Human Rights Day Rally Targets China

As part of International Human Rights Day, more than 200 protesters rallied outside the United Nations and delivered a report card outlining alleged human rights violations in Tibet to the Chinese consulate.

Similar marches and rallies also occurred yesterday outside Chinese consulates in London, Paris, and Toronto.

The deputy director of the nonprofit organization Students for a Free Tibet, Tenzin Dorjee, said the day was bittersweet. Mr. Dorjee, 27, was born in exile in India after his parents were forced out of Tibet in 1959 when the Chinese government seized power.

"It is good to see there is this day set aside to highlight the importance of human rights," Mr. Dorjee said. "For Tibetans, it is really sad because we don't enjoy some of the most basic human rights that are enshrined in the United Nations charter."

Earlier in the day, a nonprofit organization, the Tibetan Youth Congress, sent a petition to the United Nations outlining ways in which the Chinese government has allegedly violated human rights.

The group then marched across 42nd Street to the Chinese consulate chanting "Tibet for Tibetans" and "One World, One Dream."

Just after 4 p.m., five protesters propped the 4-foot report card poster against the consulate's lobby doors.

The report card listed failing grades for freedoms of expression, religion, assembly, and thought, and an F minus for human rights in Tibet.

A vice consul with the Chinese consulate, Cong Chen, released a statement outlining China's political position on Tibet and the Dalai Lama.

"The Tibet issue is not an issue of culture or religion, but a major issue of principle concerning China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Mr. Chen said.