Press Release – For immediate Release
28 August 2023
Contact: World Uyghur Congress www.uyghurcongress.org
+49 89 5432 1999 or [email protected]

On August 26, China’s president Xi Jinping visited Urumchi, the capital of East Turkistan and called for a continuation of his regime’s genocidal policies against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples. In his speech, the Chinese president embraced and confirmed that his repressive policies will continue, stressing for “social stability” as the top priority. He also mentioned the Sinicization of Islam “to effectively handle all sorts of illegal religious activities”, coercive forced labour relocations, Mandarin as the standard Chinese language and the need for more positive propaganda. 

“Under the leadership of Xi Jinping, the Chinese government has orchestrated and implemented a policy of repression, that enables crimes against humanity as well as the ongoing genocide of our people”, said WUC President Dolkun Isa. “On Saturday, Xi Jinping admitted to the world that the active erasure of the cultural and religious identity of Uyghurs will not stop.” 

Since Xi Jinping has been in power, millions of Uyghurs have been arbitrarily detained in concentration camps, where they are subjected to torture, sexual and gender-based violence, rape, and malnutrition. Throughout East Turkistan, the Uyghur people have further suffered from forced labour, coercive birth control prevention policies, family separation, mass surveillance and the destruction of cultural and religious sites. Due to the Chinese government’s repressive policies in the name of national security and counterterrorism, the human rights situation of the Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples has deteriorated significantly and will continue to deteriorate unless the international community acts.

The World Uyghur Congress reiterates its call to the international community to take all necessary steps to end the ongoing Uyghur genocide and for governments to acknowledge their responsibilities under the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. “Instead of meeting with Chinese government officials who are complicit in the genocide of our people, world leaders have the moral responsibility to denounce China’s atrocities and seek accountability for the Chinese government’s human rights abuses”, said WUC President Dolkun Isa. China is continuing the Uyghur Genocide freely, because the world is idly standing by.