26 Facts About Dolkun Isa

Dolkun Isa is a Uyghur activist based in Germany, who has been designated as a terrorist by the Chinese Government since 2003.

Dolkun Isa is the 3rd and current president of the World Uyghur Congress, in office since 12 November 2017.

Dolkun Isa previously served as General Secretary and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the congress, respectively, and has spoken on behalf of the rights of the Uyghurs which make up the majority population in that region.

Dolkun Isa has presented Uyghur human rights issues to the UN Human Rights Council, European Parliament, European governments and international human rights organizations.

Dolkun Isa later continued his studies in Beijing from 1990 to 1994.

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.

China's government claims that Dolkun is the vice-chairman of the East Turkestan Liberation Organization this is denied by Dolkun.

Dolkun Isa has been on a Chinese list of wanted terrorists since 2003.

Dolkun Isa called for a boycott of the 2008 Summer Olympics, which were held in Beijing, due to an alleged cultural genocide that was being conducted against the people of East Turkestan, as China's western Xinjiang region is called by the Uyghurs, and Tibet.

Dolkun Isa told AFP that China had failed to improve human rights in Tibet and Xinjiang, where Beijing is accused by rights groups of cracking down on local ethnic groups.

Dolkun 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.

Dolkun Isa told the PM about the situation of 11 Uyghurs who were in custody in Malaysia and reminded the PM of the Chinese occupation, forced assimilation, transformation, and religious and ethnic genocide practices in East Turkestan.

Dolkun Isa met with Suleyman Soylu, the Minister of the Interior of Turkey.

Dolkun Isa was denied entry into the Republic of Korea and was briefly detained in September 2009 while preparing to attend the World Forum for Democratization in Asia.

On 22 April 2016, India had issued a visitor's visa to Dolkun to attend a conference in Dharamshala.

On 26 April 2017, Dolkun Isa, who had intended to participate in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, was forced to leave the UN premises.

Dolkun Isa was asked for his identification document by UN security and was then asked to leave the UN premises, denying Dolkun Isa's request for an explanation.

The officers, who were holding a photo of Dolkun Isa, stopped him at the gate of the senate building and asked him to accompany them for an identification check, Dolkun Isa said.

On Monday, 16 April 2018, Dolkun Isa was prevented from entering the UN premises to participate in the first day of the Forum.

On 21 May 2018, during the resumed session of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations in the UN, the Chinese delegation claimed that Dolkun 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.

Kelley Currie, the United States representative to the UN for economic and social affairs, accused Beijing of preventing the exiled Uighur activist Dolkun Isa from entering UN headquarters in New York to speak at a forum on indigenous rights in February 2018.

Beijing demanded that the UN-accredited organization that invited Dolkun Isa to speak at the United Nations, the Society for Threatened Peoples, be stripped of its accreditation.

The United States sprung to Dolkun Isa's defense, saying China was seeking to retaliate against an irritating advocate who has shed light on political repression against the Uighurs.

However, Dolkun Isa continued to pressure her to meet, causing her discomfort and leading her to eventually withdraw from activism.

When Dolkun Isa attempted to call again two months later, the line had been disconnected.

In June 2018, Dolkun Isa learned from a close family friend that she died on 17 May 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.