Nov 01, 2006

East Turkestan: UNPO VIII GA Adopts Resolution on Situation in East Turkestan


 
A central component of the VIII UNPO General Assembly, held this year in Taipei, Taiwan, from 27 – 29 October, was to facilitate the discussion of specific problems facing UNPO Members, as well as potential strategies for resolving these with the help of UNPO, its Members, and its supporters.
 
As part of this process, a Session on the final day of proceedings, Sunday 29 October, was dedicated entirely to the presentation and discussion of resolutions submitted by UNPO Members, detailing specific problems faced by their communities, and detailing the steps that might be taken towards a peaceful and equitable solution.
 
The following resolution was submitted by the delegation from East Turkestan and adopted by the UNPO VIII General Assembly:
 
 
 
Member Resolution
The Situation in East Turkestan
 
 
The UNPO General Assembly;
 
Notes that Eastern Turkestan, known as “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region”, has been occupied by China since 1949;
 
Notes that Uyghurs are at present waging a life and death struggle for survival with their fundamental freedoms, right of sell-determination and human rights, including civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, persistently violated by the Chinese authorities; 
 
Concerned by the influx Chinese settlers, together with coercive birth control policies amongst Uyghur women, and the systematic “sinozation” of the Uyghur language;
 
Underlines that the people of Eastern Turkestan continue to be arrested, tortured and executed on political grounds;
 
Concerned that the ever growing population of Chinese settlers has brought about widespread unemployment, hunger and disaster to the Uyghur people;
 
Emphasising that despite the region’s natural wealth, the Uyghurs live at bare substance level, with almost 80 percent of them living below the threshold of poverty;
 
Notes that in order to restrain the growth of the Uyghur population, coercive birth control is being carried out amongst Uyghur women, in direct contradiction with China’s stated policy of implementing special preferential population policies for minority nationalities;
 
Concerned that the Chinese authorities are pursuing a policy of systematic “sinozation” of the Uyghur language and literature, banning Uyghur language schools, and merging them with Chinese language schools;
 
Therefore, we urge The UNPO General Assembly to:       
 
1. Appeal to the international community in an effort to persuade, influence and convince the Chinese leadership to start a dialogue with the Uyghur representatives, and to defuse the rising tensions in Eastern Turkestan peacefully and to the mutual satisfaction of all sides;
 
2. Call upon the Chinese government to recognize the Uyghur people’s right to national self-determination and to resolve the issue through peaceful dialogue;
 
3. Demand the Chinese government immediately stop its policies of assimilation by means of cultural genocide, elimination of Uyghur education, and depriving of Uyghur people of their civil, economic and political rights.
 
4. Call upon the Chinese government to stop its policies of assimilation by means of population transfer into East Turkistan, and family planning of Uyghur people;
 
5. Demand the Chinese government to stop labelling peaceful Uyghur activists who are struggling for democracy, freedom and human rights both within and outside East Turkistan as "terrorists," and desist from harassing them and their family members, executing Uyghurs on political charges, and release all political prisoners held in Chinese jails;
 
6. Call upon the Chinese government to disband the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corp., and remove all Chinese military personnel from East Turkistan, making it a demilitarized zone