Press Release – For immediate release
15 May 2012
Contact: World Uyghur Congress www.uyghurcongress.org
0049 (0) 89 5432 1999 or contact@uyghurcongress.org

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) has successfully held the Opening Ceremony of its 4th General Assembly at the Japanese Parliament in Tokyo in the morning of May 14. More than 120 Uyghur delegates from 20 countries around the world, Members of the Parliaments of Japan, Turkey and Italy, other foreign dignitaries, and Chinese, Tibetan and human rights activists attended.

During the opening ceremony, Uyghur democracy leader Rebiya Kadeer expressed her deep appreciation to the government of Japan for enabling the WUC to hold its General Assembly in Japan by issuing visas to delegates, and to the people and Parliament of Japan for their strong support of Uyghur people’s peaceful struggle for human rights and democracy in their homeland. Ms. Kadeer also highlighted the severe repression suffered by the Uyghur people under the harsh “strike-hard” government policies in East Turkestan, which have been particularly shocking since the July 5 Urumchi Massacre of 2009, including large-scale round-ups of young men who have not been heard from since they disappeared, and reports of horrific torture of the young people in unacknowledged detention.

The Mainichi, 15 May 2012

TOKYO (AP) — A high-profile Uighur activist accused China of repressing her ethnic group, as her exiles’ group met Monday in Tokyo for its biggest gathering in three years and the Chinese government slammed Japan for allowing the meeting.

BBC News, 15 May 2012

China has heavily criticised Japan’s decision to allow an organisation of Uighur exiles to meet in Tokyo, newspapers report on Tuesday.

Papers ranging from China Daily to the Global Times cover reaction from Beijing’s foreign ministry, as it lodged a strong protest over the World Uighur Congress meeting and subsequent visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine by the group’s leader, Rebiya Kadeer.

Radio Free Europe, 15 May 2012

The exiled head of the World Uyghur Congress says Uyghurs face a continuing threat to their existence because of repression by Chinese authorities in the northwestern Chinese province of Xinjiang.

The Times of India, 15 May 2012

TOKYO: A high-profile Uighur activist accused China of repressing her ethnic group, as her exiles’ group met on Monday in Tokyo for its biggest gathering in three years and the Chinese government slammed Japan for allowing the meeting. World Uyghur Congress head Rebiya Kadeer said her group would continue its “peaceful struggle” for democracy and selfdetermination , and demanded that China respect the rights of ethnic minorities.

RFA, 14 May 2012

The World Uyghur Congress’s biennial meeting opens in Japan.

Ethnic Uyghurs are facing a struggle for survival in the face of growing repression, exiled Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer said Monday as she launched a biennial meeting of the World Uyghur Congress hosted by Japan against China’s objections.

RFA, 14 May 2012

Thirty-six Uyghurs say their family members have been missing since the Urumqi riots in July 2009.

More families of Uyghurs missing in the aftermath of ethnic violence in China’s Xinjiang region in 2009 have come forward to highlight their cases in the absence of information from the Chinese authorities.

VoA News, 14 May 2012

TOKYO – Exiled representatives of the Uighur, an ethnic group that lives mainly in Western China’s province of Xinjiang, are meeting in Japan for their fourth annual conference. The World Uighur Congress, based in Germany, opposes what it calls the Chinese occupation of their land, and the group’s gatherings routinely draw criticism from Beijing.

Radio Australia, 14 May 2012

Ethnic Uighurs from around the world have gathered in Japan, for a meeting to press their case for independence from China.

They want the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, a territory in Western China to become independent of China.

Ethnic tensions have led to sporadic flashes of violence in China’s Xinjiang region, which is home to nine million Uighurs.

The National, 14 May 2012

TOKYO // The Uighur people face a fight for their very existence against Chinese repression, their exiled leader said yesterday as a conference in Japan threatened to drive a wedge between Tokyo and Beijing.