JPTi Participates in the Third International Uyghur Forum 2026 in Berlin

Geneva, 15 June 2026: Justice pour Tous Internationale (JPTi) participated in the Third International Uyghur Forum, held in Berlin from 11 to 13 June 2026 under the theme “Ten Years Since the Camps: From Recognition to Accountability, What’s Next?”

The Forum was organised by the World Uyghur Congress in partnership with the Uyghur Center for Democracy and Human Rights, with the support of the Uyghur Friendship Group in the German Bundestag. It brought together more than 200 participants, including parliamentarians, diplomats, legal experts, academics, researchers, human rights defenders, survivors, civil society representatives and members of affected diaspora communities.

Participants and representatives attended from, or were based in, countries including Germany, the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Türkiye, Taiwan, Czechia, Hungary, Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Mexico and other countries. The Forum also provided an important opportunity for networking, allowing participants to exchange experiences, develop contacts, discuss possible cooperation and strengthen links between community representatives, legal experts, parliamentarians, researchers and civil society organisations.

The discussions addressed the situation that has evolved since 2016 in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China, historically also referred to as East Turkistan, and its wider human rights, legal and geopolitical implications. Participants examined issues including accountability for documented violations, mass detention, forced labour, family separation, the placement and education of children in state-run boarding schools following family separations, religious persecution, cultural erasure, transnational repression, refugee protection, business and supply-chain responsibility, cultural identity, historical memory and the sustainability of long-term human rights advocacy.

The Forum also provided a platform for broader exchanges among Uyghur, Tibetan, Inner Mongolian, Hong Kong, Taiwanese and other representatives and experts, including members of affected communities living abroad or in self-exile. Discussions reflected the importance of peaceful, democratic and lawful approaches to questions of identity, representation, self-determination, participation and self-government, drawing on comparative international experiences, including cases where communities pursue greater autonomy, independance or other forms of political status through democratic processes.

JPTi’s Contribution to Roundtable 3

JPTi’s Executive Director, Sharof Azizov, served as co-facilitator, together with Dr. Rishat Abbas, President of Uyghur Academy International, for Roundtable 3, titled “Beyond Burnout: Building Sustainable Activism.”

The roundtable featured a keynote intervention by Dr. Thomas Schulze, Professor of Psychiatry, and contributions from Dr. Thomas Wenzel, Professor of Psychiatry at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Maira Aisaeva, Chair of the WUC Women’s Committee, Benedict Rogers, Senior Director at Fortify Rights, and Rizwanay Ilham, President of the Swiss Uyghur Association and Chair of the WUC Youth Committee.

The session examined the human and organisational dimensions of long-term advocacy under conditions of trauma, family separation, displacement and transnational pressure. The discussion brought together mental health expertise, human rights advocacy experience and the perspectives of women’s and youth networks to address practical approaches to peer support, trauma-informed leadership, collective resilience and the protection of those carrying the burden of advocacy.

Mr. Azizov moderated the second part of the roundtable, which focused on the experiences of women and young activists. The discussion addressed the specific pressures faced by Uyghur women in exile, including family responsibilities and gendered forms of transnational repression, as well as the challenges confronting young activists who seek to build their own futures while also responding to community responsibilities.

Participants explored how community organisations, NGOs and international partners can provide earlier and more effective support to prevent exhaustion, strengthen intergenerational cooperation and ensure that care, responsibility and leadership are shared across advocacy movements.

JPTi values the opportunity to have contributed to this important discussion and remains committed to engagement with partners working for the protection of human rights defenders, the prevention of reprisals, accountability for grave violations and the strengthening of international solidarity among affected communities.

Full video streams of the Forum are available on DUQ TV:https://www.youtube.com/@DUQ.TV1112/streams

More information about the Third International Uyghur Forum 2026 is available here:https://internationaluyghurforum.org/iuf-2026-2/

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