Perspectivas / Perspectives

• Exteriores ha repartido este año 184.374 euros entre 30 asociaciones
  Se redujeron un 47% respecto a la ayuda otorgada en 2011

Madrid, Oct.29 (Europa Press).─ La Secretaría de Estado de Asuntos Exteriores ha reducido a la mitad las subvenciones que concede cada año a asociaciones o fundaciones para ayudarles a sufragar actividades de divulgación, promoción y defensa de los Derechos Humanos, según ha publicado recientemente el Boletín Oficial del Estado.

La Oficina de Derechos Humanos del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación ha repartido en 2012 un total de 184.374 €uros entre una treintena de asociaciones, fundaciones y ONG para que organizaran diversas iniciativas en este ámbito. La partida es un 47% menor que la concedida en 2011.

A rare foreign visitor finds a Chinese tourist boom ─ Strangers in a strange land

Lhasa, Oct. 13.─ In front of the Jokhang temple at the heart of the Tibetan capital, excited members of a Chinese tour group pose in their new cowboy hats and snap photos to post on their microblogs for friends back home. Not far away, others pose in Tibetan garb in front of the Potala palace, traditional residence of the Dalai Lama. Many have experienced the recent Chinese pop-culture craze for things Tibetan, such as "The Tibet Code" (an historical thriller written in the style of "The Da Vinci Code"). Now they want the thrill of adventure travel themselves, and their numbers have soared, even as the number of foreigners visiting the region has declined.

A ban on foreigners travelling to Tibet was in effect in the spring, part of an annual restriction during politically sensitive March anniversaries of the Dalai Lama's flight to India in 1959 and the anti-Chinese riots in 2008. This year the ban was extended into the summer and autumn, as a series of self-immolations by Tibetans in protest at Chinese rule continued to roil Tibetan regions. Statistics for domestic visitor numbers are often misunderstood. They count the total number of times people check in at Tibet's hotels, not the total number of visitors to Tibet. Visitors increasingly stay at several hotels. But, even counted in that way, the numbers tell the story: 8.4m Chinese tourists visited in 2011, up from 3.7m in 2007. Foreign visitors (counted in the same way) fell to 270,800 in 2011, from a high of 365,400 in 2007. In 2008 just 68,000 foreigners visited Tibet.

After the Taliban were ejected from the Swat Valley in the summer of 2009, Ms. Yousufzai, then 13, began speaking out publicly about the militant group and the need for girls' education

Mingora, Oct.10.─ A Taliban gunman walked up to a bus taking children home from school in Pakistan's volatile Swat Valley on Tuesday and shot and wounded a 14-year-old activist known for championing the education of girls and publicizing atrocities committed by the Taliban, officials said.

The attack in the city of Mingora targeted 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who is respected for her work to promote the schooling of girls—something the Taliban opposes. She was nominated last year for the International Children's Peace Prize.

Más de 50 tibetanos se han prendido fuego en China desde 2009 para protestar contra el dominio chino [En la foto un incidente anterior, en Marzo]

Beijing, Oct.9 (AP).─ Un tibetano falleció después de prenderse fuego para protestar contra el dominio de China sobre la región del Himalaya, dijo un grupo defensor de los derechos humanos, en un nuevo caso de los tibetanos que han recurrido a la inmolación como una forma de disentir.

Sangye Gyatso, de 27 años y padre de dos niños, exigió libertad de religión y expresión en el Tíbet y el regreso del Dalai Lama, el exiliado líder espiritual de los tibetanos, durante una protesta en la que luego se prendió fuego el sábado en la provincia de Gansu, en el noroeste de China, dijo el grupo Free Tibet en un comunicado.