Chairwoman Hautala met on 17 November the deputy speaker of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, Mrs. Dolma Gyari and five of her colleagues, Member of the Tibetan Parliament to discuss the situation of political prisoners in Tibet. [:]

 Chairwoman Hautala has been working for the cause of Tibet for twenty years and has had the privilege to host His Holiness on several occasion both in Finland and in the European Parliament. Now in her new capacity as Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Human Rights she looks forward to continuing with more opportunities to help to improve the situation in Tibet.

Chairwoman Hautala expressed grave concern over the gross violations of human rights in Tibet, including executions and disappearances of Tibetans, in the aftermath of the events of 10 March 2008 and stressed that it is of utmost necessity to have an independent international investigation to them.

 Furthermore, Chairwoman has received with alarm the news that 371 judgments have been passed in procedures which do not meet the standards of a free and fair trial, of the four executions on 20 October 2009 and that two more pending execution orders are in place.

 Chairwoman Hautala underlined that she remains concerned over the lack of religious freedoms in China on the whole. However, the persecution and repression of Tibetans has a special character since it endangers the whole existence of the nation and culture. Most importantly, the Chairwoman stressed that the European Union must finally take its own human rights commitments seriously and raise the issues into the centre of the following EU-China summit to be held on 30 November.