Prague: Tibetan Parliamentary Delegation to Prague comprising of Ms. Youdon Aukatsang and Ms Tsering Lhamo was received by Ms. Eva Decroix, the Chairperson of the Subcommittee for the Support of Democracy and Human Rights Abroad, Chamber of Deputies in the ZAV Meeting Room of the Czech Parliament on November 7th. Others present at the meeting were Ms. Jitka Seitlova, Vice President of the Senate; Senator Přemysl Rabas; MP Ms Jarmila Levko, MP Hayato Okamura and MP Eva Decroix.

Upon presenting the letter from the Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament in exile, Tibetan MPs spoke on critical concerns facing Tibet particularly the Chinese state controlled residential schools, closure of monastic and Tibetan private schools and reincarnation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Tibetan MPs were reassured of Czech Parliament’s support for Tibet and reminded of the deep friendship between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Vaclav Havel. The MPs also shared their plans to mark the 90th birth anniversary of HH the Dalai Lama.

On the same day, Tibetan MPs visited the office of Sinopsis, an organisation working on developments in China with interest in Tibet. In discussing critical issues facing Tibet, Sinopsis shared the news of their upcoming report on the succession of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to be released on 10th December. In the same evening, Tibetan MPs met briefly with long term Tibet supporters Katerina and Martin Bursik at their residence.

On November 8th, Tibetan MPs met with Mr Ondrej Chrast, Deputy Minister for Culture; Robert Rehak, Ambassador at Large, Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, Interfaith Dialogue and Freedom of Religion, Chair of the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance (IRFBA) and Ivana Grollova, Unit for Strategy and Analysis, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Tibetan MPs were invited to a concert of the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra by Mr. Liang Ruey Ke, Taiwan Representative to Czech Republic.