Press Release– For immediate release
22 September 2020
Contact: World Uyghur Congress www.uyghurcongress.org
+49 89 5432 1999 or [email protected]

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) is organizing a three-day long photo protest at the Broken Chair Square, in front of the United Nations headquarters in Geneva (1202 Geneva, Switzerland), from 22 September to September 24, 2020. This event is taking place during the second week of the 45th session of the Human Rights Council, where world’s leaders and high-level officials will be present for the occasion. 

The situation in East Turkistan is rapidly deteriorating, but the international community is still failing to approach this crisis in an appropriate and concrete way. 

Recently, the new revelations of the use of Uyghur forced labour and the forced sterilization on Uyghur women by the Chinese government has added a new dimension to the crisis: this now constitutes ‘’Genocide’’ under the Article 2 of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This adds on to the existing crimes against humanity occurring in East Turkistan. In the last three years, the Chinese government has forcibly detained between 1.8 to 3 million of Uyghurs and other Turkic people, destroyed mosques and graveyards, banned the use of Uyghur language as a teaching medium in some schools, denied the fundamental rights of Uyghurs in an attempt to erode the Uyghur culture, identity and society altogether. 

This event aims to highlight the Chinese Communist Party’s genocidal policies implemented in East Turkistan against the Uyghurs and other Turkic people, particularly the Uyghur forced labour issue and the forced sterilization of Uyghur women. 

Moreover, the ‘’Wall of the Disappeared’’ is an evocative way to visualize some individuals who have disappeared since 2017, into the vast system of internment camps, as well as forced labour camps. The photos of the missing individuals were provided by Uyghurs in the diaspora. 

We would like to cordially invite anyone interested to join us from September 22 to September 24th at the Broken Chair Square to learn more about the crisis and ways to help.