Tibet's lost children

This week two Tibetans – a 19-year-old former monk and a nun – set themselves on fire in protest of China’s rule.

Their acts took the total number of self-immolations to nine so far this year.

And the ‘Free Tibet’ campaign, calling on China to release its stranglehold on the region and for the return of the Dalai Lama, is showing no sign of slowing.

China’s repression of the Tibetan people in their homeland has caused thousands to flee, with more than 100,000 currently living in exile in India.

One of those is Sambo, a 24-year-old Tibetan I met when I was travelling in India two-and-a-half years ago.

His tale of extraordinary courage and determination has stuck with me ever since.

Growing up in the north-east of the disputed region, Sambo came from a family of nomadic people.

Along with the 50 or so other families living in the village of Wayang Rho, they lived off the land, moving from place to place with their herd of yaks, sheep and horses.

Sambo said despite not having much, his existence there with his father and two sisters was a happy one.

“There were wide grasslands filled with colourful flowers in front of the village,” he said.

“Although most people in my village were illiterate, they were very happy because they were living in a peaceful, natural place.”

At the age of nine Sambo started school but by the time he reached 16 his thoughts had already turned to India.

China’s tight grip on Tibet spreads to the education system, and he was forced to learn Mandarin, a language he struggled to grasp.

His desire to learn English – along with his longing to meet the Dalai Lama – was one of the reasons he made the decision to take on the treacherous journey to India.

In the autumn of 2003 without telling his father and aged just 16, he and his two cousins travelled to Lhasa, Tibet’s administrative capital.

Knowing what was on his son’s mind, Sambo’s father followed them. But only to give him his blessing.

Sambo said: “One day we suddenly met in front of the main temple in Lhasa city. When I told him my thoughts he smiled widely and said, ‘I must let you do what you want, but always remember you are leaving behind a group of people who will always worry about you and will hope that one day you will come back home alive.’”

That was the last time he saw his father.

Sambo’s journey through Tibet and Nepal was a dangerous one.

Together with nine others and one guard, the group travelled for several months, moving only at night to avoid being spotted by the Chinese army.

During the day they sheltered in caves, sleeping in tents and sometimes went for days without food.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, to travel thousands of miles in such fear,” said Sambo.

“The whole journey was filled with terror.”

It took the group two months to reach the Tibetan Reception Centre in Nepal.

Then on December 12 2003 Sambo finally arrived at the exile centre in Dharmsala in India.

And it was there he achieved his first aim of meeting the Dalai Lama when he gave an audience with the new arrivals.

Sambo said: “It was a thrilling experience. The tears of pleasure were dripping down my cheeks when I saw his smiling face and heard his great voice.”

As far as I know Sambo is still in India progressing well with his English, but the reality of seeing his father again remains distant and faint.

According to the Central Tibetan Administration, in 2006 alone nearly 2,500 young Tibetans, many under 18, arrived in Dharamsala.

And as you read this many more will be making that same dangerous journey.

Cat scrap over rights laws

The claws came out this week when Home Secretary Theresa May once again argued for the scrapping of the Human Rights Act.

And while her cat gaff left tabloid headline writers across the land tapping at their keyboards with glee, they barely scratched the surface of the debate on this issue.

In Mrs May’s view the use of Article 8 – the right to family life – has been used to prevent the Government from deporting illegal immigrants and suspected terrorists.

So she wants to scrap the Act altogether and replace it with a UK Bill of Rights.

For a start she was wrong about the case of the Bolivian and his cat.

But even if she had been right, why throw the moggie out with the bathwater? Wouldn’t it be better to amend the Act or clarify how it should be applied rather than get rid of this country’s most important piece of human rights legislation?

Take a recent story of the police van that drove hundreds of miles so a prisoner wouldn’t have to walk a few yards in handcuffs.

Apparently they were worried it would contravene his human rights.

But rather than being treated as a genuine claim this would most likely have been laughed out of court.

It’s an example of how badly the law can be misinterpreted and misunderstood.

The Human Rights Act is there to protect us from real violations, and it’s used to positive affect hundreds of times a year.

We don’t condone torture, we believe passionately about freedom of protest, expression and to a fair trial.

These rights are something to be proud of.

And scrapping it would almost certainly weaken our call for democracy in countries like Libya and Egypt.

Charity Liberty has called for the Government to do more to educate people about their human rights.

It recently commissioned a poll that said just 9% of respondents remembered ever seeing any information from the Government on the Act.

So while a new Bill of Rights may seem on the face of it to be a good idea, really we should be doing more to help people understand the law we already have.

Because just like a new kitten that’s cute and playful when you first take it home, the Bill will inevitably end up just like the old tabby you traded it in for.