STORY: Experts share views on China's minority rights protection in Geneva
SHOOTING TIME: March 18, 2024
DATELINE: March 20, 2024
LENGTH: 00:03:09
LOCATION: GENEVA, Switzerland
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the seminar
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): JIA CHUNYANG, Executive director of the Center for Economic and Social Security Studies of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (French): ANDRE LACROIX, Belgian Tibetologist
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): TUERSUN AIBAI, Associate professor with the School of Journalism and Communication of Xinjiang University

STORYLINE:

Experts and scholars attending a seminar in Geneva shared the achievements and experiences of minority rights protection in China, focusing on the practices in Xizang Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The seminar titled "The Protection of Human Rights for Minorities: Progress in China's Ethnic Autonomous Regions" was organized by the China Society for Human Rights Studies during the 55th session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): JIA CHUNYANG, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations
"From September to October 2023, I and my colleagues formed a research team. We went to Xizang, Qinghai, Sichuan, and made questionnaires towards 13 middle schools and 808 survey questionnaires were distributed to students, and we received 756 valid questionnaires.
According to the research result, in Xizang, students and their parents have the right to decide whether living in school or not. The school will not force or induce any behavior.
And these boarding schools in Xizang attach great importance to Tibetan language teaching.
And these schools also have made great efforts to protect and develop Tibetan traditional cultures, like setting up courses or interest classes of Tibetan opera, chess, dance, music and other classes."

SOUNDBITE 2 (French): ANDRE LACROIX, Belgian Tibetologist
"When you read the major Western newspapers, many are full of prejudices about Xizang as well as about the Uygurs. Matters related to the Uygurs have been totally distorted in the West.
There are a lot of things that are said about Xizang and which turn out to be blending elements of truth with falsehoods. They are against the truth and sometimes even real lies."

SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): TUERSUN AIBAI, Associate professor with the School of Journalism and Communication of Xinjiang University
"The Chinese government regards the rights to survival and development as basic human rights and continues to improve the happiness of people of all ethnic groups by improving their educational level, expanding employment, achieving stable employment, and increasing income. Certain Western anti-China forces use the blame of 'forced labor' as a pretext to create 'forced unemployment' and 'forced poverty' in Xinjiang, which violates the human rights of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Geneva, Switzerland.
(XHTV)