No contract in Edinburgh for company facilitating China's occupation of Tibet! 
(Please note this campaign is primarily for Scottish supporters)

Free Tibet Campaign has learned that Bombardier, the Canadian transportation multinational that is supplying rail cars for the Golmud-Lhasa Railway, is bidding for a contract to supply tram cars to operate in Edinburgh on new tramlines recently approved by the Scottish Parliament.

Bombardier has ignored all attempts by Free Tibet Campaign to point out the catastrophic consequences of its supplying the Golmud-Lhasa Railway. The railway represents an overtly political project by China to facilitate its control over Tibet; Tibetans are already a minority in their own country and the railway will further marginalise them. It will allow China to militarise the Tibetan plateau by more effectively deploying troops and missiles there, and will also enhance China's ability to extract and remove into China Tibet's vast mineral wealth. The Dalai Lama has referred to the railway as "some kind of cultural genocide".

Bombardier has also recently recommended to its shareholders that they should vote against a shareholders' resolution that the company should adopt a human rights policy. The company has also broken its own Ethical Code by participating in a project (in Tibet) that ignores social and corporate responsibility. It is essential that Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (TIE) should NOT award a contract to, and co-operate with, Bombardier when that same company is so openly determined to support China's occupation of Tibet.

TAKE ACTION

Please write to the following officials with the following demands:

• That no contract should be given to Bombardier to supply tram cars for the Edinburgh tram lines due to Bombardier's involvement in the Golmud-Lhasa Railway project that will further marginalise Tibetans in their own country.


• That TIE should inform Bombardier that they are only prepared to award contracts to companies with clear and binding human rights policies.

1. Mr Michael Howell, Chief Executive Transport Initiatives for Edinburgh
Verity House
19 Haymarket Yards
Edinburgh EH12 5BH
Tel: 0131 622 8300
Fax: 0131 622 8301

2. (For those living in Scotland)
To your Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP):
(MSP name)
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP

To check who your MSP is, go to:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/index.htm 
or call the Scottish Parliament on 0131 348 5000 to get his/her details.

3. (For those living in Edinburgh)
To your Edinburgh councillor:
(Councillor name)
Edinburgh Council
City Chambers
High St
Edinburgh EH1 1YJ

To check who your councillor is, go to:
http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/internet/Council/Council_Business/CEC_find_your_loca l_councillor_ or call the Council on 0131 200 2323.

SAMPLE LETTER TO TIE/MSP/COUNCILLOR:

(Please feel free to use the text of this letter, however letters in your own words are even more effective!)

Date

Dear

I am deeply disturbed to hear that Bombardier, a company co-operating with the Chinese Government to build a railroad into Tibet and thereby strengthening China's occupation of Tibet, is to tender for a contract to supply tram cars for use on Edinburgh's new tramlines. I understand Bombardier has constantly refused to address any of the serious issues regarding its business activities in Tibet when such issues have been raised by Free Tibet Campaign.

I also understand that Bombardier has broken its own Ethical Code by participating in a project (in Tibet) that ignores social and corporate responsibility and has recommended its shareholders vote against adopting a human rights policy at its upcoming AGM. I feel it would be totally inappropriate to reward Bombardier with a contract for Edinburgh given its unwillingness to take into account ongoing systemic human rights abuses in Tibet, thereby making it complicit in China's oppression of that country.

Yours sincerely,

Name

Address


(Please send us copies of any replies you receive as this helps us to monitor the situation.)