Item 3 – The World Uyghur Congress – Peter Irwin (speaker) Mr. President, I am speaking on behalf of the World Uyghur Congress to bring to the Forum’s attention to the legal environment in which the Uyghur people in China currently find themselves as well as the response that police have had to the Uyghur community in general. Consistent denial of access to legal representation, family visits, medical care and adequately maintained detention facilities are all deep-rooted features of the criminal justice system from the perspective of the Uyghur community in particular. Such broad differences in treatment between minority communities in China and the rest of the population signals a purposeful discriminatory policy that has effectively criminalised Uyghur life. Increasingly restrictive policies over the last decade (and increasing in intensity over the last two years) have seen Uyghurs detained and sentenced for crimes amounting to little more than quotidian religious practice and cultural expression. The case of imprisoned Uyghur academic Ilham Tohti clearly illustrates many of the strict limitations on legal rights for Uyghurs. Tohti was imprisoned initially back in January 2014, on clearly exaggerated charges of separatism. Tohti was deprived of a lawyer for nearly six months while he waited in prison. He was also denied family visits as well as food for extended periods of time. The Chinese criminal justice system generally is stacked against Uyghurs from the start. Arrests by police and security forces in 2014 doubled from the previous year to over 27,000 as a direct result of China’s Strike Hard campaign aimed at rooting out terrorism. The campaign has had a paltry effect on stability. New draft legislation on counter-terrorism has allowed police and security forces even wider berth to kill those suspected of committing crimes. Over the last two months, 28 people including women and children were killed by security forces, merely for their suspected role in violence that took place back in September. Since 9/11, Chinese authorities have been steadfast in linking the Uyghur population in general to terrorism and violence. In the recent aftermath of the tragic events in Paris this month, state media published a rare article on the following day touting success in rooting out terrorism. Such transparent exploitation of a tragedy sets a poor standard for its response and does little to ease tensions. Discrimination has not been limited to China however as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan both consist of minority Uyghur populations as well. Uyghur community and political leaders have been targeted for surveillance and Uyghur television and newspapers have also