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WEEKLY BRIEF: 18 SEPTEMBER 2020

WEEKLY BRIEF: 18 SEPTEMBER 2020

World Uyghur Congress, 18 September 2020

NEWS

WUC Press Release to the EU-CHINA SUMMIT
On 14 September as leaders of the EU and the Chinese government met this week, in a virtual meeting replacing the planned EU-China Summit, the WUC called in a press release on the EU to make a strong and principled stand in light of China’s genocide against the Uyghur people and human rights violations against Tibetans, Mongolians, Hong Kongers and Han Chinese activists and lawyers. The EU must not conduct business as usual with a Chinese government complicit in genocide and other atrocities.

In a press conference German chancellor Angela Merkel stated that the Chinese government agreed to allow officials including foreign ministers to visit East Turkistan. The Chinese government keeps promising access to the region, but this has failed so far due to China’s refusal allowing unrestricted visits. 

WUC President Dolkun Isa also published an opinion piece in well-read media outlet Politico, calling for the EU and Germany to take urgent and necessary action to stop the Uyghur genocide.  A joint letter from 63 MEPs to the EU leaders present at the Summit also called on the EU to do more, stating that any signing of the EU-China Comprehensive Investment Agreement should be conditional on China stopping its persecution of Uyghurs and respecting its human rights obligations.

This is a critical moment, as the EU has significant leverage to push for China to change its behaviour and abide by international norms and standards. China needs the EU, and the EU and Germany need to use this opportunity to stop the Uyghur genocide.

On the same day the WUC held together with the Society for Threatened People and Tibet Initiative a rally in front of the foreign ministry in Berlin. 

European Commission President Mentions Uyghurs and Targeted Sanction in State of the EU Address
On 16 September, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen held her State of the Union speech in the European Parliament. In her speech she said that the EU executives are working on a proposal that would allow the EU to impose targeted sanctions and asset freezes on human rights violators, similar to the Magnitsky Act of 2012 in the US. The WUC is relentlessly advocating for an individual sanction mechanism to punish those Chinese officials involved in geoncide. Crucially President Von der Leyen called for qualified majority voting on this proposal, which greatly increase the likelihood that sanctiosn could be levied against CCP officials responsible for genocide and other atrocities. The strong speech also specifically referenced the plight of Uyghurs and Hong Kongers and gave a good indication the EU will take further action to address the Uyghur crisis.

Chinese White Paper Reveals Scale of Internment Camps in East Turkistan
This week the Chinese Communist party published a white paper on the situation in East Turkistan, regarding forced labour. Despite aiming to hide and justify its atrocities against Uyghurs, the white paper instead, according to the Guardian, unintentionally provided clues on the scale of its labour program and internment camp system. According to the white paper 1.29 million individuals have gone through ‘vocational training’ between 2014 and 2019. According to researcher Adrrian Zenz this number reveals a possible scope of coercive labor “through the centralized, militarized training of rural surplus labores”.

Despite of clear evidence proofing the existence  internment camps, in which 1.8-3 Million Uyghurs and others have to face psychological torture, the Chinese government keeps strenuosly denying their existence by calling them ‘vocational training centres’. According to WUC Project and Advocacy Manager Zumretay Arkin the white is just another attempt by the CCP to lie and shirk its responsibilities for its atrocities. 

US banned Products from East Turkistan
On 14 September, NBC reported that the US government issued orders to block the imports of goods such as cotton, computer parts, hair products and apparel products produced in East Turkistan, due to forced labour allegations. The WUC and other human rights organisations have been advocating for the boycott of products produced in East Trukistan. 

Fashion Week Protestors Addressing Uyghur Forced Labour
This week Uyghur rights and advocacy groups kicked off their protest campaign addressing Uyghur Forced Labour at International renowned Fashion Weeks. Starting at the New York fashion week, followed by the one in London and Paris activists are urging the fashion world to draw more eyes to the issue and urging people to sign a petition to stop Uyghur forced labour. 

MEPs Take Action to Address the Uyghur Crisis in the European Parliament

WUC representatives in Brussels have been having productive meetings with MEPs and other relevant actors to brief them on developments in the Uyghur crisis and push for a more effective response from the European Union. A growing number of MEPs have been acting on their initiative to draw attention to this crisis and come up with solutions. The WUC is especially grateful to MEP Anna Fotyga who, along with other MEPs, launched a campaign #SpeakUpForUyghurs in the European Parliament and called on the EU to do more to address this crisis. French MEPs from the Green Party also took the initiative to address this crisis in the European Parliament. The WUC is grateful for their efforts.

PARTICIPATE

End Forced Labor in East Turkistan
Interested in advocating to end forced labor in East Turkistan? The Uyghur Human Rights Project and the Uyghur American Association are holding Virtual Lobby Days this month. Interested constituents across the U.S. are welcome. Please sign up here!