Dolkun Isa is President of the World Uyghur Congress.
As a young adult, Isa became a champion for democracy and Uyghur rights and development. In 1988, he was a student-leader of the pro-democracy demonstrations in East Turkestan. He also founded the Students’ Science and Culture Union at his university and worked on programs to eliminate illiteracy and to promote science for Uyghurs.
Due to his activism, Isa became the target of intense persecution from the Chinese government, a reality that forced him to flee China in 1994. Since resettling in Europe, he has dedicated his life to advocating for the rights of the Uyghur people, including at the United Nations, the institutions of the European Union and in individual states.
After having his name leaked to the CCP by the UN in 2012, Isa’s entire family was retaliated against. His two brothers were sentenced to long prison terms and his mother was sent to a camp, where she later died in 2018. Despite this, Isa continues to advocate for the rights of the Uyghur people and to put an end to the ongoing genocide.
In 2022, Isa published “China Freedom Trap,” detailing his experiences as a Uyghur activist and political figure in the West and the subsequent barriers he’s faced as a result of China’s global influence.
Isa has earned global recognition for his activism, winning the 2016 Human Rights Award from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and the World Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy in 2019.