Monday, 14 April 2008

Café Museum

A-1010  WIEN, Operng. 7

"Protests in Tibet and Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing"

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Important note

The Team of the Forum for International Negotiation decided to take the opportunity provided by the incidence in Tibet. The 7th simulation was purely hypothetical and it was highly unlikely that such a conference as being organized with the parties present here will ever take place in any country. However, we believed that in this simulation, all parties were able to represent their position under a condition similar to an international diplomatic negotiation.

Unlike other simulation, this 7th round had no aim to reach an agreement. We encouraged, however, the parties representing a sovereign state to issue a short statement at the beginning or at the end of  the meeting.

Participants

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of a country named Flandria (We decided to invent such a country to avoid any reference to any existing country whose official policy towards the issue might change as new events evolve), which is a member of the EU, convenes the conference which consists of the following parties:

• Foreign Ministry of Flandria (Chairperson)

• Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China

• Ambassador of the Russian Federation

• Ambassador of the French Republic

• Ambassador of the Republic of India

• Representative of the IOC

• The Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council on the freedom of opinion and expression

• The President of the European Parliament

All ambassadors are accredited and resident in Flandria.

Scenario

The civil unrest in Tibet had been sparked in the second week of March 2008 by demonstrations of monks and civilians in Lhasa in order to express their discontent with the socio-economic and political situation in the autonomous province Tibet. The unrest developed to widespread riots and partly violent uprising of Tibetian ethnics. The Chinese government deployed a large number of soldiers in the area to restore peace and security. Clashes had been reported between the officers of the army and the demonstrators, and force and counter-violence were used. In the western media, fundamental human rights were reported to be gravely violated and demonstrators and monks persecuted. The Chinese government also requested all journalists to leave Tibet, and stressed that the issue was purely internal affairs and no foreign countries were permitted to intervene.

The incident in Tibet and the neighbouring regions and the reaction of the Chinese authority caused various reactions from around the globe. In several countries, government, sport associations and civil society have been observing the incidents and consider them as a violation of fundamental human and civil rights in Tibet. Now they are looking for an appropriate signal to express their concern, especially relating to the Olympic Games 2008, which China will host in its capital.

The government of Flandria, which has stable and friendly economic and political relations with China, organizes this conference in order to listen to the parties directly involved in the Tibet issue or parties who share responsibility in the organization of the Olympic Games or having taken actions as signal of disapproval to Beijing. In particular, the government of Flandria would like to

• Understand the nature of the incident with regards to human rights violation

• Understand the position of countries involved in the issue of Tibetian uprising

• Identify possible actions to help solving the problem peacefully

• Consider the necessity of taking measures relating to the Olympic games as signal of disapproval to China

• Identify such measures (such as Boycott or statement)

While all other delegates try to persuade Flandria of their stance in each points above, the minister of foreign affairs of Flandria is absolutely neutral and has not yet taken any action nor given any official statement.

A brief description of the positions of the negotiators

Except the foreign minister of Flandria, whose was to preside the meeting and to gather information as much as possible, the positions of all parties were not fixed due to the fact that the situation developed day by day. At the negotiation table, only the latest status was to be taken into account.