The Final Outcome of the 11th Session of the 14th Tibetan Parliament

Monday, 28 March 2011

DHARAMSALA, In his message to the 11th Session of the 14th Assembly of the Tibetan People’s Deputies, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, presenting a letter based on sound reason and Tibet’s history and reality, said “… amendments to the Charter on this occasion must conform to the framework of a democratic system in which the political leadership is elected by the people for a specific term.” This message was read out on the opening day of the Parliament session on 14 March 2011.

The Kashag made its statement on the second day on 15 March, following which the whole day was devoted to intensive deliberation on His Holiness’ message. On 16 March, the members of Parliament met separately for a meeting and debated on the issue. On the basis of these deliberations, the speaker and deputy speaker issued two draft resolutions to the Parliament on 17 March. Accordingly, three sub-committees of the members of Parliament were formed, which held intensive deliberations.  An official draft resolution was finalized based on the proposals, which were passed unanimously or by majority, submitted by the three sub-committees in their recommendations. After holding a whole day discussion on 18 March, the Assembly passed a three-point resolution “strongly beseeching His Holiness the Dalai Lama to continue to remain as both the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people”. The resolution was presented to His Holiness through his secretaries on 19 March. The office of His Holiness in its response said “There is no change in His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s decision as conveyed in detail in his earlier message. Therefore the resolution could not be accepted and have been directed to send it back.”

Subsequently, a general meeting of the members of Parliament was convened on the morning of 21 March and it was agreed to form a working committee. On 21 March, an official resolution no. 15 was passed to formally constitute a working committee comprising of members of the Kashag and Parliament. On 23 March, the working committee presented its recommendations and related documents to the House. The members of Parliament held intensive discussion on the recommendations on 24 and 25 March. A resolution was passed.

The members of the 14th Tibetan Parliament in Exile unanimously approved the following resolutions:

1. To implement His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s message to the Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies to devolve his formal authority to an elected leadership, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker will constitute a Charter Redrafting Committee comprising of members of the Kashag and Parliament.
2. The Charter Redrafting Committee will prepare a report based on the Action Plan proposed by Working Committee, the outcome of the discussions during the current Parliament session, consultations with legal experts and further developments. The committee is required to submit its report to the Parliamentary Secretariat by 11 April 2011.
3. Necessary changes will be made to the proposed amendments to the Charter presented by Working Committee’s recommendations as per its proposals in the foreword and Article 1 of the second annexure. In order to obtain His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s assent to put into effect the amendments to the Charter, the second Tibetan National General Meeting will be held within the third week of May 2011. The date and venue of the meeting will be decided by the Standing Committee of the Tibetan Parliament. Participants to the meeting will be same as in the earlier general meeting.
4. An additional session of the 14th Tibetan Parliament will be convened to implement the final recommendations of the second Tibetan national general meeting.