World Uyghur Congress
Cultural and political organization / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The World Uyghur Congress (WUC)[note 1] is an 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' 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]
Abbreviation | WUC |
---|---|
Formation | 16 April 2004; 20 years ago (2004-04-16) |
Type | Non-profit NGO |
Purpose | "To promote democracy, human rights, and freedom for the Uyghur people"[1] |
Headquarters | Munich, 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) |
Affiliations | East Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization Uyghur American Association Uyghur Human Rights Project World Uyghur Youth Congress |
Website | UyghurCongress.org |
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.