World Uyghur Congress, 1 February 2019

WUC Joins 37 NGOs in Calling for a UN Human Rights Council Resolution to Address Human Rights Violations in China

The WUC has joined a broad-ranging group of more than three dozen NGOs representing and supporting Chinese, Uyghur and Tibetan communities to call on governments in Geneva to adopt a resolution at the March session of the Human Rights Council.

While the WUC, other civil society groups and some states have raised human rights violations in China, the response and attention so far has been insufficient. The mass arbitrary detention of over 1 million Uyghurs in internment camps and the systematic discrimination and persecution of other ethnicities and religious groups in China represents such a grave violation of human rights that demands a heightened response from the international community.

The signatories to the letter therefore called for members of the Human Rights Council to pass a resolution pressing China to:

• urge prompt, unfettered and independent access to all parts of the country, in particular Uyghur, other Turkic Muslim and Tibetan areas, by independent international human rights experts, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and relevant UN Special Rapporteurs;
• demand an end to the abuse of national security legislation as a means of criminalising the work of human rights defenders, freedoms of expression, association, religion or belief and subverting due process, and call on China to seek technical assistance from UN experts to this end, including at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
• call for the immediate release of any and all individuals subjected to unlawful and unjustified deprivation of liberty, in particular those held extra-legally or in extended pre-trial detention, and provide remedies and reparations to address harsh treatment, at times including torture, and loss of livelihoods.
• express support for the OHCHR and UN Country Team to take steps to expand, improve and regularise monitoring and reporting of the situation in China.

US Lawmakers Nominate Ilham Tohti for the Nobel Peace Prize

More than a dozen bipartisan U.S. lawmakers have nominated jailed Uyghur academic and blogger Ilham Tohti to receive the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, citing his commitment to peaceful interethnic dialogue between members of his ethnic group and China’s Han Chinese majority. Ilham Tohti is an outspoken economics professor who regularly highlighted the religious and cultural persecution of the mostly Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority in East Turkistan. For his efforts, the Chinese government sentenced Tohti to life in prison on Sept. 23, 2014 following a two-day show trial on charges of promoting separatism.

In a letter dated Jan. 29, a group of 13 U.S. lawmakers including Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Chris Smith called on the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo to consider Tohti for the prestigious award, saying that amid an ongoing crackdown in East Turkistan, “voices like Professor Tohti’s are needed more than ever.”

Ilham Tohti remains an important symbol of the peaceful struggle for basic human rights for Uyghurs. In this difficult time where over 1 million innocent Uyghurs remain in internment camps in East Turkistan, his life and work stand as an inspiration for the Uyghur community. The WUC hopes his efforts are recognised by the Nobel Committee.

EU Visit to East Turkistan Reinforces Evidence of the internment camps

This week, it was reported that a delegation from the European Union returned from a Chinese government- approved trip to East Turkistan in order to investigate the human rights situation in the region and the internment camps.

The delegation reported that, despite efforts by the Chinese government to “(curate) the trip to try and give a good impression”, the delegation reported that their findings provided “forcing, and mutually consistent, evidence of major and systematic human rights violations in Xinjiang.” They also reported that interviews arranged by the Chinese government appeared scripted and not genuine.

The findings of the EU delegation reinforces the need for any investigation into the camps to be truly independent, transparent and free from Chinese interference and intimidation.

Debate on Uyghur Human Rights Crisis Held in Westminster

An important debate was held this week at the seat of the British government in Westminster. The debate focused on the Uyghur human rights crisis, especially the internment camps, and was organised by British Member of Parliament Alistair Carmichael. The WUC sincerely thanks Mr. Carmichael and his staff for organising this debate and for raising Uyghur human rights issues in the UK government.

A number of MPs spoke at the debate, expressing their deep concern about the situation in East Turkistan. Many of the MPs who spoke on the debate stated that quiet diplomacy was not enough and that the UK had a responsibility to take concrete action to address the situation, including economic sanctions.

Uyghur Businessman Dies in Internment Camp

Well Memet, a healthy 55-year-old Uyghur businessman has died under mysterious circumstances while in detention in an internment in East Turkistan, according to local officials interviewed by Radio Free Asia. He reportedly died in late December last year while held in an internment camp in his home city of Atush (in Chinese, Atushi), in the Kizilsu Kirghiz (Kezileisu Keerkezi) Autonomous Prefecture.

He died under mysterious circumstances and his body was not released to his family members for burial, raising suspicions about the circumstances of his death. The WUC is deeply concerned by the growing number of mysterious deaths of Uyghurs detained in the camps and the utter lack of transparency from the Chinese government.

Foreign Reporters in China Claim Worsening Situation of the Press in China

The Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) has clearly outlined the deteriorating conditions for foreign correspondents working in China in their annual survey published this week. Virtually every correspondent interviewed for the report indicated that press freedom in China has deteriorated further in the past year. In particular, correspondents indicated difficulties in accessing East Turkistan and Tibet and reported being followed, harassed and regularly searched by Chinese police and security personnel. Press freedom is essentially non-existant for domestic reporters in China and even foreign correspondents are finding it difficult to do their jobs as China tries to restrict and control information to silence criticism of its human rights violations.

WUC Raises Uyghur Human Rights Issues at European Parliament Events

Representatives from the WUC went to two events at the European Parliament this week relevant to human rights in China. First the WUC representatives attended a press conference about the possibility of an EU Magnitsky Act, which would enable the EU to levy targeted sanctions or asset freezes against individuals responsible for gross human rights violations in China. This act would be particularly important for the WUC, as targeted sanctions would put significant pressure on Chinese officials responsible for the internment camps. The WUC representative raised these concerns with the panel and asked how the WUC and other human rights organisation could assist the campaign for an EU Magnitsky Act.

The WUC also attended an event entitled ‘Political Values in Europe-China relations’, organised by Members of the European Parliament and the European Network of Think Tanks on China. The event shed light on the perseceptions, realities and challenges of EU-China relations and of Chinese influence in Europe. The WUC representative again raised the internment camps with the panelists, noting that this crime against humanity was fundamentally contradictory to European values and asking how it has impacted policy makers persecutions of China.