Reflection by Jenna B Period 2

Reflection

I believe that the United Nations did not enforce the Universal Declaration of Human Rights very well in Asia. This is because one day in 1949 the Chinese Just decided to invade and capture all the power in Tibet for no apparent reason. They probably just wanted to make their empire stronger and powerful, so they could be a threat towards other powerful empires. This seemed pretty rude for the Chinese to just barge into Tibet with their 250,000 troops. Also this major event in Tibet was very similar to the Holocaust. For instance the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 for the Jews and the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Tibetans resulted with very similar issues. Although the Universal Declaration of Human Right was suppose to protect these people, by giving them human rights. For both Jews and Tibetans their freedom and human rights were destroyed. The Nuremberg Laws demolished all of the Jews rights and the failure for the Chinese to obey the Seventeen Point Agreement destroyed the Tibetans rights. Also the Chinese government controlled the Tibetans and the German government took control over the Jews. In addition in both situations many people were killed, tortured, and sent to labor camps.

During the repression of Tibet the Chinese definitely denied the principle of humanism. This is because by 1950 the Chinese government overthrew the Tibetans government, which was headed by their spiritual leader Dalai Lama. Then the people of Tibet were forced to obey the harsh laws of the Chinese government. By obeying this new government the people of Tibet lost their freedom of speech, religion, and culture. This even caused the people of Tibet’s identity to disappear and now that they lost their independence they were even force to change their language to Chinese. As one can see the Chinese government did not believe in humanism and did not think that individuals mattered.

Also I thought that it was pretty mean for Beijing to sign the Seventeen Point Agreement with Tibet and not even keep their promises. They promised that Tibet would continue to be a self-govern country. Also the Chinese promised that their government, freedom of religion, human rights, language, and Dalai Lama’s power would all be protected. The Seventeen Point Agreement was not taken very seriously, since the Chinese slowly took control over newspapers, radios, banks, and many food shops in Tibet. They even changed their language to Chinese, and destroyed their government, by capturing the jobs of government officials and teachers. As a result the Chinese must have thought of this Agreement as a Joke.

I think the leaders of this invasion must have been real threatening. This is because none of the other Chinese men or troops seemed to believe in taking control, by refusing to repress Tibet. I believe that if the troops rebelled against their leaders, this invasion my have never of occurred. These men probably could have easily over powered their leaders by outnumbering them. Either these men really hated the people of Tibet or they were too much of cowards to stand up to their leaders. I do feel very sorry for all of the innocent victims who were killed, tortured, and sent to labor camps. I think these victims of Tibet were very brave to establish those peaceful demonstrations and refuse to obey the Chinese government.

I definitely believe that the peacekeeping efforts by the United Nations in sovereign countries is acceptable. Since this new Chinese rule caused many problems in Tibet, such as famine or starvation problems, limited natural resources, and wildlife extinction. These Tibetans need all the help they can get on solving these problems and may be even becoming an independent country again. I thought that it was an excellent idea to start those human rights organizations. For instance the “Students for a free Tibet” organization teaches students around the world about Tibet’s history and current issues. Also the Amnesty International organization is currently trying to help Tibet by writing letter campaigns to inform leaders around the world about Tibet’s problems Without a doubt I believe that bring peoples attention around the world to Tibet’s issues could truly make a difference for the future.