Painting the Present: A tribute to the Captive Panchen Lama Tibetan Women's Association (TWA) launches New Art Campaign to mark the 21st birthday of the Panchen Lama
April 25, 2010, Dharamsala, India; Tibetans across the globe today observed the 21st birthday of Gedun Choekyi Nyima, who the Chinese authorities have been holding in custody since he was six years old. He and his family were abducted shortly after H.H the Dalai Lama declared him to be the reincarnated 11th Panchen Lama of Tibet in May 1995. Now 21 years old, the safety and whereabouts of H.H the Panchen Lama have yet to be confirmed by the Chinese authorities, who continue to deny access to him, despite repeated calls from UN bodies to allow independent fact-finding delegations to assess his health and general wellbeing.
To celebrate his landmark birthday, the Tibetan Women's Association (TWA) launched the Panchen Lama Artwork Campaign. More than 20 acclaimed Tibetan artists each created a portrait of the imagined face of the Panchen Lama as a 21-year-old man. The pieces of art will be chosen as a new emblem for campaign materials calling for the Panchen Lama's release.
Kirti Dolkar Lhamo, President of the Tibetan Women's Association said: 'Our Panchen Lama Art Campaign is designed to give Tibetans a beautiful, updated image of a figure they respect and revere. Currently, the images we use to remember him are of a young child, but he has now reached adulthood. The campaign also serves to emphasise the length of his captivity - he has gone from boy to man hidden from the eyes of the world, so all we can do to visualise him is to use our imaginations. The TWA is committed to campaigning for the safe return of the Panchen Lama to his rightful abode and to seeing the complete restoration of His political and religious rights. Until this happens, we will do everything in our power to keep the plight of the Panchen Lama at the forefront of people's minds. We and the rest of the world must not forget about him. This new art campaign is part of our continued effort to raise awareness and one that we hope will also create a meaningful visual reference for Tibetans.'
Also as part of the TWA awareness campaign, young monks and nuns from the monastic institutes in and around Dharamsala wrote essays expressing their thoughts on the Panchen Lama, who is their spiritual leader. TWA will have the literary expressions (prose or poetry) sent to Du Qinglin the head of the United Front Work Department of the Tibet Autonomous region with a request to deliver them to the imprisoned Panchen Lama.
The Tibetan Women's Association calls on the moral conscience of the world, in particular the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and influential international bodies, to join our 15-year struggle for the release of the Panchen Lama. We also beseech the Chinese government to understand that the holding of the Panchen Lama is a hostile gesture which prevents the Tibetan people from exercising their customary religious reverence, and as such contravenes their basic human rights, as well as those of the Panchen Lama himself.
TWA also sends an earnest appeal to the Chinese Government to heed to the true aspirations of the Tibetan people particularly the survivors of the Kyegudo earth quake who exude hope in a possible visit by His Holiness the Dalai Lama who has Himself expressed a strong intention to visit the ravaged area and offer prayers to the victims and condolences to the grieving Tibetans.
Notes:
April 25, 1989: Gedun Choekyi Nyima, son of Kunchok Phuntsok (father) and Dechen Choedon (mother), was born on the nineteenth day of the third Tibetan month in the Tibetan Earth-Snake year at Lhari, Nagchu District, in Tibet.
January 25, 1995: He was identified by H.H the Dalai Lama to be the 11th Panchen Lama of Tibet.
May 14, 1995: He was recognized and officially declared by H.H the Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama of Tibet.
May 17, 1995: Along with His family was abducted by the Chinese government and till date remained missing.
May 24, 1995: The government of People's Republic of China issued a statement describing the Dalai Lama's proclamation as "illegal and invalid."
November, 1995: The Chinese government deemed the Dalai Lama's actions in selecting Gedun Choekyi Nyima as the reincarnated Panchen Lama to be "illegal and ineffective", particularly as the Central Government had not confirmed the so-called "reincarnated soul boy". The Chinese authorities nominated and selected a six-year-old boy named Gyaltsen Norbu. The majority of Tibetans does not recognize Gyaltsen Norbu as the true Panchen Lama but instead regard him as a puppet of the Chinese government.
May 1996: Suspicions that he had been kidnapped were confirmed in May 1996 when the Chinese leadership admitted to holding him and his family in "protective custody".
INTERNATIONAL REACTION:
1996: The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern at the disappearance of this child.
2005: The U.N's Working Group on Enforced Disappearance regards Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as a Disappeared Person.
September 2005: TWA attended the 36th session of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that called upon the Chinese authorities to allow an independent body to verify the fate of Gedun Choekyi Nyima, the Panchen Lama of Tibet. The chairman of CRC Professor Doek asked the Chinese authorities to "allow an independent expert to visit and confirm the well-being of Gedun Choekyi Nyima while respecting his right to privacy, and that of his parents." But the request is still pending.
November 2008: During TWA's participation in the 41st session of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, CAT experts laid strong emphasis on the need to follow-up and essentially implement the recommendation of Committee on the Rights of the Child on Panchen Lama made in the year 2005.
EXTRA NOTE:
Tashi Lhunpo monastery (the traditional seat of Panchen Lama) continues to offer a reward (currently US$33,290) for information leading to outside contact with Panchen Lama.
