Side event at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva (March 3)

As part of the current session of the UN Human Rights Council, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) is hosting a side event on transnational human rights violations on Tuesday, March 3. The human rights organization warns that even in exile in Germany, human rights activists, journalists, government critics, and members of persecuted communities are increasingly subject to repression by the governments of their home countries.

The event will focus on cases from China and the Eurasian states of Russia, Belarus, and Azerbaijan. The panel will include Uyghur Zumretay Arkin, human rights activist Lebin Ding, the Dalai Lama's envoy in Geneva, Thinlay Chukki, Sarah Reinke from the STP, and representatives of the Academic Network for Eastern Europe. They will discuss cross-border repression and protective measures. The side event builds on an international expert dialogue in December 2025, at which gaps in protection were identified. The aim of the side event is to highlight transnational repression as a global phenomenon and to develop practical courses of action for states and international organizations.

Uyghur Zumretay Arkin is vice president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC). She was born and raised in Ürümqi, the capital of the Uyghur region of Xinjiang/East Turkestan. She later moved to Canada and then to Germany.

Thinlay Chukki, a Tibetan, is the Dalai Lama's envoy in Geneva. The Dalai Lama has been living in exile in India since fleeing Tibet in March 1959

Human rights activist Lebin Ding fights from exile in Germany against the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and for the release of his father, Yuande Ding, who is being unlawfully imprisoned in China.

Sarah Reinke is the head of human rights work at the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP). Her work focuses on Eastern Europe and Sudan. The STP advocates for minorities and Indigenous Peoples.

Philipp Christoph Schmädeke is chairman of the board of the Academic Network Eastern Europe (akno e.V.), which supports refugee scientists and students from Eastern Europe.

The panel will be moderated by Gerrit Hofert, human rights officer at the STP.

“More and more human rights activists are telling us that the threats against them do not end at the borders of their home countries. People who document human rights violations or express their political views in exile are often subjected to surveillance and intimidation. Their relatives in their countries of origin are also put under pressure,” explains Gerrit Hofert, human rights officer at the STP.

The STP therefore calls for increased international cooperation against transnational repression, better documentation mechanisms, and concrete protection instruments for endangered persons in exile. “Germany and other EU countries must ensure that people living in exile due to persecution are protected from transnational repression,” Hofert continues.

Note: Accreditation is required to participate in the side event. Please use the following link: https://indico.un.org/event/1022499/overview. If you are interested or have any questions, please write to presse@gfbv.de and Gerrit Hofert at g.hofert@gfbv.de.

This press release was translated from German to English using AI. If you come across errors or ambiguities, please contact us at presse@gfbv.de.