SECTION IV #D.:Lessons and Accomplishments

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 IV D. Lessons and Accomplishments

China's treatment of its critics at this international gathering was 
clumsy.The result was a public relations disaster for China. Images of 
Chinese security agents preying on TWD delegates and others only 
served to alert the world's media and the international community 
to the ruthlessness of  China's regime. China exposed an unabashed 
willingness to breach its international commitments and act in 
violation of international laws, norms and practices. 

Because of China's mishandling of the TWD and the TWD's composure
and restraint in the face of harassment, Tibet received unprecedented 
exposure.  The profile of Tibetan women has been boosted. 
The Tibetan struggle, based on non-violence, has been further 
strengthened in the eyes of the world community. The experience of 
the TWD at the FWCW echoes only a minuscule fraction of what 
women in Tibet and China face daily. Those who resist state repression
in Tibet and China without the protection of  foreign passports and 
the shield of an international gathering deserve the utmost admiration.

Despite the problems with the Forum site and the heavy harassment 
and surveillance, the TWD met hundreds of women from around the world,
shared information, networked, strategised and made plans for working 
together in the future.The support received from the international 
women's community, evidenced in numerous ways prior to and during 
the NGO Forum, was overwhelming.The TWD's biggest disappointment 
was the denial of the right, at an international gathering, to have
any constructive contact or meaningful discussion with sisters from
Tibet and with local Chinese women.

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