Dalai Lama receives human rights award in Slovakia
(September 11, 2009) The Dalai Lama has received an international award for his promotion
of human rights and his leadership in the nonviolent campaign by Tibetans seeking
autonomy from China. After receiving Slovakia's Jan Langos award in Bratislava on
Wednesday, the Dalai Lama said he considers the prize “new encouragement” for his
efforts to find a “mutually agreeable solution” for China and Tibet. Chinese authorities
accuse the Tibetan spiritual leader of seeking independence from Communist China,
but the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in northern India, insists he merely wants
more autonomy for Tibet. The Jan Langos Foundation, which invited the Dalai Lama
to Slovakia, gives its award to “an outstanding figure of the local defiance against
oppressed regimes and their security services” and to civil servants and politicians
who “endeavour for human dignity and freedom.”