World Uyghur Congress 7th General Assembly

World Uyghur Congress Seventh General Assembly

From November 12-14, 2021, the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) successfully held its 7th General Assembly, in Prague, Czech Republic, co-organized by the WUC, the Uyghur Center for Human Rights and Democracy, and the Forum For Human Rights, a Czech non-governmental organization.

More than 200 Uyghur delegates from over 25 countries gathered in the Czech capital to elect the organization’s leadership for the next three years. Delegates to the 7th General Assembly were joined by representatives from other communities, civil society, Parliament members and national governments, as well as leading academics and legal experts, to reflect on recent developments of the Uyghur genocide.

“Over the past few months, we have worked around the clock to prepare for the General Assembly,” WUC President Dolkun Isa said. “It is very important that we can offer the Uyghur people in the diaspora the proper democratic means to choose who represents them, a right Uyghurs in East Turkistan have been stripped of by the Chinese government”.

On the evening of November 11, the event opened with a welcome reception and dinner, which will also feature a book fair and exhibition on the Uyghur crisis.

On November 12th, a day-long international conference, ‘’Uyghur Rights: The Road Towards Accountability,’’ took place, bringing together survivors of China’s camps, leading academics and legal experts, as well as diplomats, policymakers and government representatives. Panels featured topics such as survivor testimonies, policy approaches toward the Uyghur crisis, legal means to hold perpetrators accountable, and the research practices that have been essential to exposing the Uyghur genocide.

Immediately following the conference, the WUC and other invited guests joined an official reception at the invitation of the Mayor of Prague, Zdeněk Hřib, at his residence (The Lord’s Mayor’s Residence/Rezidence primátora).

On November 13-14, the outgoing leadership of the WUC and its committees reported on the organization’s activities and financial record from 2017-2021. This was followed by the General Assembly’s democratic elections, during which members of the WUC’s 16 different committees and boards, including its presidency, were chosen by 204 delegates from 25 countries (137 votes were casted in person, 67 were casted online).

Following confirmation of the election results on November 14, the General Assembly continued meetings of the newly elected board and president to plan and strategize the organization’s priorities and activities for the next three years. 

To ensure the General Assembly followed the highest democratic standards, its processes were monitored and audited by independent observers. Moreover, the general public could closely follow the international conference and the process of the General Assembly elections via live streaming (see the recordings below).

The 32 positions for the term 2021-2024 are as follows:

13 November 2021 | World Uyghur Congress 7th General Assembly (UY)

12 November 2021 | International Conference, “Uyghur Rights: The Road Towards Accountability” (EN & UY)