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The World Uyghur Congress has highlighted continuing concerns over the detention of Uyghur intellectuals and the protection of Uyghur cultural identity, while welcoming the European Parliaments tougher stance on China.
In its weekly brief, the organisation reported on a decade of imprisonment for Uyghur writer Yalqun Rozi, efforts to preserve the Uyghur language, and new European Union recommendations on political relations with Beijing. The World Uyghur Congress, in its weekly brief, drew attention to developments concerning Uyghur human rights, cultural preservation and international pressure on China. According to the brief, the European Parliament adopted new recommendations on European Union-China political relations, calling for ties with Beijing to be based on respect for international law and human rights. According to the World Uyghur Congress, the recommendations recognised that three million Uyghurs had been subjected to forced labour and mass imprisonment. The Parliament called on China to end mass imprisonment policies and demanded the release of detained Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti, Uyghur physician Gulshan Abbas, and the siblings of former World Uyghur Congress president Dolkun Isa. The resolution also included two clauses condemning China's new ethnic unity law, according to the organisation. The World Uyghur Congress also marked ten years since Uyghur writer, scholar and literary critic Yalqun Rozi was detained in Urumqi on October 6, 2016. He was later sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of allegedly inciting subversion of state power. The organisation said Rozi's detention came amid wider arrests of Uyghurs linked to expressions of ethnic and cultural identity. In August 2026, he received the Graciela Fernndez Meijide Award from the Latin American think tank CADAL for contributions to human rights in authoritarian states. He remains imprisoned. In another development, the World Uyghur Congress and the Uyghur Centre for Democracy and Rights visited Berlin's Mevlana Mosque on October 2, meeting hundreds of young Turkish Muslims. Uyghur Centre for Democracy and Rights president Dolkun Isa spoke about the situation in East Turkistan and held a book-signing event for The China: The Freedom Trap. The weekly brief also highlighted the launch of the Uyghur podcast Uycast on October 6. The platform aims to promote Uyghur history, culture and current affairs while helping preserve the Uyghur language. Its first episode honoured Rizwangl Hashim, a nurse and volunteer associated with the 1944 Uyghur liberation struggle, on what would have been her 100th birthday. The World Uyghur Congress said these initiatives reflect continuing efforts to raise awareness of Uyghur rights, preserve cultural identity and seek international action on alleged human rights violations in China. (ANI)
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