Dharamshala, Oct. 18 -- During the first EU-China Inter-Parliamentary Meeting (IPM) held since 2018, a European Parliament delegation raised several human rights concerns in its exchanges with representatives from the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China. Among these, the situation in Tibet featured prominently as part of a broader critique of China's worsening human rights record. The European Parliament reiterated its long-standing concern regarding the fate of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima who was abducted by Chinese authorities in 1995 at the age of six and called for his unconditional release. The meetingwas held on October 16 in Brussels. "MEPs raised a number of long-standing concerns regarding the human rights situation in China, referring among other to the cases of Sakharov laureate Ilham Tohti, Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai, the Panchen Lama, and Swedish citizen Gui Minhai. They reiterated the call for their unconditional release," reads the statement issued after 42nd EU-China IPM. On May 14, 1995, the 14th Dalai Lama had announced the young boy as the 11th Panchen Lama and bestowed him the name Jetsun Tenzin Gedhun Yeshi Trinley Phuntsok Pal Sangpo. Three days later, the Panchen Lama and his parents "disappeared" along with Chadrel Rinpoche, the abbot of the Panchen Lama's seat at Tashi Lhunpo monastery. He was born in Chinese occupied Tibet on April 25, 1989. "Ahead of the IPM, the Office of Tibet, Brussels, and the International Campaign for Tibet actively reached out to the MEPs urging them to raise the human rights situation in Tibet with their Chinese counterparts during the IPM. On the day of the IPM, the International Campaign for Tibet and local Tibetan Associations jointly staged a protest in the vicinity of the European Parliament demanding freedom in Tibet," said a report by Central Tibetan Administration(CTA). On October 16, the European Parliament and the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (PRC) held the first IPM since 2018. Parliamentary exchanges had been on hold since 2021 following the sanctions imposed by the Chinese government on Members of the European Parliament, the EP's Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Political and Security Committee, as well as national Members of Parliaments, researchers, and organisations....