Uyghur PEN Centre

The Uyghur PEN Centre

The Uyghur PEN Centre was formally accepted as a member of PEN International during the Assembly of Delegates of the 74th International PEN World Congress on 6th October 2008 in Bogota, Colombia. Uyghur PEN Centre is dedicated to promoting freedom of expression, thought and information for all. It stands in solidarity with writers everywhere who have been forced into silence by censorship. Uyghur PEN’s main activities are to protect and raise awareness of arrested Uyghur writers, poets, journalists and artistsin the Uyghur homeland of East Turkistan (Xinjiang, China). Since 2017, many western media have reported that more than a million Uyghurs are detained in China’s internment camps in East Turkistan (Xinjiang / China) including numerous Uyghur academics, writers, journalists, artists and public figures. China has enforced a communication blockade for the Uyghurs between home and abroad, and foreign reporters have been banned from reporting from the region.

Uyghur PEN Centre Online Revitalisation Project:

The current situation of the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China is critical and deteriorating. Uyghur writers, poets, academics and artists who have tried to exercise their basic rights to freedom of expression have become primary targets and victims of China’s Xi Jinping’s genocidal policies in the region. The Uyghur PEN Centre, a subordinate diaspora PEN Centre of the PEN International family, has encountered many hurdles over the past 10 years like many other exile writers, however we are determined to continue our work and give our best efforts to maintain our centre. The Uyghur PEN Centre is one of the only Uyghur organisations that participate in international organisation, we campaign to raise awareness of the current Uyghur crisis.
We are looking forward to the fast approaching Centenary of PEN International and we would like to celebrate this special occasion by revitalising our PEN Centre as a fresh and dynamic presence among the PEN Family. All your collaboration and support for our work is hugely appreciated.

Director: Aziz Isa Elkun

Contact: penuyghur@gmail.com

Web: www.uyghurpen.org