WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2318/98 by Gianfranco DELL'ALBA to the Council. European Troika in Tibet
8. 4. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 96/73 It follows that, under Community law, the first recognition of the diploma for professional reasons is not compulsory. Such recognition is, therefore, a matter for the Member States. Naturally, if the profession is not regulated, it is not necessary to seek recognition of the diploma. For the person concerned to be able to find out about the steps, if any, that need to be taken to obtain recognition of his diploma, copies of the list of the institutions to be contacted in each Member State are being sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliamentís Secretariat. (1) OJ L 19, 24. 1. 1989. (1999/C 96/103) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2318/98 by Gianfranco DellíAlba (ARE) to the Council (28 July 1998) Subject: European Troika in Tibet From 1 to 4 May 1998 an EU delegation consisting of the Troika of ambassadors to Beijing went on a fact-finding mission to Tibet. In the course of the Troikaís visit to the Lhasa prison disturbances broke out which resulted in the death of seven Tibetan monks held in the prison and the injury of twenty or thirty other prisoners. More than two months after this mission has taken place the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, whilst it has just adopted the outline of the programme for EU-China relations, has still not made the report on the mission public. Instead, in reply to a question I asked on the subject on 23 June 1998 during a hearing before the European Parliamentís Subcommittee on Human Rights the minister Lloyd stated, on behalf of the Council, that the report was áin preparationí. In view of the fact that exactly two months have gone by since the mission took place, what is the Council 1. waiting for to make the report public? Is the truth not rather that the document is ready but cannot be released because it cannot avoid referring to 2. the tragic events that took place in the Lhasa prison which, it appears, the members of the Troika witnessed? Reply (9 November 1998) The report referred to by Honourable Member was made public on 19 June 1998. The Troika delegation which was in Tibet from 1-10 May indeed paid a visit in Lhasa on 4 May to the Drapchi prison. It reported in detail on this visit with the following introduction remarks about the alleged incidents. The main interest was the treatment of political prisoners. It was subsequently reported that there had been a major disturbance in the prison on 1 May. The delegation was not aware of these reports at the time of their visit to the prison. There had been some doubts raised by the Tibetan authorities (paragraph 8) over the visit, but no explanation was given for these, and the delegation formed the impression that this was a negotiating tactic on the part of the Tibetan authorities. The delegation were also briefed, they felt unusually, in the open air outside the inner prison gates before the actual prison visit. Nonetheless, there were no visible signs of the after effects of a riot, and naturally the Prison authorities made no mention of any such incident. As far as could be ascertained the guarding was normal, with no obvious signs of extra guards or heightened security. In August 1998 further reports of disturbances, including up to 10 deaths, before, during and after the Troikaís visit reached the Presidency and some Member States. It has not been possible to confirm these reports so far