Press Release – For immediate release
17 October 2018
Contact: World Uyghur Congress www.uyghurcongress.org
0049 (0) 89 5432 1999 or [email protected]

The WUC has organized a series of events from November 7-11, 2018 in Munich, Germany, including an Annual Executive Committee Meeting, a three-day East Turkistan Global Consulting Conference, a Uyghur Youth Networking Workshop, a celebration of East Turkistan National Day and a Uyghur Culture Event.

On November 6, at the start of China’s Universal Periodic Review of its human rights record by the UN Human Rights Council, thousands of Uyghurs from around Europe and the rest of the world will hold a large-scale march and static demonstration in Geneva, Switzerland.

We have invited Uyghur leaders from various organisations, religious scholars, Uyghur youth leaders and other Uyghur activists from around the world for these events from November 7-11.

The Annual Executive Committee Meeting is an essential part of WUC as it is a standing committee that often acts as a steering committee for the full board. Functioning as a steering committee, the executive committee prioritizes issues for the full board to address.

The three days long East Turkistan Global Consulting Conference is considered the preeminent conference for Uyghurs worldwide. Through this conference WUC seeks to network top Uyghurs intellects, leaders and activists across countries/regions and disperse knowledge of leading Uyghur advocacy world-wide.

The main goal of the conference is to provide a constructive forum for the Uyghur leaders, intellectuals, and activists from around the world to discuss the ongoing repression of Uyghur people in East Turkestan by Chinese authorities, specifically the urgent situation of the more than one million Ugyhurs being held in so call ‘re-education camps’.

The human rights situation in China has deteriorated dramatically in the last 5 years since Xi Jinping became president, especially for groups that have historically faced persecution, such as the Uyghurs, Tibetans and Southern Mongolians. In almost every aspect the human rights situation has gotten worse. Freedom of religion, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are virtually non-existent, as a series of restrictive laws and policies from the Chinese government have cracked down on these fundamental rights. Human rights defenders have been arbitrarily detained, disappeared or tortured in masse and the families of those who speak out have been punished in acts of reprisals.

Diaspora Uyghurs have lost all contact with loved ones and friends who have vanished into the camps.

For this very urgent matter, the participation of all groups in the Uyghur exile community is essential in order to reach a consensus on specific policies and plans to be implemented. The WUC and Uyghur leaders, activist will strive to develop peaceful solutions to prevent the total assimilation of the Uyghur people and ensure the continued existence of the unique Uyghur ethnic identity and culture.

Although much of the international community is now aware of the internment camp system, it is crucial that we remember that persecution of the Uyghur population can be traced back decades that laid much of the foundation for what we see today.

For this reason, we hope to gather several hundred delegates from all over the world to decide on common strategies and political platforms, as well as future steps.