UNPO and the East Turkestan Foundation joined forces to hold a protest against China’s ethnic policies outside the Dutch Parliament in The Hague's Plein on 26 April 2008.

Below is an article published by UNPO:

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) together with the East Turkestan Foundation (ETF) organized a human rights demonstration on 26 April 2008 in the Plein of The Hague in front of the Dutch Parliament. 

UNPO and Uyghur volunteers gave up their spare time to gather under the weekend sunshine and protest against the continuing human rights situation in the People’s Republic of China and the ongoing crackdown on indigenous peoples in East Turkistan. Despite promises by the Chinese authorities, there have been few signs of human rights being promoted in East Turkestan or China’s other so-called autonomous provinces such as Inner Mongolia or Tibet in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in August 2008.

If anything, Beijing has upped the ante as the Olympic flame continues to be greeted by protests during its tour of democratic countries.   Just as Chinese students in foreign capitals try to promote the image of a ‘One China’, so the regime is clamping down on domestic activism.  Only in the last month, authorities have arrested approximately one thousand women in Koten city in the west of the country.

As a result, the demonstration aimed to highlight these abuses and others, and encourage a response from the international community that can place pressure on China to live up to its promises of human rights it has made over the past months.

The publicity generated by UNPO and Uyghur volunteers took many forms, varying from the individual conversations and handing out of leaflets to interviews on national and international media which included the Dutch National TV station NOS and international Chinese channel, New Tang Dynasty Television.  The many questions asked about the Uyghurs and their situation generated much surprise and can hopefully only increase the growing opposition to China’s policies ahead of the 2008 Olympics.

Note:

To view New Tang Dynasty television coverage of the protest, click here (English language), or for an article detailing the event, click here (Dutch language).