Dolkun Isa is one of the world’s most prominent Uyghur activists and a leading campaigner for the rights of minorities in China’s Xinjiang region.
Born in Aksu in 1967, Isa left China in 1994 and eventually settled in Germany, where he became one of the leading voices of the Uyghur diaspora. A former president of the World Uyghur Congress, he has spent decades campaigning to draw international attention to alleged rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China.
Now leading the World Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, Isa was in Buenos Aires last month for a human-rights conference and events linked to a landmark legal case seeking to investigate alleged genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang through Argentina’s courts.
During his visit, an event at the Buenos Aires City Legislature at which he had been due to speak was cancelled and moved to another venue. Isa alleges the decision was the result of pressure exerted by China through diplomatic channels – part of what he describes as Beijing’s campaign of “transnational repression” against Uyghur activists living abroad.
