The Dalai Lama Saturday left Dharamsala, India, to begin a four-day visit to Europe, where he
will receive honorary citizenship of two cities in Italy, and a media prize in
Germany.
The Dalai Lama will arrive in Rome, the capital of Italy on 8 February 2009 in
the first leg of his visit to Europe. Rome and Venice will honour His Holiness
the Dalai Lama for his contribution to world peace and human rights. In Baden
Baden, Germany, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be bestowed the Deutsche
Medienpreis (the German Media Prize) for his spirit of "reconciliation,
tolerance, humility and respect" and for representing "the non-violent struggle
for the rights of the Tibetan people."
This is His Holiness the Dalai
Lama's first trip abroad in 2009. The visit comes as Tibetans worldwide are
preparing to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising
against Chinese rule in Tibet.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama is visiting
Rome at the invitation of its Mayor, Gianni Alemanno, to receive the honourary
citizenship of Rome on 9 February. The Rome City Council had approved by an
overwhelming majority a motion in September 2008 to the conferral of Honorary
Citizenship to His Holiness for "his international efforts to find a peaceful
solution for Tibet and for having affirmed the principles of human rights and
peaceful conflict-resolution between nations."
His Holiness the Dalai
Lama will then travel to Venice to receive that city's honourary citizenship.
The Venice City Council unanimously approved a resolution for this purpose on 29
July 2008.
Media Control, one of Germany's leading market-research
companies as well as an interpreter in media-studies, analysis, and evaluation,
will present His Holiness the Dalai Lama the Deutsche Medienpreis (the German
Media Prize) on 10 February in Baden Baden. A 20-member jury consisting of
Germany's most important and influential media chief editors voted His Holiness
the Dalai Lama for the 2008 Award.
The announcement said, "In a time of
religious tension, self-destructive, addiction to profit and ongoing violations
of human rights, the Dalai Lama actively advocates reconciliation, tolerance,
humility and respect. He represents the non-violent struggle for the rights of
the Tibetan people, a struggle he has been leading for over 50 years from exile
in India." Previous recipients of the German award include Nelson Mandela, Kofi
Annan, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, King Hussein of Jordan, and King Juan
Carlos of Spain.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama will return to India on 11
February.
Information for this report was provided by the Office of Tibet, Geneva.
གཟའ་སྤེན་པ། ༢༠༢༤/༠༤/༢༠