NEWS

Joint Statement on Human Rights Situation in East Turkistan by 44 countries at UN HRC  
On June 22nd, Canada, on behalf of 44 countries, delivered a cross-regional joint statement at the UN Human Rights Council, expressing their grave great concern about the human rights situation in East Turkistan. The statement highlighted the arbitrary detention of over one million people, general restrictions on fundamental freedoms, torture, forced sterilisation, sexual and gender-based violence, forced labor and forced separation of children from their parents.

The statement called for immediate and unfettered access to East Turkistan for independent observers, including the High Commissioner, and to urgently implement the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’s 8 recommendations related to repression in East Turkistan. 

Signatories: Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Palau, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States. 

German Bundestag classifies the serious human rights violations against the Uyghurs as crimes against humanity
On June 24th, the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid of the German Bundestag classified the serious human rights violations against the Uyghurs as crimes against humanity. This statement was preceded by a public hearing on May 17, 2021, in which international criminal law experts and China experts acknowledged the Chinese government’s crimes against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan

“The declaration of the Human Rights Committee of the German Bundestag is an important step to hold the Chinese government accountable for its brutal actions against the Uyghurs, but further actions need to be taken,’’ said Dolkun Isa, President of the World Uyghur Congress, “We hope that the issue of genocide will also be discussed meaningfully during the plenary session of the Bundestag”.

Global Day of Action. The WUC called for a boycott of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games
On June 23rd, on International Olympic Day, campaigners representing Tibetan, Uyghur, Southern Mongolian, Hongkonger, Taiwanese, and Chinese people united around the globe in over 60 global cities calling on world leaders, National Olympic Committees, Olympic Sponsors and all people of conscience to boycott Beijing 2022, ‘The Genocide Games.’ The World Uyghur Congress joined forces with other forces during protests in front of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, as well as in Berlin, London, and Brussels. From New Zealand to Canada, Japan to Argentina, Australia to Sweden, thousands of people stood in solidarity to deliver the joint message that China must not be allowed to use Beijing 2022 to ‘sport-wash’ the genocide against the Uyghur people, the severe and escalating repression in Tibet, Southern Mongolia, Hong Kong, and China proper, and the geopolitical bullying of Taiwan.

Actions in the United States to Address Uyghur Forced Labour
On June 24th, The United States announced a range of punitive actions against Chinese solar product manufacturers as part of an intensified effort to crack down on the use of Uyghur forced labour in east Turkistan. The administration put five companies that make polysilicon — a raw material for solar products — on the commerce department’s “entity list”, which requires US companies to get a licence to export to them. It also banned imports of solar products made by Xinjiang Hoshine Silicon Industry.

On the same day, the US Senate Foreign Policy Committee cleared the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act, which effectively amounts to a ban on all goods coming into the US from East Turkistan, unless businesses can prove that they were not made using forced labour. Before the Act will become law, it will have to be approved by the full Senate and House of Representatives.

PARTICIPATE

Panel – Nothing to Celebrate, A Century of Oppression
On July 1st, the WUC will organize a 2-panel webinar on the occasion of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) 100th anniversary. The first panel will convene leaders and representatives from the Uyghur, Tibetan, Hong Konger, Taiwanese and Chinese communities. The second panel, brings together policy makers from national and European parliaments to discuss policy responses to China’s human rights violations at home and its repressive influence abroad. Registration links here!