World Uyghur Congress, 13 September 2019

Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act Passed by U.S. Senate

On September 11, the U.S. Senate passed a Bill to “condemn gross human rights violations of ethnic Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, and calling for an end to arbitrary detention, torture, and harassment of these communities inside and outside China”.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio applauded the fact that by means of this Act America will be able to counter the egregious human rights violations being committed against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in East Turkistan as well as the intimidation and threats against the Uyghur diaspora in the United States.

WUC Supports Urgent Action on Potentially Imminent Execution of Uyghur Academic 

On September 9,  Amnesty International released an appeal for urgent action out of fear that Uyghur academic Tashpolat Tayip will be imminently executed. Fears are mounting that the Chinese authorities will imminently carry out the execution of Tashpolat Tayip, a prominent Uyghur academic who was convicted in a secret and grossly unfair trial. Subjected to enforced disappearance in 2017, he has been arbitrarily detained since then. No information has been made available about charges and proceedings against him and his current whereabouts remain unknown.

WUC Signs Open Letter on Rule of Law in China

On September 9, over a dozen human rights NGOs signed an open letter to UN member states, calling for substantive action at the 42nd Session of the Human Rights Council in response to China’s systemic human rights violations and lack of regard for rule of law principles.

WUC President, Dolkun Isa, said of the letter, “It’s time that states address this issue at the Human Rights Council–the Uyghur community can no longer wait for inaction on this.” The letter notes that the absence of rule of law is at the root of human rights violations in China and addresses major issues including a legal system that fails to protect against discrimination, stigmitisation of religious belief and practice, and lack of legal rights, among other areas.

Jewish World Watch Rallies for Uyghurs

On September 8, the Jewish World Watch (JWW) united around 70 protesters who gathered outside the Federal Building in Westwood, Los Angeles, to decry the arbitrary mass detention of 1-3 million Uyghurs in East Turkistan. “As with anything with Jewish World Watch, when we hear about something that approximates genocides or reminds us of what happened to the Jews during the Holocaust, we try to do what we can,” JWW Executive Director Susan Freudenheim said at the rally.