For immediate release
January 16, 2020, 6:00 pm EST
Contact: contact@campaignforuyghurs.org
Campaign For Uyghurs www.campaignforuyghurs.org
As Uyghur activists around the globe are succeeding in raising awareness of China’s crimes against humanity and genocide, China is becoming desperate in discrediting the information, fearing for their reputation and international relationships. On separate occasions The Global Times, a nationalistic Chinese newspaper targeted Rushan Abbas, the executive director of Campaign for Uyghurs as well as Dolkun Isa, the president of the World Uyghur Congress as separatists, extremists, and perfidious individuals who are leading human rights campaigns against the Chinese government.
However, now in addition to kidnapping family members, and attempting to discredit their work, the threats have grown to physical altercations and harassment abroad, in the democratic countries where they are seeking safety and freedom of speech.
Most recently, Uyghur leader Dolkun Isa was openly threatened at a memorial that took place in Munich, Germany. He was confronted by the family members of Shohret Zakir, a Chinese politician who is the chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Zakir’s family members were demanding that Isa stop arraigning Zakir on his involvement in the human rights violations committed against Uyghurs. They proceeded to threaten Isa’s family members, who are still living in East Turkistan. The heated verbal aggression turned into an attempt of physical assault against Isa, which was stopped by onlookers. The World Uyghur Congress states that those involved were German citizens who were given political asylum.
Unfortunately, the threats and dangers endured by Uyghurs do not end once they escaped the maximum monitoring territories of China. The dangers follow, as one can see, even in the most democratic countries like Germany and the United States. The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) gathered the Repression Across Borders: The CCP’s illegal Harassment and Coercion of Uyghur Americans report which proves that Chinas continues to adamantly pursue those who have left, and terrorize them, threatening their family’s back home unless they commit to total cooperation. UHRP has additionally put together The Fifth Poison: The Harassment of Uyghurs Overseas report which underlines how the harassment is in fact global and not limited to a particular region.
There are individuals who like Halmurat Harri, an Uyghur/Finnish campaigner who led the “Freedom Tour” in Europe were not seeking to be activists, “I’m just a son, who wants to speak to his mother,” he states. However, forced to be by the frightful alternative of being silent. As a result of his impactful activism, the Chinese government released his parents in December 2018. This has inspired many others to continue on the same path. As a result, the Chinese government deems it necessary to take further and more aggressive steps in silencing those speaking out against the atrocities perpetrated against the Uyghurs.
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Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) works to promote and advocate for the human rights and democratic freedoms for the Uyghurs and other Turkic people in East Turkistan (referred to in China as “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region”). It mobilizes individuals and the international community and builds bridges to take action on behalf of and to raise public awareness of the Uyghur issue with a special focus on Uyghur women and youth, and to activate persons and entities to work together to stop the systematic human rights abuses against the people of East Turkistan.
Our organization relies on grants, donations, and contributions to sustain, develop and support its work and activities to promote human rights and democracy for the Uyghurs and other oppressed ethnicities in East Turkistan. Campaign for Uyghurs is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Tax Code. Your donation is tax-deductible.
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Campaign for Uyghurs
1101 Pennsylvania Ave NW Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20004
contact@campaignforuyghurs.org
www.campaignforuyghurs.org
