Dolkun Isa

Dolkun Isa
3rd President of the World Uyghur Congress
Incumbent
Assumed office November 12, 2017
Vice President	Erkin Ekrem, Perhat Muhammet
Preceded by	Rebiya Kadeer
Personal details
Born	(1967-09-02) 2 September 1967 Aksu City, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China
Nationality	Germany
Residence	Munich, Germany
Alma mater	Xinjiang University Gazi University [1]
Occupation	Political activist
Known for	President of the World Uyghur Congress Vice-President of the UNPO[2]
Website	World Uyghur Congress website

Dolkun Isa (Uyghur: دولقۇن ئەيسا; Chinese: 多里坤·艾沙, born 2 September 1967) is an Uyghur politician and activist from the region of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, also known as East Turkestan, he is the 3rd and current president of the World Uyghur Congress, in office since November 12, 2017. He previously served as General Secretary and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the congress separately, and has spoken on behalf of the rights of the largely Islamic minority Uyghurs which makes up the majority population in that region, and presenting Uyghur human rights issues to the UN Human Rights Council, European Parliament, European governments and international human rights organizations.

In 1988, when he was studying in Xinjiang University, he led the students demonstration on 15 June 1988 in Ürümqi against discriminations and unfair treatments on Uyghurs and was expelled from the school in the same year, later he fled to Europe. In November 1996, he played an important role in establishing the World Uyghur Youth Congress in Germany and served as Executive Chairman and President. In April 2004, he also played an important role in the establishment of the World Uyghur Congress. The government of China has claimed that Isa's activities amount to terrorism but Isa vetoed all terrorist claims.^[3] He is currently the president of the World Uyghur Congress and the Vice-President of UNPO.^[4]

Early life and fleeing from China

Dolkun Isa was born 2 September 1967 in Aksu and raised by his grandparents in Kalpin County in Aksu Prefecture until 9 years old, later he moved back to Aksu City and completed his Middle school and High school there, in 1984 he was admitted by Faculty of Physics of Xinjiang University and studied there until his dismissal in early 1988 when it was just half year before his graduation time due to his human rights activities for minorities, after that he went back to Aksu and worked for education. In 1990, he went to Beijing and studied English and Turkish until 1994. In 1994, he left the country due to detention threat and studied in Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey and received a Master's degree in Politics and Sociology ^[5], later he went to Europe and sought asylum there. In 2006 he became a citizen of Germany. ^[6]

East Turkestan Independence Movement

China's government claims Isa is the vice chairman of the East Turkestan Liberation Organization, however, this is denied by Isa. This claim by China has led to China's issuance of a red notice to Interpol, but this has not been acted on by Germany or any other country in the West where he has since travelled.^[7] He has been on a Chinese list of wanted terrorists since 2003.^[8] Contrary to China's claims, Isa has condemned all terrorist activities.^[9]

Olympic boycott

Isa called for a boycott of the 2008 Summer Olympics which were held in Beijing due to the cultural genocide that was being conducted against the people of East Turkestan and Tibet. Isa told AFP that China had failed to improve human rights in Tibet and China's western Xinjiang region, where Beijing is accused by rights groups of cracking down on local ethnic groups. Uyghur activists have been seeking independence or autonomy for the region, which they call East Turkestan. ^[10]

2006 and 2009 Taiwan controversies

Isa was admitted to Taiwan in 2006 to attend the meeting of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, a movement co-founded by Taiwan in 1991, during the administration of pro-localization president Chen Shui-bian. There were reports in Taiwan's media in July 2009 that Isa had secretly entered the country in the lead-up to the World Games which were hosted in the southern city of Kaohsiung. This prompted the National Immigration Agency of the then China-friendly KMT government to issue a ban on his travel to Taiwan.^[11] Rebiya Kadeer was denied a visa to visit Taiwan later in 2009, a move linked to Isa's alleged connections with terrorists. Premier Wu Den-yih noted that if Isa steps down from his position in the World Uyghur Congress or if Kadeer steps down from her position, the ban would be lifted.^[12]

Activities

Campaign obstructions

Removal of Interpol Red Notice

On 20 February 2018 Interpol removed Red Notice alert for Dolkun Isa^[33] which was issued for him nearly two decades ago, The London-based rights group Fair Trials also confirmed that Interpol deleted a wanted alert, known as a red notice, for Dolkun Isa, who is currently the president of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress.^[34] Dolkun Isa told reporters at the National Press Club in Washington that his case, which was closed last month after nearly two decades, demonstrates the need for countries and international policing mechanisms to reject efforts by authoritarian governments to target dissidents abroad.^[35]

The fact that Mr. Isa's noticed originated from China, and that INTERPOL removed it, is also good news for those who have wondered about the effect of INTERPOL's new president Meng Hongweion the organization's decision-making process, some observers believed that his position was more ceremonial and less influential over Red Notice issuance. The decision in Mr. Isa's case demonstrates that the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files has both the willingness and the autonomy to issue decisions contrary to the desire of the Chinese government, irrespective of the organization's leadership.^[36]

Chinese accusation in UN

On 21 May, 2018, during the resumed session of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations in UN, the Chinese delegation Yao Shaojun claimed that Isa had been "participating, inciting and funding separatism and terrorism for years", adding that while participating in regional dialogues at UNPFII he had indicated that he was "representing WUC instead of STP", despite only having accreditation as an STP representative. "All the above actions seriously violates relevant rules and regulations of the United Nations," the letter said, urging the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations "to uphold the authority of the U.N. Charter and withdraw the consultative status of STP".^[37]

Kelley Currie, the U.S. representative to the U.N. for economic and social affairs, accused Beijing of preventing the exiled Uighur activist Dolkun Isa from entering U.N. headquarters in New York to speak at a forum on indigenous rights last month. Beijing demanded that the U.N.-accredited organization that invited Isa to speak at the United Nations, the Society for Threatened Peoples, be stripped of its accreditation. The United States sprung to Isa's defense, saying China was seeking to retaliate against an irritating advocate who has shed light on political repression against the Uighurs. The United States and Germany maintain that there is no evidence of links between the two groups.^[38]

Tragic fate of Isa's mother

On 29 June, 2018, Radio Free Asia reported that Isa's mother died while in detention at a "political re-education camp" in northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), according to security officials.^[39] In June 2018, Isa learned from a close family friend that his mother, Ayhan Memet, died on May 17 at the age of 78, but the WUC president was unsure if she had been incarcerated in one of the many "political re-education camps" throughout the XUAR, where authorities have been detaining Uyghurs accused of harboring "extremist" and "politically incorrect" thoughts since April 2017.^[40]

References