Statement – For Immediate Release
10 March 2022
Contact: World Uyghur Congress www.uyghurcongress.org
0049 (0) 89 5432 1999 or [email protected]

Today, on the 63rd anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising of 10 March 1959, the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) stands in solidarity and friendship with the Tibetan people. On Tibetan National Uprising Day, commemorating the 1959 Tibetan uprising against the Chinese Communist Party’s occupation in Tibet, the WUC pays tribute to the extraordinary courage of all Tibetans in Tibet and the diaspora who have and continue to courageously advocate for their rights and freedoms.

“Uyghurs stand with the Tibetan people in their struggle to be free from China’s violent colonial rule. At this critical time for the future of the Uyghurs, Tibetans, Southern Mongolians, Taiwanese, Hong Kongers and all those in China who are persecuted merely for exercising their basic rights, there is great hope in our common solidarity and unity”, WUC President Dolkun Isa said. 

On March 10, 1959, tens of thousands of Tibetans took to the streets of Tibet’s capital Lhasa to rise up against China’s illegal invasion and occupation of their homeland. The uprising was ultimately violently quashed by Chinese forces and was followed by a brutal crackdown on the Tibetan people and the flight of the Dalai Lama into exile. In the decades that followed, the Chinese Communist Party has brutally suppressed the Tibetan people and deprived them of their basic rights in a campaign of forced assimilation.

The Tibetan and Uyghur people share a similar experience of violent repression. Calls for the respect of basic rights and freedoms for Tibetans and Uyghurs, or any legitimate peaceful expressions of dissent against China’s colonial rule, have been consistently met with violent responses from the Chinese government. In 2008, Tibetans observing National Uprising Day in Lhasa and protesting against China’s treatment of the Tibetan people were brutally quashed, resulting in numerous fatalities. Just over a year later, Uyghurs demonstrating in Urumqi and expressing their frustration over discriminatory policies were similarly suppressed, with many fatalities and countless enforced disappearances.

On today’s Tibetan National Uprising day, as the futures of the Tibetan and Uyghur peoples in their homelands are under threat, the voices of Tibetans need to be heard. The WUC wishes Tibetans all over the world success in their planned demonstrations and events on this important anniversary and look forward to continuing its deep cooperation and solidarity in the future.