The World Forum for Democratization (WFDA) held its third biennial conference from 16-18 September 2009 in Seoul, South Korea, without one Uyghur participant who was denied to enter the country. He was detained for 48 hours in the airport, while the government was considering to send him to China. Below is the letter by the forum on 21 September, calling on the government to remove his name from the list of "terrorists".
The World Forum for Democratization (WFDA)
held its third biennial conference from
16-18 September 2009 in Seoul, South Korea, without one Uyghur
participant who was denied to enter the country. He was detained for 48
hours in the airport, while the government was considering to send him
to China. Below is the letter by the forum on 21 September, calling on
the government to remove his name from the list of "terrorists".
The World Forum for
Democratization in Asia (WFDA) deeply regrets the decision of the South
Korean government to deny entry to Mr. Dolkun Isa, General Secretary of
the World Uyghur Congress. Mr. Isa was invited by WFDA to attend its
Third Biennial Meeting, which was held in Seoul on 16-18 September
2009.
Mr. Isa, a German
citizen, participated in the WFDA Second Biennial Meeting which was
held in the Philippines in 2007, with no difficulty. Therefore, he was
invited again this time to present a paper on the human rights
situation in East Turkestan (Xinjiang), which is a topic of great
concern to all democrats in the region, especially after the tragic
outbreak of interethnic violence earlier this year.
We do not believe
there is any merit to the accusations by the government of China that
he is a terrorist. Moreover, the WUC of which he is the executive head
is an organization that operates on the principle of non-violence.
Therefore, we are deeply disappointed that the South Korean government
acted on such accusations and deny him entry. Moreover, we do not
understand why the South Korean government would detain him for 48
hours at the airport, rather than sending him home immediately. This
created great distress for all his family and friends, since it
appeared that the South Korean government was considering handing him
over to China, which would have been a major violation of the
international law on non-refoulement.
We chose to hold
this year's conference in Seoul both out of respect for what South
Korea has accomplished in democratization as well as hope that it can
play a more active leadership role in the broader regional democracy
movement. However, this case has caused us to express concern at the
deleterious influence of China, even on a relatively robust country
such as South Korea. We call on South Korea, as well as all other
democratic countries, to purge their immigration watch lists of Mr. Isa
and all those like him who have been labeled "terrorists" by
non-democratic countries.
