The International Campaign for Tibet offers its condolences to the family of Senator Edward Kennedy on his passing.
Senator Kennedy was a long standing and faithful of friend of Tibet in the U.S. Congress. The Senator met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on numerous occasions, and championed the rights and democratic freedoms of the Tibetan people. Senator Kennedy played a leadership role on the 1990 legislation that brought 1,000 Tibetans to live in the United States, as a response to the Chinese-imposed martial law in Tibet and the Tiananmen Square massacre in the late 1980s. This initiative led to the creation of thriving Tibetan communities in many states, empowering these new Tibetan-Americans to both preserve and share their unique culture in American society.
Senator Kennedy’s niece, Kerry Kennedy, founder of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights, serves on ICT’s International Council of Advisors.