The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, has prevented Mr Conor O'Clery, The Irish Times Beijing-based Asia Correspondent, from travelling to Tibet with her to cover her visit there.
Mrs Robinson is visiting China from September 7th to 15th. She will be in Tibet for two days. It is the first ever visit by a UN Human Rights Commissioner.
Mr O'Clery had been given permission to accompany Mrs Robinson, along with RTE's special correspondent, Mr Charlie Bird, by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. No other journalists were given permission.
Mr O'Clery was told the reason he was given rare permission to enter Tibet was that as Mrs Robinson is a former President of Ireland and as he is the only Irish correspondent resident in China, he would be allowed to accompany her.
Two days after permission was granted, however, on September 4th, a Chinese official informed Mr O'Clery he could not now enter Tibet with the High Commissioner. When he protested he was told that this was because of the direct intervention by the High Commissioner in Geneva.
Mrs Robinson's spokesman, Mr Jose Diaz, told Mr O'Clery the High Commissioner had decided that if both he and Mr Bird accompanied Mrs Robinson it would send the wrong message. It was not an Irish trip but a United Nations visit, he was told.
Mr Diaz said last night: "We wanted a small pool from the beginning. Mrs Robinson never told the chinese she only wanted RTE , or to drop you. I raised with the Chinese in Geneva that we wanted a small pool. I think there were mixed signals between the Chinese mission in Geneva and Beijing."Mr O'Clery said: "The fact remains that as late as Monday evening, Mrs Robinson made it very clear to me that it was her wish that The Irish Times should not be on the trip unless as a member of a small pool of reporters."Mr O'Clery has been Asia Correspondent in Beijing for the past two years. In June he was given permission to enter Tibet and reported from there. This year about 12 foreign correspondents have been given permission to enter the area. Last year even fewer were allowed into the region.
Tibet is known as the Autonomous Region of Tibet, and lies within the Chinese borders since it was occupied by Chinese troops in 1950. It is normally closed to foreign correspondents. Mrs Robinson's visit will be concerned with the question of religious, political and civil rights, one of which is freedom of expression.
No other Beijing correspondents were invited on the visit to Tibet. The Chinese authorities acceded to her request to have just one journalists, Mr Bird, who will be accompanied by a camera operator, Mr Paddy Higgins.
Mr Bird is making a documentary on Mrs Robinson and it is believed the UN High Commissions office want to use some of the footage for its archive. He is also covering the visit for RTE news.
On Monday in Beijing Mrs Robinson told Mr O'Clery his presence on the trip would "send the wrong message". Following strong representation from The Irish Times she suggested Mr O'Clery could accompany her if the group became an international media group, and included journalists from other countries. The Chinese authorities could not arrange this at short notice. Beijing-based correspondents normally have to wait weeks for an application to travel to Tibet to be processed. Mr O'Clery was finally told he could not go to Tibet yesterday. Mrs Robinson and Mr Bird leave for Tibet today.
Yesterday Mr O'Clery said: "I find it extraordinary that having been given rare permission by the Communist Chinese authorities to travel to Tibet on this occasion that I should be prevented by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights."
Last night, the editor of The Irish Times, Mr Conor Brady said. "It's ironic that Mrs Robinson goes to China to address human rights issues - press freedom among them - and the first thing she does is block our resident correspondent from reporting her visit to Tibet. The excuse advanced by her spokesman simply doesn't stand up."
The Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists, Eoin Ronayne, said it was puzzling that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights would not use her visit as an opportunity for as many journalists as possible to enter an area where they are normally refused entry in order to chronicle the human rights situation.
"The more journalists, wherever they come from, who can witness conditions in Tibet the better informed the world would be."
Part of Mrs Robinson's responsibilities include the promoting of the UN Declaration of Human Rights that includes, in Article 19, the guarantees of freedom of expression and press freedom.
On the eve of Mrs Robinson's visit the Chinese Authorities released from detention a TV producer employed by US television network CBS News.