At the UN Forum on Minority Issues, a Uyghur representative addressing the persecution, genocide, and forced labor of Uyghurs was rudely interrupted by a Chinese diplomat. However, the Uyghur representative was able to complete his speech with the approval of UN officials.
Gheyur Qurban, the Director of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) Berlin office, delivered a powerful intervention at the 17th Session of the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues, on Nov. 28, 2024. He shed light on the Chinese government’s systematic oppression and ongoing genocide of the Uyghur people in East Turkistan.
During his speech, Chinese representatives disrupted the session, resorting to baseless accusations and labeling the WUC as a “separatist organization” and not a NGO, in an attempt to discredit the Congress’s voice and silence the truth. They even demanded that Gheyur Qurban be denied the opportunity to speak.
Reflects the lengths to which China will go to suppress
Despite these tactics of intimidation, Uyghur representative stood firm and continued his speech with, approval of president. This disruption reflects the lengths to which the Chinese government will go to suppress international scrutiny of its human rights violations.
“The WUC remains steadfast in its mission to amplify Uyghur voices and hold China accountable for its actions. We thank the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues for providing a platform where Uyghur voices can be heard, despite attempts to suppress them,” the Congress’s statement on the issue said.
China is always attempting to silence the Uyghurs
China always have been unsuccessfully trying to interrupt Uyghurs at the internl meetings.The first such disruption was at the UNHCR Annual Session in 2000, Geneva when Mr. Enver Can, the president of the former East Turkestan National Congress was making an oral intervention.
“As I spoke, the Chinese diplomat objected, so the chairman of the session stopped me and then asked the Chinese diplomat what was wrong. He claimed that I was telling something wrong. The chairman of the session told me again to continue and finish my intervention, and told the diplomat that I was not saying something wrong. This happened during the 2000 annual session at the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights,” Enver Can said.
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