World Uyghur Congress nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

The World Uyghur Congress has been nominated by parliamentarians from Canada and Norway for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for its contributions to human rights and shedding light on China’s repression of the Uyghur people in the western region of Xinjiang.

It is the first time the German-based group has been nominated for the prestigious award.

China has faced increasing international criticism for its treatment of the 11 million predominantly Muslim Uyghurs, whose culture, language, religion, clothing and food differ from that of the Han Chinese majority.

The United Nations human rights office issued a damning report in August that highlighted widespread arbitrary detentions and other actions by China that it said may amount to crimes against humanity.

China has also taken steps to try to eradicate Uighur culture and assimilate Uyghurs into China.

The United States, the European Parliament, and the legislatures of several other Western countries have declared the abuses, including the arbitrary detention of an estimated 1.8 million Uighurs and other Turkic minorities, to constitute genocide and crimes against humanity.

‘Crucial contribution’

The World Uyghur Congress has “made a crucial contribution by drawing international attention to the overwhelming campaign of physical, religious, linguistic and cultural repression currently being waged by the Chinese Communist Party against the Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. from China, a campaign that many parliamentarians define as genocide,” Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, a Canadian member of parliament, wrote in the nomination letter.

Brunelle-Duceppe joined Canadian MP Sameer Zuberi, who chairs the Subcommittee on International Human Rights, and Ane Breivik, leader of the Norwegian Liberal Party, in the WUC nomination.

WUC President Dolkun Isa said it was a great honor for his organization to be nominated.

“This is despite the relentless demonization of China to combine our peaceful international defense of Uyghur rights with terrorism and separatism,” he told Radio Free Asia. “Through decades-long global efforts to demonize the WUC, China has attempted to hinder our advocacy work, silence our voice in the world, thus continuing its ongoing crimes against the Uyghur people unabated.”

Isa said the nomination shows that China’s attempts to suppress the defense of the Uyghurs through smear, diplomatic attacks and political manipulation have failed.

“This also shows that the international community led by Western democracies is convinced of our advocacy work,” he said. “The fact is that no matter how strong China is, justice and truth will ultimately prevail.”

More than a dozen people and around 10 other organizations have already been nominated for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize.

The winner of the international peace prize will be announced in October 2023 by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo and awarded on December 10.

Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.