World Uyghur Congress

World Uyghur Congress
AbbreviationWUC
Formation16 April 2004; 20 years ago (2004-04-16)
TypeNon-profit NGO
Purpose"To promote democracy, human rights, and freedom for the Uyghur people"[1]
HeadquartersMunich, Germany
Region served
Worldwide
Official languages
Uyghur, Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, and Turkish
President
Dolkun Isa
Key people
Rebiya Kadeer
(former president)
Erkin Alptekin
(chief advisor)
AffiliationsEast Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
Uyghur American Association
Uyghur Human Rights Project
World Uyghur Youth Congress
Websitewww.uyghurcongress.org Edit this at Wikidata
Part of a series on
Uyghurs
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Uyghur organizations

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC)[note 1] is a US funded international organization of exiled Uyghur groups that claims to "represent the collective interest of the Uyghur people"[2] both inside and outside of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The World Uyghur Congress claims to be a nonviolent and peaceful movement that opposes what it considers to be the Chinese occupation of East Turkestan (Xinjiang) and advocates rejection of totalitarianism, religious intolerance and terrorism as an instrument of policy.[3][4] It has been called the "largest representative body of Uyghurs around the world" and uses more moderate methods of human rights advocacy to influence the Chinese government within the international community in contrast to more radical Uyghur organizations.[5]

The World Uyghur Congress is funded in part by the National Endowment for Democracy or NED of the United States.[6] It has been designated as a terrorist organization by China since 2003 for conspiring with separatists and religious extremists to plan terror attacks.[7][8]

The World Uyghur Congress was formed in mid-April 2004 at a meeting in Munich, Germany, as a collection of various exiled Uyghur groups, advocating for "greater autonomy," including the World Uyghur Youth Congress (WUYC) and some members of the East Turkestan National Congress (ETNC) following a split among the East Turkestan National Congress over the issue of autonomy vs independence.[9][10] Dolkun Isa is the current president, who has been living in Germany since 1996 after leaving China.

  1. ^ "World Uyghur Congress who we are". uyghurcongress.org. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2004. The main objective of the WUC is to promote democracy, human rights and freedom for the Uyghur people and use peaceful, nonviolent, and democratic means to determine their political future. By representing as the sole legitimate organization of the Uyghur people both in East Turkistan and abroad, WUC endeavors to set out a course for the peaceful settlement of the East Turkistan Question through dialogue and negotiation.
  2. ^ Alingod, Chris. Ethnic Clashes In China Continue As White House Calls For Restraint Archived 16 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine. AHN. 7 July 2009
  3. ^ "About". World Uyghur Congress. 16 November 2017. Archived from the original on 21 April 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  4. ^ "Uighur Militants". GlobalSecurity.org. Archived from the original on 30 August 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference RRO was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ National Endowment for Democracy China (Xinjiang/east Turkistan) 2016 Archived 23 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ^ Ablet, Adile; Juma, Mamatjan; Seytoff, Alim (13 April 2021). "China Smears Former Xinjiang Residents Who Testified About Abuses in the Region". Radio Free Asia.
  8. ^ "U.S.-backed World Uygur Congress, spokesperson for terrorism". Xinhua. 6 December 2019. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019.
  9. ^ Shichor, Yitzhak (19 December 2006). "Changing the Guard at the World Uyghur Congress". China Brief. 6 (25). Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  10. ^ Newly founded World Uyghur Congress calls for peaceful solution in East Turkestan Archived 4 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. 22 April 2004


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