Uyghur Congress president Dolkun Isa was interrupted twice by the Chinese as he began speaking in a general debate during the 54th Session of the UNHRC in Geneva on Wednesday.
A Chinese diplomat interrupted his speech and demanded the floor to object. The Chinese diplomat said Isa is not a representative of the “so-called NGO”. However, UN Human Rights Council Vice President Asim Ahmed allowed Uyghur activists to complete his statement.
In his intervention, Dolkun Isa said, “Once again, I’m in this Council to urge member states and UN bodies to act on the ongoing Uyghur genocide in China. It’s been over a year since the OHCHR assessment, but we haven’t seen any tangible action to address this situation”.
He added, “Since then, many UN experts have repeated their concerns, including the CERD. The CESCR and CEDAW committees have also issued their concluding observations urging China to end the counter-terrorism policies legitimizing the repression”.
Just yesterday, UN special rapporteurs have expressed grave concerns over the forced separation of Uyghur children with the expansion of the state-run boarding schools and the erosion of their linguistic rights.
Isa told the UN, “Despite the increasing number of UN documents, this Council has failed to meaningfully address accountability avenues”.
“In the meantime, Uyghurs in the diaspora are watching our relatives disappear one by one, receiving news about their deaths, and constantly facing reprisals. Just a few days ago, we learned about Prof. Rahile Dawut’s life imprisonment. My own brother Hushtar Isa also was sentenced to life. I lost My mother in a concentration camp”, he added.
Dolkan Isa said in his statement, “In a recent visit to Urumchi, Xi Jinping repeated that the counter-terrorism policies are a long-term plan, stating that the repression will not end anytime soon. We must remember to uphold the promise of Never Again”.
While speaking to ANI, the Uyghur Congress President condemnded the act, and alleged that the Chinese government was trying to “hide the truth.”
“It was not the first time. Of course, the Chinese government don’t want to see me as a council. The Chinese government don’t want Uygur’s voice to rise in the UN humanitarian council because today millions of people are still suffering in concentration camps,” he said.
He further claimed, “More than a million Uyghur children separate from family. This is a serious issue today. This is the correct platform to raise this issue. But the Chinese government don’t want it. Chinese government trying to hide the reality Chinese government trying to hide its crime in front of the UN and the other international platforms.”
Earlier on September 26, The United Nations expressed concern over the allegations of a significant expansion of Xinjiang’s State-run boarding school system in China which fails to provide education in the children’s mother tongue and forcibly separates Uyghur and other minority Muslim children from their families and communities, leading to their forced assimilation, said an official press release from United Nations Human Rights.
The release from the UN said that the Uyghur children placed in these boarding schools reportedly have little or no access to education in the Uyghur language and are under increasing pressure to speak and learn only Mandarin (Putonghua), as opposed to education aimed at achieving bilingualism in both Uyghur and Mandarin. Teachers can also be sanctioned for using the Uyghur language outside of specific language classes.