocacy Officer from the Office of Tibet Geneva, Phuntsok Topgyal and Dundup Donka, President of Tibetan Community in Germany, Kai Müller, ICT Germany Director and David Missal, Tibetan Initiative Deutschland joined us in this Briefing at the German Bundestag.

The two Tibetan MPs made a brief presentation on the current situation in Tibet focusing on China’s genocidal policies aimed at wiping out Tibetan identity, culture and religion. Particular concerns were raised on the state controlled residential boarding schools, closure Tibetan private schools and monastic schools, and demolition of monasteries in the name of development.

Special appeal was made to the German MPs to pass a declaration in the German Parliament endorsing His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s sole authority to determine his reincarnation particularly on the occasion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 90th birth anniversary. The Tibetan MPs reiterated that this would send a strong signal to the Chinese government to not interfere in the religious sphere of the Tibetan people.

Upon urging the German MPs to visit Dharamshala to show their solidarity with Tibet, one of the MPs shared his interest in visiting Dharamshala in early 2025.

Following the presentation, Tibetan MPs were taken on an hour-long tour of the German Parliament courtesy MP Michael Brand and his staff. Tibetan MPs departed for Prague on the same evening.