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Press Release: Uyghur Congress Supports UN Member States’ Renewed Call for Halt to Uyghur Detentions, Respect for Rights

Press Release: Uyghur Congress Supports UN Member States’ Renewed Call for Halt to Uyghur Detentions, Respect for Rights

Press Release – For immediate release
October 30, 2019
Contact: World Uyghur Congress
www.uyghurcongress.org
+49 89 5432 1999 or [email protected]

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) applauds the continued efforts by UN Member States to call on China to respect the rights of Uyghurs and other Muslims and halt mass detentions. Despite growing international concern over the issue, the response from the UN system has been far from adequate.

In the statement, which came during the General Assembly’s Human Rights Committee meeting on Tuesday, the British Ambassador to the UN, Karen Pierce, said that, “We call on the Chinese government to uphold its national laws and international obligations and commitments to respect human rights, including freedom of religion or belief, in Xinjiang and across China.”

WUC President Dolkun Isa said in response, “Although we have been deeply disappointed from the response from the United Nations system, which is obligated to address abuses on this scale, it is encouraging to see voices still speaking out loudly.”

Isa continued by saying that, “It will be critical that all states follow the situation carefully and express concern when it is so warranted.”

The statement comes amid the continued detention of between one and three million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims along with the development of one of the world’s most advanced and intrusive surveillance systems. Many have now labelled the region a ‘police state’ given the level of monitoring and control of the population.

The statement follows a similar move from the Human Rights Council in June as 25 states wrote a letter to the President of the Council and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, urging China to close the camps and respect the rights of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims as well as pressing for access for UN officials.