The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) is an international organization of exiled Uyghur groups that claims to "represent the collective interest of the Uyghur people"Alingod, Chris. Ethnic Clashes In China Continue As White House Calls For Restraint . AHN. 7 July 2009 both inside and outside of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The World Uyghur Congress claims to be a nonviolent and peaceful movement that opposes what it considers to be the Chinese occupation of East Turkestan (Xinjiang) and advocates rejection of totalitarianism, religious intolerance and terrorism as an instrument of policy. It has been called the "largest representative body of Uyghurs around the world" and uses more moderate methods of human rights advocacy to influence the Chinese government within the international community in contrast to more radical Uyghur organizations.
The World Uyghur Congress has historically been funded in part by the National Endowment for Democracy or NED of the United States,National Endowment for Democracy China (Xinjiang/east Turkistan) 2016 . though funding was frozen in 2025 after Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency cut funding to the NED. It has been designated as a terrorist organization by the government of the People's Republic of China since 2003 for conspiring with separatists and religious extremists to plan terror attacks.
The World Uyghur Congress was formed in mid-April 2004 at a meeting in Munich, Germany, as a collection of various exiled Uyghur groups, advocating for "greater autonomy," including the World Uyghur Youth Congress (WUYC) and some members of the East Turkestan National Congress (ETNC) following a split among the East Turkestan National Congress over the issue of autonomy vs independence.Newly founded World Uyghur Congress calls for peaceful solution in East Turkestan . Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. 22 April 2004 Dolkun Isa is the current president, who has been living in Germany since 1996 after leaving China.
Formation Numerous Uyghur organisations representing the Uyghur movement in exile formed around the world from the 1980s to early 2000s but were disorganised and disunited. The World Uyghur Youth Congress was formed in November 1996.Shen (2007), p. 101. On 18 April 2004, the World Uyghur Youth Congress and another organization, the Eastern Turkistan National Congress, merged to form the World Uyghur Congress.Chung, Chien-peng. (2006). Confronting Terrorism and Other Evils in China: All Quiet on the Western Front? China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly. 4(2), 75—87. Four months later, other Uyghur diaspora members founded the East Turkistan Government in Exile to advocate for more radical forms of ideological and armed struggle than those supported by the Uyghur World Congress. The East Turkistan Government in Exile claimed to be the "sole organ of the Eastern Turkestan Republic" just four months after the formation of the World Uyghur Congress, leading to immediate tensions between the two groups.
Erkin Alptekin served as the first president and Dolkun Isa as General Secretary since 2004 of the unified group; Alptekin served until 2006, when Rebiya Kadeer was elected as president at the second General Assembly meeting held on 24–27 November 2006.Keung, Nicholas. Fighting for the rights of Uyghurs . Toronto Star. 8 December 2006Introducing the World Uyghur Congress . World Uyghur Congress. The Congress has convened seven assemblies since its inception—in 2004, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2021. It is a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, and is based primarily in Munich, home to a large Uyghur diaspora.Mackerras, Colin. 'Pivot of Asia' sees China-Pakistan maneuvers . Asia Times Online. 13 August 2004 There are no known links between the WUC and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.China says international extremists backing terrorism in Xinjiang. Channel NewsAsia. 9 January 2007 In 2019, the World Uyghur Congress, represented by Dolkun Isa, received the Democracy Award for advocating for democracy, human rights, and freedom for the Uyghur people and the use of peaceful, nonviolent, and democratic means to help Uyghurs achieve self-determination.
According to a 2024 Chinese government report, the Uyghur World Congress received annual average funding from the National Endowment for Democracy of US$5-6 million.
Objectives
The WUC has accused former Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong of colonizing Xinjiang and reneging on promises to allow self-determination for the region.China equates pro-independence Uighurs with terrorists . Monsters and Critics. 3 April 2008 According to the WUC, its main aim is to "promote the right of the Uyghur people to use peaceful, nonviolent, and democratic means to determine the political future of East Turkestan." It has declared its intention to work with world governments and form a "peaceful opposition" to the policies of the Chinese government in Xinjiang, whose treatment of Uyghurs, it alleges, risk turning the region into a "time bomb". The first president, Erkin Alptekin, described the Han Chinese as "colonists who want to replace us with their own people and assimilate those of us who remain, wiping out our culture."Clarke, Michael. (2008). China's "War on Terror" in Xinjiang: Human Security and the Causes of Violent Uighur Separatism. Terrorism and Political Violence. 20(2), 271—301. The Congress has also said China is exaggerating the threat from terrorists in order to justify repression in the region.Foster, Peter; Spencer, Richard. Beijing Olympics: Security stepped up after terror attack kills 16 Chinese policemen . The Daily Telegraph. 4 August 2008 According to Barry Sautman, "WUC portrays terrorist attacks by Uyghur separatists against civilians as justified resistance."
The Congress, like the Uyghur American Association based in Washington, D.C., use mass media and their own websites in an aim to inform the international community of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. It has been described as "cyber-separatism" which is supported in part by wealthy Uyghurs in the Middle East.Atakabi & Mehendale (2005), p. 164. Some newspapers in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan reprint articles from the websites in Uyghur and Russian.Atakabi & Mehendale (2005), p. 165.
Leadership Steering Committee As the Congress is made up of a number of international Uyghur groups, its leaders are based in a number of countries as follows:
Current President: Mr. Turgunjan Alawdun - Vice Presidents: Ms. Zumretay Arkin, Mr. Abduresit Abdulhamit, Mr. Arkin Akhmetov - Chairperson of the Executive Comitte: Ms. Rushan Abbas - Vice Chairmen of the Executive Comitte: Mr. Erkin Zunun, Mr. Polat Sayim, Mr. Mutalip Kurban, Mr. Abdulhamit Karahan - Inspector General: Mr. Abdulkerim Abdurahman - Inspectors: Ms. Kalbinur Sidik, Ms. Gulmire Zunun, Mr. Bahtiyar Nasir, Mr. Ghalip Mijit - Treasurer general: Mr. Gheyur Kurban - Treasurers: Ms. Mukerrem Kurban, Mr. Umit Tursun, Mr. Tursunjan Saitov, Mr. Jurat Abdukerim - Advisory Board: Mr. Kakharman Khojamberdi, Dr. Rishat Abbas, Mr. Omer Kanat, Mr. Perhat Muhammet, Mr. Rozimuhammed Abdulbakiev - Spokespersons: Ms. Zumretay Arkin, Mr. Abduresit Abdulhamit, Mr. Ilshat Hasan Kokbore, Prof.Dr. Erkin Emet, Mr. Iptihar Abduresit
The Congress also maintains representatives in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Kyrgyzstan, Japan, Sweden and the United Kingdom. President Kadeer met United States President George W. Bush in June 2007, and British Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials in October the same year.Miliband (2007), p. 136.
Its President, Dolkun Isa was on the Red Notice List of the International Criminal Police Organization, though the German government did not recognize the notice, nor did the United States. Fair Trials, an organization working "for fair trials according to internationally recognized standards of justice" has noted that in practice, "INTERPOL's Red Notices are being used as political tools by NCBs, and are being issued and maintained on the basis of criminal cases which have been recognized as being politically-motivated by extradition courts and asylum authorities."Strengthening respect for human rights, strengthening INTERPOL . Fair Trials The notice was removed in early 2018.
Former President Dolkun Isa is a former student-leader of the pro-democracy demonstrations at Xinjiang University in 1988. He founded the Students' Science and Culture Union at the university in 1987 and worked on programs to eliminate illiteracy and to promote science and to lead other students in East Turkestan. He was then dismissed from university but completed his physics degree via independent study, and went on to receive a master's degree in Politics and Sociology from Gazi University in Turkey and a degree in Computer Science in Munich, Germany. After enduring persecution from the Chinese government, Isa fled China in 1994 and sought asylum in Europe, and became a citizen of Germany in 2006.
During the General Assembly held in Sarajevo from 24 to 27 October 2024, Turghunjan Alawudun was chosen to succeed Dolkun as president.
Former Presidents Erkin Alptekin (born 4 July 1939 in Kashgar) is a Uyghur activist. From Germany, he has helped found many Uyghur nationalist organizations, the best known of which are the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and the World Uyghur Congress. Alptekin is the son of Isa Alptekin, who opposed both East Turkistan Republic(s) and sought ‘autonomy’ for the Uyghurs under the Republic of China. After the incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China in 1949 and succession by the new People's Republic of China, Alptekin's family fled to Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. There he attended Catholic school and then Convent College, completing his studies in the Institute of Journalism in Istanbul. Alptekin is based in Germany.
Rebiya Kadeer (born 15 November 1946) is an ethnic Uyghur, businesswoman and political activist. Born in the city of Altay of China, Kadeer became a millionaire in the 1980s through her real estate holdings and ownership of a multinational conglomerate. Kadeer held various positions in China's parliament and other political institutions before being arrested in 1999 for, according to Chinese state media, sending confidential internal reference reports to her husband, who worked in the United States as a pro-Xinjiang independence broadcaster. After she fled to the United States in 2005 on compassionate release, Kadeer assumed leadership positions in overseas Uyghur organizations such as the World Uyghur Congress. Kadeer speaks Uyghur and Mandarin Chinese.
General Assemblies 1st General Assembly
On 18 April 2004, the first General Assembly of World Uyghur Congress was hold in Munich, Germany. In the Assembly, the World Uyghur Youth Congress, which was formed in November 1996, and the East Turkestan National Congress declared their unification by forming the World Uyghur Congress. At this assembly, Erkin Alptekin was elected as the first president and Memet Tohti as the vice-president.
2nd General Assembly From 24 to 27 November 2008, the World Uyghur Congress has successfully held its Second Assembly in Munich, Germany. WUC delegates from the United States, Canada, the Great Britain, Australia, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan attended this assembly. Prominent Uyghur political leader and human rights activist Ms. Rebiya Kadeer was unanimously elected as the new President of World Uyghur Congress. Ms. Kadeer's election has given new hope and strength for WUC and the Uyghur people all around the world.
3rd General Assembly