NEWS

Human Rights NGOs Call for the Release of Uyghur Activist Idris Hasan
On July 19th, one year after the arrest of Uyghur activist Idris Hasan in Morocco, the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) joined a coalition of 45 human rights NGOs calling for his release.

Idris Hasan was detained at Casablanca’s airport, on the basis of a Red Notice issued by Interpol at China’s request, which was cancelled later in August 2021 due to suspicions that it would be in violation of Interpol’s Constitution. Nevertheless, Mr. Hasan remains at risk of extradition to China, where he would be at high risk of torture and other forms of maltreatment. The coalition of NGOs reiterated calls upon the Moroccan authorities to refrain from issuing an extradition decree, which would contradict Morocco’s international obligations, including the Convention against Torture.

China Seeks to Block Much Awaited UN Human Rights Report
On July 20th, Reuters reported that China is mounting pressure on the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, not to publish the much-awaited report on human rights in East Turkistan. A Chinese diplomatic letter, which has been circulated, is asking for other countries to sign voicing their support at the UN. Following her disastrous visit to East Turkistan, Ms. Bachelet promised to finally release the report before leaving her office on August 31st. China’s efforts to prevent this from happening is yet another blatant attempt to silence criticism and block accountability measures for atrocity crimes against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in East Turkistan.

EU-China High-Level Talks Take Place
On July 19th, European Union Commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Sabine Weynand held the 9th EU-China High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue, with Vice-Premier of China Liu He. The exchange came months after the EU-China summit, which the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, described as “a dialogue of the deaf”. Disagreements over human rights abuses in East Turkistan and the war in Ukraine were among the main reasons for confrontation. Ahead of the Dialogue, the WUC urged the EU Commission to maintain a firm stance on human rights, and reiterated its calls for a robust forced labour border control mechanism, which is expected in September this year.

UK Government to Ban Major Companies Relying on Forced Labour
On July 18th,  the UK Government confirmed it will issue a blacklist of companies to be excluded from public contracts on grounds of modern slavery. The WUC welcomes this important first step and joined human rights groups and activists to call for the next UK Prime Minister to comprehensively ban companies implicated in surveillance and genocide in East Turkistan, notably Hikvision, iFlytek, BGI and Dahua.

Participate:

Students for a Free Tibet Summer Camp
Students for a Free Tibet is organising their second cross-movement Action Camp, which will take place between August 21-28 in Dusseldorf. This is a great opportunity for Uyghur activists interested in learning more about cross-movement campaigns. For those interested in applying, more information is available here. 

Ask Volkswagen to Close its Plant in East Turkistan.
Despite growing evidence of the ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess continues to operate a plant in East Turkistan. The World Uyghur Congress is collecting signatures to demand Volkswagen close down its plant in Urumchi. Please sign here.