The international group, Human Rights Watch, has urged the South African government to allow the Dalai Lama into the country for Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s 80th birthday celebrations.
South Africa has not yet issued a visa to the spiritual leader of the Tibetans, who also plans to deliver a lecture at the University of the Western Cape.
The Dalai Lama’s visa application has faced continual delays by South African officials with the Human Rights Watch claiming there was no objective basis for refusing to grant a visa to the Dalai Lama and that it “appears to be based on no more than fear of Chinese government displeasure”.
“If South Africa refuses a visa to a Nobel Prize recipient and human rights campaigner, with no objective grounds for refusal, then there can only be less-than-noble motivations for its action,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director of Human Rights Watch.
“For the government to block a leader who supported South Africa’s struggles is not only to deny its own history, but it raises questions about whether the government looks to Pretoria, or to Beijing, for some of its domestic policy decisions.”