SECTION IIIC:REVIEW FROM TIBETAN WOMEN'S DELEGATION REPORT

Women delegates protesting at the Beijing conference Women delegates gagged to symolize China's silencing of Tibetan women's voices at the Beijing conference

SECTION IIIC. Review

Support from the UN FWCW Secretariat was practically non-existent
throughout this process. Gertrude Mongella, Secretary-General of
the Conference, encouraged TWD delegates to join the group of
Tibetan women being organised by China. NGO Forum Convenor,
Supatra Masdit, gave verbal but no obvious practical support to
the TWD. Why some exile Tibetans were issued visas and some not
is unclear, though it seems China did try to exclude both
Tibetans in exile and Tibet supporters. TWD delegates who were
issued visas included some with Tibetan first and last names and
with birthplaces in Tibet listed in the passport. Those TWD
delegates who were able to obtain visas were registered as
individuals or indicated non-Tibet NGO affiliation, except for
one delegate who had registered as a representative of a Tibet
NGO . The absence of will by the UN body to overcome China's
political manoeuvres to deny accreditation to Tibet and Taiwan
NGOs does not bode well for future participants in UN
conferences. With the UN FWCW, China established a dangerous
precedent that could possibly permit host countries of future UN
Conferences to raise similar objections to those NGOs deemed
unfriendly or controversial. The size of the UN FWCW and the
venue of China created some unique problems and opportunities
which are unlikely to be duplicated in the near future. In
particular, China's vehement objections generated considerable
publicity and interest about Tibet. This inadvertent publicity
may force other countries to consider the ramifications of
denying visas to conference attendees. However, China will likely
continue to present strong opposition to the accreditation of
Tibet NGOs to other UN Conferences. Tibet NGOs need to build
relationships with member states from other regions, specifically
Africa and South America, for more broad-based support for future
UN initiatives. Tibetan women who were denied visas built on this
interest and created additional media attention by staging hunger
strikes and vigils in India, the United States and Europe while
the NGO Forum proceeded in Huairou. Thus, even though many women
were unable to attend the conference, the time and money spent on
the application process brought attention to the Tibetan issue.

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