Human rights action in front of the Chinese Consulate in Munich

Today, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) held a human rights action in front of the Chinese Consulate in Munich – organized in cooperation with the Association of Uyghurs in Europe and the Ilham Tohti Initiative. The three human rights organizations demanded an end to the genocide crimes against the Muslim Uyghurs and Kazakhs as well as sanctions against Chen Quanguo, the responsible party secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in Xinjiang / East Turkestan.

"Two decades ago, the then German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called on China to respect the autonomy rights of the Uyghurs," recalled Enver Can, President of the Ilham Tohti Initiative. "Over time, Germany's human rights policy has become weaker and weaker, while the Chinese government is fighting these rights more and more aggressively. The German government must finally live up to its position as a leading force within the EU and clearly tell the leadership in Beijing that its genocide policy against the Uyghur people is unacceptable".

"Change through trade has failed," added Asgar Can, Chairman of the Association of Uyghurs in Europe. "It is time for a strong signal for democracy, human rights, and human dignity. The EU must emphasize that it is truly a community of values. The extermination policy of the Chinese government must end, the camps must be closed, and the inmates must be released immediately. The persecution of the Uyghur people must stop – in China and abroad!"

"Germany should use its EU Council Presidency to bring about sanctions against those who are responsible for the genocide crimes," stated Hanno Schedler, STP expert on genocide prevention and the Responsibility to Protect.

Chen Quanguo is one of the architects of the genocide crimes. He had already tightened the monitoring and control system in Tibet during his time as party secretary. He forced over one million nomadic people to settle down. After his arrival in Xinjiang / East Turkestan in August 2016, he created 90,000 new jobs in the security sector over the course of twelve months, mostly in the police force. Together with security chief Zhu Hailun and his successor Wang Junzheng, he built up the infamous camp system in which around 1.5 million Uyghurs and Kazakh Muslims have so far been locked up. The Chinese government stepped up the already massive harassment of Muslim nationalities in the region by confiscating passports, by forced sterilization, banning the Uyghur language, separating Uyghur children from their families, and by destroying mosques and cemeteries. These methods of oppression are considered 'exemplary' within the Communist Party.