World Uyghur Congress, 13 December 2019

WUC Media and Advocacy Training Workshop Brussels

From 7 – 10 December, the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), in cooperation with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO), held a successful media training workshop for Uyghur activists and a day-long conference entitled ‘The Uyghur Crisis: China’s Laboratory for Rights Abuses’ in Brussels, Belgium. 

Uyghur activists from around the world travelled to Brussels to participate in the three-day media training from December 7-9 to learn how to effectively and responsibly engage with the media while addressing the Uyghur crisis. Prominent journalists, human rights activists, experts on disinformation and propaganda and Uyghur media experts gave presentations at the training to give participants multiple perspectives and insights about how to successfully engage with the media.The workshop focused on the different opportunities and challenges through different forms of media engagement, especially regarding social media and interactions with journalists and other media outlets. 

As the crisis in East Turkistan continues to garner significant media attention and the efforts of the Chinese government to spread disinformation about the crisis increases, there is a need for Uyghur activists to have the capacity and ability to engage with the media in a meaningful way. This successful training acknowledges this new reality and helped to improve the capacity of Uyghur activists around the world.

WUC Holds Day-Long Conference in Brussels on Human Rights Day

Following the media training for Uyghur activists, the WUC, in cooperation with, the Underrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) organized a day-long conference entitled  ‘The Uyghur Crisis: China’s Laboratory for Rights Abuses’ on December 10th, Human Rights Day.

The conference began with an opening session held in the European Parliament and hosted by Member of the European Parliament Raphael Glucksmann from the S&D political group, with the remaining three panels being held at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB).

This conference brought together health and medical experts with human rights groups, researchers, policy-makers, and Uyghur leaders to discuss the issue of the region of East Turkistan (and the Uyghur people) being used as a testing-ground for Chinese policy and technological development.  It focused in particular on the Chinese government’s testing of repressive and dystopian security and surveillance technologies on the Uyghur people and the use of organ harvesting. It also focused on the implications of China’s policies towards the Uyghur people for the EU and our international community as a whole, as speakers discussed concrete steps different actors could take to address different elements of the crisis.

European Parliament Releases a Video Highlighting Ilham Tohti’s Work

The European Parliament released a video this week, in anticipation of the award ceremony in the Parliament with the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which will be held on 18 December and awarded to Ilham Tohti. The video emphasizes the hard work the uyghur professor and human rights advocate had done throughout his life to help the Uyghur people and constructively raise human rights concerns. 

The video features his daughter, Jewher Ilham, Teng Biao, a human rights activist and a friend of Tohti, Teng Biao, as well as Dolkun Isa, the President of the World Uyghur Congress. It also featured footage of WUC organised protests and cultural events in Brussels, Geneva and Munich. 

The World Uyghur Congress is pleased to see the European Parliament take a stand for human rights, as the nomination of Ilham Tohti constitutes an important statement in highlighting China’s crimes against humanity in East Turkistan and systematic human rights against the Uyghur people. The WUC urges the EU to take further steps to hold China accountable for its treatment of the Uyghur people and to release all those arbitrarily detained in the internment camps.

Protest on Human Rights Day and meeting with US Ambassador in Berlin 

December 10th, on Human Rights Day, a WUC representative participated in a demonstration organized by Rhein-Maas Berufskolleg in Berlin, Germany, to highlight the current crisis in East Turkistan and to call for further action. In his speech at the demonstration, the WUC Berlin representative called on German and European policy makers to stand united on human rights challenges posed by China.

Furthermore, on December 11th, the WUC Head of Berlin Office Mr. Haiyuer Querban met with the US Ambassador to Germany at a reception by the US Embassy and expressed the gratitude of the Uyghur people for the strong signal of support from the US Congress by passing the UIGHUR Act 2019.