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European Parliament Resolution on the Situation and Cultural Heritage in Kashgar

European Parliament Strasbourg, 10 March 2011

With this resolution, the European Parliament is publicly expressing that the Old City of Kashgar must be preserved and destruction halted. The ancient city of Kashgar, located in the very heart of the Silk Road, is not only a crucial cultural site for Uyghur identity, but part of world civilization with its unique reflections of accumulated history, tolerance and cultural diversity. The urgency resolution is both a clear and unequivocal signal to the Chinese authorities to uphold its responsibilities to preserve world heritage sites like Kashgar and the Uyghur culture, and also to stop the ongoing human rights violations against the Uyghur population in East Turkestan.

Note:

This resolution follows a conference on the City of Kashgar sponsored by Frida Brepoels MEP and convened by the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and the Belgian Uyghur Association held on 27 January 2011 in the European Parliament in Brussels. The conference detailed the ongoing destruction of what is a unique Silk Road city by the Chinese authorities despite appeals for conservation and preservation of the city, even from within China itself. As a result of that conference, a remarkable level of cross-party support was expressed for an urgency resolution. UNPO and the WUC have since then been actively lobbying for the support of this resolution within the European Parliament.

To download a transcript of the resolution debate, please click here, a local copy of the resolution can be found here.

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Related links:

WUC Press Release: WUC Applauds European Parliament´s Urgency Resolution on Safeguarding Kashgar

UNPO Press Note: European Parliament Calls to End Kashgar Demolition

International Business News: MEPs Urge China to Stop the Destruction of Cultural Heritage

Uygur Haber Ayansi: European Parliament Kashgar Resolution (Turkish language)

Deutsche Welle: European Parliament: Stop the Destruction of Kashgar (Chinese Language)

Radio Free Asia: Resolution Lacks Teeth

Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker: Erdbeben-Sicherheit contra Menschenrechte: China will kulturelle Identität der Uiguren durch “Sanierungsmaßnahmen” zerstören