Aug 31, 2009

UNPO Press Release on Kadeer's Visit to Brussels


Rebiya Kadeer at European Parliament The Uyghur activist Ms. Rebiya Kadeer will be visiting the European Parliament in Brussels to address the Subcommittee on Human Rights.

Below is a Press Released issued by UNPO: PRESS RELEASE             FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Uyghur Activist Rebiya Kadeer To Visit European Parliament

Tuesday, 1 September 2009
European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium


On Tuesday 1 September 2009, Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, President of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), will visit the European Parliament to address the Subcommittee on Human Rights. The Subcommittee will commence its meeting at 09.00 in Room JAN2Q2 with Ms. Heidi Hautala MEP, former president of the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament, in the chair.

Ms. Kadeer will detail for the subcommittee the realities of life for Uyghurs in China and the failure of Beijing’s development policies towards its many ethnic groups. The hearing follows the European Parliament’s plenary debate on China and comes ahead of the flawed trials of hundreds of Uyghurs that Beijing claim were responsible for unrest in Urumqi in July 2009.  

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A press conference will be held following the hearing in the

Anna Politkovskaya Room (PHS 00A050)
14.30-15.00

There will be the opportunity for interviews with Ms. Kadeer following the press conference
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Notes to editors

Ms. Kadeer was jailed for six years because of her nonviolent activism on behalf of Uyghurs and many of her children that remain in East Turkestan have been the target of retribution. Her life and struggle has been documented in a film, ‘The 10 Conditions of Love’ and Ms. Kadeer was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and was awarded the Rafto Memorial Prize for Human Rights in 2004.

UNPO is an international, nonviolent, and democratic membership organisation. Its members are indigenous peoples, minorities, and unrecognised or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights.

WUC is an international organization representing the collective interests of the Uyghur people, both in East Turkestan and abroad. Its objectives are to promote democracy, human rights and religious freedom for the Uyghur people, through peaceful, nonviolent, and democratic means.



For more information please contact the UNPO Secretariat (Brussels)
Telephone: +32 (0)254 83923  -  Email: [email protected]

For a copy of the Press Release, please click here .