A Conference on Uyghur crisis and professor Ilham Tohti
ITI Campaigns
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Cancel China’s Appointment to UNHRC’s Consultative Group
UNPO 18 April 2020 UNPO joined 81 organizations and associations in a letter submitted to the UN calling for the cancellation of appointment of Mr Jiang Duan, Minister at the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China, to the Human Rights Council’s Consultative Group from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021. The consultative group plays a critical role in the appointments of independent human rights experts under the special procedure of the UNHRC. The petition stated that “with this appointment, China will be able to weaken the 17 Special Procedures which are due for fresh appointments eventually subverting the entire system of special procedures. We cannot let a fox guard the henhouse.” Below is an article published by the Central Tibet Administration 82 Organizations and Associations predominantly from Central and Eastern Europe have submitted a joint petition for the cancellation of appointment of Mr Jiang Duan, Minister at the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China, to the Human Rights Council’s Consultative Group from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021. The joint petition was submitted to UN General Secretary Mr Antonio Guterres, Chair of the General Assembly’s Third Committee Mr Christian Braun, President of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Ms Elisabeth Tichy- Fisslberger, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms Michelle Bachelet and each of the 55 member states of the Asia-Pacific regional group which nominated China to the consultative group of the UNHRC. The petition called for the cancellation of appointment of China respectively. The consultative group consists of five members each nominated by five different regional groups: African Group, Asia-Pacific Group, Eastern European Group, Latin American and Caribbean Group and Western European and Others Group. The consultative group plays a critical role in the appointments of independent human rights experts under the special […]
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A Conference on Uyghur crisis and professor Ilham Tohti
By Ilham Tohti Institute 28th September 2019 Two days before announce the European “Václav Havel Human Rights Prize” 2019 for three nominees including Uyghur Professor Ilham Tohti whom sentenced for life in prison by Chinese government for his campaign for equal rights before China’s law for his fellow Uyghur people, we have successfully held a “Conference on Uyghur crisis and professor Ilham Tohti” in Utrich, Netherland, organised by Ilham Tohti Campaign (ITC) and hosted by East Turkistan Education Centre in Europe. Many thanks for the organisers, and presenters whom gave impressive presentations including president of Ilham Tohti Institute, Enver Can, Aziz Isa Elkun, Secretary of Uyghur PEN Centre, writer and intellectual Abduweli Ayup and Asiye Uyghur, presenter Enver Memet! During the conference, all presenters talk about Ilham Tohti’s promoted ideas, and how do understand, inherit and continue his campaigns in the days of biggest crisis that Uyghur nation is facing when Chinese government detained over 3 million innocent Uyghurs and other Turkic people and committing ethnic and cultural genocide in Uyghur homeland. Ilham Tohti was Professor of economics at Central University of Nationality, China (中央民族大学) . What he said before he’s arrest regarding to the existing Uyghur crises which we have to always remember: “At the same time, these serious social problems have become a forbidden subject for study, creating a discursive void. Few dare to touch upon these problems directly, let alone conduct systematic social investigations and analyses in search for solutions. On the one hand, the Uighurs’ social problems lead to increasing dissatisfaction and distrust of the government and of Han people; on the other, discriminatory ideas against the Uighur people among members of Han society especially in the interior of China- grow deeper.” “I knew that there would be an intense clash of opinions, but I believe […]
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The Brief: ‘the last time I was able to talk to my father was 2014’
By Isabel Marques da Silva, Laura Ruiz Trullols • last updated: 19/12/2019 Euronews The Uyghur economist and human rights activist Ilham Tohti is this year’s Sakharov Prize winner for dedicating his life to the fight for the rights of China’s Muslim minority. In prison for the past 5 years, he won’t be able to collect it. Euronews interviewed his daughter, Jewher Ilham. “The last time I was able to talk to my father was 2014 over Skype and that was the day before he was arrested. The last time I heard about my father was 2017. End of the 2017 I believe it was the last time a lawyer was allowed to visit my father. My father drafted his own appeal to the court by himself but it got rejected and I believe that the court didn’t even read his appeal,” explains Jewher lham. Secret Chinese documents have recently revealed the inner workings of Muslim detention camps in the Xinjiang region. Beijing claims they are vocational centers but the leaks reveal that they are designed to be run like prisons. “A lot of those, people who are locked up in camps, are university scholars, professors, intellectuals, singers, soccer players, comedians. And those people they don’t need a job training. Euronews asked whether there are torture practices. “I believe so. I have interviewed some of the camp survivors and they have all testified and stated they had been through similar torture, like pulling the nails, shaving hair, denied from food, beaten and fed with drugs. Jewher Ilham calls on the EU to take action: “There are many concrete steps that European countries could take, as the US government has done in the past. Put visa sanctions restrictions on government officials, Chinese government officials who support the camps. And this is very helpful. Also putting sanctions […]
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China Change: Ilham Tohti
On 15 January 2014, Chinese authorities arrested Ilham Tohti, a Uighur economics professor at the prestigious Minzu University in Beijing. Today, February 16, marks the 32nd day of his detention. His family has yet to receive any legal document detailing his whereabouts or the charges against him. For years, Tohti has discussed and commented on not only Chinese policies in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, where the vast majority of this Turkic Muslim population lives, but also the state of Han-Uighur relations. He founded the Chinese-language website 维吾尔在线 (Uighurs Online), which is meant to facilitate communication and understanding between the two peoples. Today, China Change launches an “Ilham Tohti” button on its homepage. A group of concerned scholars and experts will collect, post, and update information regarding Professor Tohti in an effort to raise awareness of his detention and press for his release. We have created a ‘Free Ilham Campaign’ Twitter account. Please consider following @FreeIlham, including our Twitter handle, and using the hashtag #FreeIlham when you post news, comments, or links about Ilham Tohti. Statements by International Human Rights Advocacy Organizations Amnesty International Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 3 million supporters, members and activists in over 150 countries and territories who campaign to end grave abuses of human rights. Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. We are independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion, and are funded mainly by our membership and public donations. URGENT ACTION: UIGHUR SCHOLAR TAKEN FROM HIS HOME URGENT ACTION: Uighur scholar AT RISK OF DEATH SENTENCE, 26 February 2014 Amnesty International Taiwan 中國｜維吾爾學者伊力哈木・土赫提被從家中帶走 Chinese Human Rights Defenders Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) is a network of Chinese and international activists promoting human […]