NEWS

French Parliament Passes a Resolution Recognizing Uyghur Genocide
On January 20th, The French Parliament, passed a resolution with an overwhelming majority (169-1) that recognizes China’s abuses against the Uyghur people as crimes against humanity and genocide. The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) welcomed the passage of the resolution in the French Parliament and commended the efforts of the Uyghur community in France, particularly the European Uyghur Institute and Uyghur camp survivors, for raising their voices and urging France to take a clear position.

“The passage of this resolution in the French Parliament is a crucial step towards wider international recognition of the Uyghur genocide, especially after the decision of the Uyghur Tribunal, last month”, WUC President Dolkun Isa said. Ahead of the Parliamentary vote, the Uyghur community in France joined by camp survivors, and WUC President Dolkun Isa held a demonstration urging the recognition of the genocide by the French Parliament.

UK House of Commons Passes Motion Urging Its Government to Make an Assessment of Uyghur Genocide
On January 20th, the UK Parliament has unanimously called on its government to conduct an assessment on whether there is a “serious risk” of genocide in East Turkistan. The motion, which was moved forward by MP Nus Ghani, means that the British government must urgently assess whether it considers there to be a “serious risk” of genocide in the Uyghur region under its International Court of Justice obligations, and present its findings to Parliament in two months. Furthermore, the Government must protect the British public by creating a blacklist of British companies profiting from the Uyghur genocide and must sanction the perpetrators of this genocide, including Chen Quanguo.

WUC Condemns Chamath Palihapitiy’s Comment that “Nobody Cares” about Uyghurs
Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya’s comment that “nobody cares” about the persecution of Uyghurs in East Turkistan has prompted outrage from a variety of quarters, including Uyghur and other rights groups, as well as the NBA team he partly owns, which released a statement saying that he had little involvement with its operations. The WUC is appalled by these hurtful comments to the Uyghur community, which has lost everything in recent years, including family members. “It is really inhuman for a businessman to say he doesn’t care about Uyghurs in his search for profit and money in China. He may have become rich, but he has lost his humanity”, commented WUC President, Dolkun Isa.

Report of French Institute For Strategic Research: “Chinese Influence Operations: A Machiavellian moment”
The Institut de Recherche Stratégique de l’Ecole Militaire’s (IRSEM) October 2021 report, titled “Chinese Influence Operations: A Machiavellian moment” is now available in English. This report explores how the Chinese government is attempting to expand its influence worldwide, ranging from the most benign (public diplomacy) to the most malign methods, that is, interference (clandestine activities). The report concludes that “Beijing is also increasingly comfortable with infiltration and coercion: its influence operations have become considerably tougher in recent years and its methods are resembling more closely the ones employed by Moscow.”

Boycott And Corporate Sponsors of Beijing Olympics
While the global coalition of governments that have announced diplomatic boycotts of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics – Denmark and the Netherlands most recently announcing they would not be sending political representatives – corporate sponsors like Coca Cola, Airbnb and Allianz have remained quiet. On January 21st, a group of Uyghur, Tibetan, Hong Kongers and other activists chained themselves to Allianz’ office in Berlin protesting its sponsorship of the Beijing Olympics, urging Allianz to drop its sponsorship of the Games. Furthermore, on January 20th, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Hong Kong, in which it calls on the EU and Member States to decline invitations for government representatives and diplomats to attend the Beijing Olympics given China’’s human rights situation.