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Weekly Brief December 17

Weekly Brief December 17

World Uyghur Congress, 17 December 2018

Protest In Munich On International Human Rights Day

The Uyghur community in Munich protested at the Odeonsplatz in recognition of International Human Rights Day on Monday 10 December 2018, to bring attention to the current situation in East Turkistan. The protest highlighted the abhorrent human rights situation in China, especially the mass arbitrary detention of more than one million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other ethnicities in internment camps.

WUC representatives spoke during the protest and explained the Uyghur human rights crisis to the public, while others handed out pamphlets that detailed the current situation facing the Uyghurs and other ethnic groups in East Turkistan.

Human Rights Organisations Call on the International Communities to Stand Up To China

On 10 December 2018, the World Uyghur Congress joined 20 other human rights groups to collectively call on the international community to “stand up to the Chinese government” over rights violations against Uyghurs, Tibetans and other ethnic minorities in a joint statement marking the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

Those human rights group stated that it is time for the international community to follow their example and stand up to the Chinese government. They suggested that those like-minded world governments need to get together and formally engage in joint initiatives to defend Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, Chinese, Taiwanese and Hong Kongers – taking action together to defend human rights, democracy and free speech and stand up to Beijing as one. Such action will be far more difficult for China to retaliate against.

The joint statement sent a strong message saying: “If those who live directly under China’s rule can, time and time again, stand up to one of the most powerful nations on earth led by a violent regime, can’t the rest of the international community do more?”

Media Briefing On Google’s Dragonfly Project and Open letter to Google’s CEO

On Monday 10 December 2018, the International Day for Human Rights, Tibetan, Uyghur and Chinese rights groups joined with a digital tech and ethical consumer specialists in two joint media briefings to oppose and discuss Google’s development of a censored search engine, code-named Project Dragonfly.

The project, would filter and block ‘sensitive’ search terms – such as East Turkistan, Tibet, Tiananmen Square 1989 and the Dalai Lama. It would also enable Chinese state surveillance by linking users’ search history with their telephone numbers, in compliance China’s tight censorship laws and intrusive programme of online surveillance, effectively facilitating the Chinese government’s repressive regime and compromising their commitment to human rights.

The activist group and the tech experts urged Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, and the rest of the company’s senior leadership, to immediately cancel Project Dragonfly. They also pointed out the importance for Google to restate their past commitments to freedom of speech and information as a way of reassuring their users. They asked Google to publicise and enforce a clear policy which explicitly states they will not assist states in their censorship efforts by undermining freedom of speech and human rights.

On 11 December 2018, the World Uyghur Congress signed an open letter written to the Google’s CEO, Sunder Pichai to drop Project Dragonfly and any plans to launch a censored search app in China, and to re-affirm the company’s 2010 commitment that it won’t provide censored search services in the China. The letter was also signed by many human rights NGOs such as a Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, as well as high profile figures like Edward Snowden

Muslim World Remains Silent on Uyghur Persecution, Despite Some Encouraging Signs

Malaysia remains the only Muslim-majority country to publicly raise the massive mass arbitrary detention of Uyghurs in internment camps persecution or the religious persecution of Uyghur Muslims, as the shameful silence of many leaders continues.

However, there have some encouraging indications that this may be beginning to change. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has long remained shockingly silent on the situation in East Turkistan, but the organisation mentioned the camps and repression of Uyghur for the first time this month, having been briefed on the Uyghurs’ deteriorating human rights in East Turkistan during 14th Regular Session held in Jeddah from 2-6 December 2018. The OIC Islamophobia Observatory informed the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) that authorities in China are subjecting Muslim Uyghurs to involuntary conversions in detention camps (called re-education centers) by forcing them to follow cultural values and practices contrary to their religious beliefs.

In Indonesia, while the government has refused to speak out about the camps, claiming that it is a matter of Chinese ‘domestic affairs’, opposition politicians and civil society in the country have been increasingly vocal on the issue. In the past month, Fadli Zon (a high level member of an opposition party) and the Chairman of the Advisory Board of Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Din Syamsuddin, both expressed their concern at the situation and called for action.

Council of the European Union Adopts Proposal for EU Magnitsky Act

There was some positive news last week, as the proposal for an EU version of the Magnitsky Act was unanimously passed by the Council of the European Union.

The proposal, spearheaded by the Netherlands launched an EU project to impose visa bans and asset freezes on human rights abusers worldwide, through the adoption of an EU version of the Magnitsky Act. This act would be a vital tool in holding those responsible for the most serious human rights violations accountable, by targeting the individuals directly. It is now being turned into EU legislation and may come into effect in the summer of 2019.

The WUC hopes that the EU will use their version of the Magnitsky Act to impose targeted sanctions on Chinese individuals and entities responsible for the mass arbitrary detention of Uyghurs in internment camps. By imposing stringent sanctions under the Magnitsky Act, the EU alongside with U.S., Canada, the UK and Australia (who also have national versions of the Magnitsky Act) can send a powerful message that the world will not stand by as the CCP abuses its people.