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World Uyghur Congress | 21 February 2012
László Tőkés MEP,in cooperation with Kristiina Ojuland MEP and Vytautas Landsbergis MEP, will convene a conference, ‘50 Years After Test 596: China’s Nuclear Programme in East Turkestan and Its Impact Today’ at the European Parliament in Brussels on 29 February 2012 in collaboration with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), and the Belgian Uyghur Association.
“With this conference, my colleagues and I wish to draw attention to the neglected topic of nuclear testing in East Turkestan, China, and make a call for a meaningful recognition of the civilian victims of the tests,” saidLászló Tőkés MEP.
Multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominee and WUC President, Rebiya Kadeer, noted that “the Uyghurs have long suffered from the health and environmental effects nuclear testing in Lop Nor…it is time to address the devastating impact of radioactive exposure that have affected probably millions of people.”
While Beijing celebrates its nuclear capability,Marino Busdachin, UNPO General Secretary, warned that “a ‘Wall of Secrecy’ prevents experts from discovering the true effects of the Lop Nor tests and their real and devastating human cost in what amounts to a systematic violation of citizens rights”.
Among those contributing to the conference will beEnver Tohti (Uyghur and Independent Medical Researcher), Vincent Metten (International Campaign for Tibet), Dominique Lalanne (Nuclear Physicist and Chair of Abolition 2000 Europe), Robert Knoth and Antoinette de Jong (Authors of “Certificate no. 000358, Nuclear Devastation in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus, the Urals and Siberia”). Under discussion will be possible compensation models and the scope for inclusion of the issue in future Human Rights Dialogues.
The Lop Nor testing site, located in East Turkestan (also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region), was used for a total of 46 individual nuclear detonations over three decades (1964–1996). These were the largest series of tests to be carried out in a populated area. Since the termination of the tests in 1996, the environmental and health impact of radioactive contamination in the area has never been fully known and Lop Nor remains largely inaccessible.
More information on the conference is available from http://www.uyghurcongress.org/en/?p=13832 and http://www.unpo.org/article/13835
For media queries please contact:
For media queries please contact:
Andrew Swan (English)
+32 (0)472 577 518
tel: +32 (0)472 577 518
aswan@unpo.org
Abdulmuttelip Imerov (French)
+32 (0)488 048 655 +32
(0)488 048 655
abdumutalip@mail.ru
Details of the event:
Wednesday, 29 February 2012, 9.30 – 12.30
Room P7C050, Paul-Henri Spaak Building, European Parliament
60 Rue Wiertz, Brussels, Belgium
Registration is required and must be submitted before 24 February 2012. Please send your full name, date of birth, place of residence, nationality, organisation to: lfahey@unpo.org; http://www.uyghurcongress.org/lfahey@unpo.org
ABOUT THE WUC
The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) is an international umbrella organization that represents the collective interest of the Uyghur people both in East Turkestan and abroad and promotes Uyghur human rights and a peaceful and non-violent solution based on rule of law for the conflict in East Turkestan.
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