Weekly Brief June 8th
World Uyghur Congress, 8 June 2018
WUC Protested in Berlin to urge UN member states to take action
Before meeting with government officials, WUC representatives, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) and members of the Uyghur community in Germany protested at Brandenburger Tor in Berlin.
This protest was meant to urge states to take action to release the estimated 1 million Uyghurs arbitrary detained in political indoctrination camps East Turkistan.
The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) appeals to German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas
The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) appealed to German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to use his talks with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi to advocate for more freedom of religion and a rule of law in the People’s Republic of China.
STP Director Ulrich Delius criticized the Chinese government in his letter to Maas stating that, “the aspect of human rights must not be excluded from the dialogue, as the situation in the People’s Republic is currently in free fall. This is especially true for religious minorities and nationalities such as the Uyghurs, the Kazakhs, the Tibetans, and the Mongol.”
WUC Commemorates 29thAnniversary of Tiananmen Square Democracy Protest
The WUC issued a press release commemorating the 29thAnniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989. On June 4th, 1989, thousands of Chinese protestors were brutally suppressed for holding demonstrations calling for democracy and for their basic human rights to be respected. The WUC honored the memory of all those demonstrators, especially those who lost their lives striving for democracy and human rights.
To commemorate the day, WUC President Dolkun Isa addressed a Symposium commemorating the 29th anniversary of the massacre, organized by Chinese activists at offices of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) in Brussels, Belgium.
He informed participants of the brutal crackdown that the Uyghur people have been subjected to, merely for wanting democracy and for their basic rights to be respected. Mr. Isa also stressed in his speech the importance of continues fighting for the basic human rights in China and to achieve the dream of democracy in China the people must have hope, unity and determination if they are to improve things.
How Should the World Respond to Intensifying Repression in Xinjiang?
On June 4th, the ChinaFile, an online magazine offering reporting and commentary on China hosted a conversation discussing on how the word should respond to intensifying repression in East Turkistan. Joining the conversation were a group of 4 China experts commenting their views and their analysis of the current situation facing millions of Uyghur in the region.
China Has Turned Xinjiang Into A Police State Like No Other
The Economist reported on the plight of Uyghurs in East Turkistan and how Chinese authorities have increased surveillance of its citizen, mainly Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities, and intensified its crackdown on Uyghur Muslim population by building political indoctrination camps around the region since April 2017.
A Uyghur man named Hassan is the main narrative of the article as it reports the Uyghur man now disappeared after being send back to his city of origin where he was detained despite losing his wife and daughter after a car accident on the way back home.
The Chinese government is building hundreds or thousands of unacknowledged re-education camps to which Uyghurs can be sent for any reason or for none. For all this activity, the government has not officially confirmed that the camps exist. They are not governed by any judicial process; detentions are on the orders of the police or party officials, not the verdict of a court.