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Weekly Brief, 17 December 2021

Weekly Brief, 17 December 2021

NEWS

WUC Joins London Protest against CCP on Human Rights Day
On December 10th, on the occasion of International Human Rights Day, the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) joined Tibetans, Hong Kongers, and others in London to protest against the Chinese government’s human rights atrocities, and to call on governments and athletes worldwide to boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics in February. “The European Union, Muslims-Majority States, African countries, and other Asian nations, we are looking at you to make the right choice: will you join the Olympic boycott, or will you allow the CCP to ‘sportswash’ its human rights atrocities by attending the genocide games?”, WUC President Dolkun Isa remarked during the protest. Furthermore, WUC’s UK Director, Rahima Mahmut, delivered a petition to the British Olympic Association, calling for a boycott of the Beijing 2022 Olympics.

UN Soon to Publish Report on Human Rights Abuses in East Turkistan
On December 11th, Reuters reported that the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Michelle Bachelet announced it will soon publish its report on the human rights situation in East Turkistan. “The Uyghurs tribunal has brought to light more information that is deeply disturbing” the office stated. Bachelet has been negotiating the terms of such a visit to East Turkistan since September 2018, when allegations first emerged that Uyghurs had been detained en masse in mass camps. Bachelet’s office said it hoped to publish its report in the coming weeks as there has been “no concrete progress” in long-running talks with Chinese officials on a proposed visit.

Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act passes U.S. House and Senate
On December 16th, The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would ban all imports from East Turkistan unless the U.S. government determines with “clear and convincing evidence” that they were not made with Uyghur forced labor. The Bill passed the House on December 14th, and will now require President Biden to sign it into law. “The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act sets a clear precedent for the European Union and its Member States, who should follow suit and introduce, without further delay, an ambitious proposal for mandatory supply chain due diligence legislation supplemented by a mechanism that bans the imports of products made by forced labor”, WUC President Dolkun Isa said. This echoed a similar call from over 300 elected European officials, who called upon European Commission President von der Leyen to deliver on her promise to introduce an import ban.

WUC and UHRP Launch Universal Jurisdiction Criminal Complaint in Argentina
The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) have instructed lawyers to prepare a universal jurisdiction criminal complaint to submit to the Federal Criminal Court of Appeals in Buenos Aires, Argentina setting out the international crimes being committed against the Uyghur and other Turkic people in the Uyghur Region and the identity of those most responsible for these crimes. The WUC and UHRP have instructed international barrister Michael Polak, chair of Lawyers for Uyghur Rights to lead a team to make the submission. “Realistically, the aim would be to bring these people before the Argentinian courts and for them to answer the allegations”, Mr. Polak said. The same week, the WUC and GLAN were granted permission by the High Court of England and Wales to proceed with a landmark legal challenge against UK authorities for permitting the importation of cotton goods produced with Uyghur forced labour.

WUC Signs Joint Letter to EU Leaders Calling for Olympic Boycott 
The WUC has joined a coalition of more than 250 groups representing Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers & others urging EU leaders to take strong multilateral action by committing to a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. In the Open letter to the European Union Leaders, sent ahead of the EU Council Summit of December 16th, the organizations argue “There is no prospect of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games playing a positive role for human rights or encouraging the Chinese government to halt the above human rights violations. As the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics showed, the Chinese government will instead interpret the lack of action by governments and the presence of leaders and dignitaries at the opening and closing ceremonies as a message that it risks no serious consequences for its actions”.

Moroccan Court Rules in Favour of Extradition of Idris Hasan to China
On December 15th, Safeguard Defenders reported that the Moroccan Court of Cassation ruled in favor of the People’s Republic of China’s extradition request for Uyghur activist Idris Hasan. Idris Hasan was detained on July 19 at Casablanca Airport on the basis of an Interpol Red Notice issued in 2017, which was later withdrawn as the Notice was deemed “non-compliant” with the organization’s constitution forbidding persecution on political, religious or ethnic grounds. Idris Hasan’s impending extradition has sparked widespread concern by human rights groups. On December 16th, UN experts urged Morocco to halt Hasan’s extradition  o China, citing risk of arbitrary detention, disappearance & torture.