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

The World Uyghur Congress joined 82 organizations and associations to denounce and cancel the decision of the UN Human Rights Council to appoint Mr. Jiang Duan, Minister at the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China, to the Human Rights Council’s Consultative Group.

The joint petition was submitted to UN General Antonio Guetteres, Chair of the General Assembly’s Third Committee Mr Christian Braun, President of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Ms. Elisabeth Tichy- Fisslberger, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms Michelle Bachelet and each of the 55 member states of the Asia-Pacific regional group which nominated China to the consultative group of the UNHRC. The petition called for the cancellation of appointment of China respectively.

The petition highlights China’s mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its suppression of whistleblowers, in an attempt to save its reputation. China joining the UNHRC Consultative Group, which consists of 5 states gives the Chinese mission the power to screen prospective special rapporteurs and independent experts for UN Special Procedures and essentially veto those it objects to.

“The Chinese government is consistently acting against the founding principles of the UN and is wielding its power and influence to undermine human rights and silence criticism of its human rights record,” WUC President Dolkun Isa stated. “The independence and integrity of UN Special Procedures must be protected, their work is important to addressing the crisis in East Turkistan and human rights violations around the world.”

The petition also highlights that this decision “ also dampens the spirit of the Chinese Human rights Defenders, the Uyghurs, Southern-Mongolians and the Hong-Kong pro-democracy advocates who are putting their lives at risk for basic rights of their people against the self-serving interests of Chinese Communist Party Government.”

Read the joint petition here.