World Uyghur Congress, 6 March 2018

On March 7th, the World Uyghur Congress and the Uyghur Human Rights Project will convene a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. at 12:30 PM. The press conference will feature WUC President Dolkun Isa, who will discuss the recent announcement from INTERPOL that it had deleted the ‘red notice’ on his name after important work from the UK-based organisation, Fair Trials, showed the notice to be politically motivated and the Chinese allegations of criminality unsubstantiated.

Dolkun Isa has had to live with the red notice on his name for over 20 year, after the Chinese government used INTERPOL’s Red Notice system to punish him for his human rights work and as an effort to hinder further activism. This resulted in significant restrictions in his freedom of movement and he was briefly detained in a number of countries, as the Chinese government successfully harassed him and tried to silence any criticism of its human rights record.The deletion of the Red Notice is a significant step in the right direction for INTERPOL, as the Chinese government increasingly sought to use it to harass human rights activists living abroad.

In 2006, Mr. Isa had a great deal of difficulty entering the United States, due to the red notice. He was detained 23 hours at Washington airport and sent back to Germany. However, he was finally able to enter the US in 2012. Now, 6 years later, he is able to discuss the deletion of the Red Notice at a press conference in Washington D.C. The fact that justice was able to be achieved in a time where China increasingly seeks to influence international organisations and world politics gives the WUC hope.

Dolkun Isa will also discuss the general situation in East Turkestan, which has deteriorated significantly. In the past few years alone, policies from the Chinese government have effectively turned East Turkestan into a police state and Uyghurs are treated as criminals or second-class citizens due solely to their ethnicity and desire to have their basic rights respected. Uyghurs are not able to peacefully practice their religion, fully speak and learn in their mother tongue or move and express themselves freely. East Turkestan is now covered with Chinese roadblocks, security cameras and Chinese police and military officers as the Chinese government seeks to control and suffocate the Uyghur people. Most worryingly, hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs remain in arbitrarily detained in ‘re-education’ camps.

The press conference is open to the public, so on behalf of the World Uyghur Congress and the Uyghur Human Rights Project, we would like to cordially invite you to attend.