Empowering the Youth for Democracy, Peace and Justice
Date: Thursday, May 25, 2023
Time: (Washington, DC 09:30 am), (Zurich, 03:30 pm), (New Delhi,07:00pm), (UK, 02:30 pm)
Event Type: Virtual (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter)
The panelists, representing Uyghur, Southern Mongolian, Tibetan, Hong Kong, and Chinese communities, will discuss the critical role that young people can play in advocating for democracy, peace and justice. With a particular focus on the challenges faced by their respective communities under the policies of the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party, the panelists will share their experiences and insights into the importance of youth activism, advocacy and leadership, and how the youth can work together on the ongoing struggle for democracy, human rights and religious freedom in China. This session seeks to inspire and empower young people to become agents of change in their communities, and to encourage greater awareness and understanding of the struggles faced by repressed and marginalized communities in China.
Participants:
| Anna Kwok Executive Director, Hong Kong Democracy Council |
Muetter Iliqud Project Researcher at Uyghur, Transitional Justice Database (UTJD) |
| Pema Doma Executive Director, Students for Free Tibet |
Temulun Togochog Southern Mongolian Activist |
| Yuki Zhang Research Fellow, Citizen Power Initiatives for China |
| Moderator: Sakina Batt (Host, Freedom Hour, AFI) |
Streaming Links:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AsiaFreedomInstitute/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AsiaFreedomInstitute/streams
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AsiaFreedomInst
BIOGRAPHIES OF PARTICIPANTS
Anna Kwok
Anna Kwok is the Executive Director at Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC), where she champions Hong Kongers’ fight for freedom and democracy through policy advocacy, diaspora empowerment, and research. During the 2019 movement, Anna spearheaded a global newspaper ad campaign ahead of the G20 Summit, which gathered citywide support to bring on-the-ground Hong Kongers’ voices to the international stage. Prior to her work in political activism, Anna was a filmmaker specializing in production design with a philosophical approach. She received her B.S. in Media, Culture and Communication with a double major in Philosophy at the New York University, where she founded the NYU Hong Kong Student Advocacy Group to organize advocacy events around New York City.
Muetter Iliqud
Muetter Iliqud is a project researcher at the Uyghur Transitional Justice Database (UTJD), based in Norway. The UTJD is an ongoing project that focuses on the registration of the disappeared and extrajudicially interned Uyghurs in East Turkistan. The UTJD project was founded by the Norwegian Uyghur Committee (NUC) in 2018; Muetter has served as the head of communications for the NUC, and as a project researcher for the UTJD since 2020. Muetter’s recent work at the UTJD has included testimony collection, data gathering, and data analysis, as well as authoring books and reports about the current Uyghur Genocide. Muetter is a master’s student in International Human Rights Law at the Kent Law School, the University of Kent.
Pema Doma
Pema began her social justice journey in 2010 as a youth community organizer with Boston Mobilization working in solidarity for racial, economic and environmental justice campaigns. In 2014, Pema spent 7 months teaching English at the Tibetan Children’s Village Vocational Training Center in Selaqui, India, where she enjoyed getting to know her students and watching cricket. Pema’s first official role within the Tibetan Freedom Movement was in 2016 as a Campaigns Intern for SFT International in New York.
After her internship, Pema co-founded an SFT chapter at her university and served as the chapter’s first President. As an undergraduate student, Pema also interned with US Congressman Jim McGovern and US Senator Elizabeth Warren. In 2019, Pema officially rejoined the SFT International team as the USA Grassroots Coordinator! Pema is currently a Master’s candidate at American University studying Economics. In addition to her work with SFT, Pema also spends her time advocating for a Tibetan flag emoji #inserttibetanflag and has an appreciation for burritos and the Boston Celtics.
Temulun Togochog
Ms. Temulun Togochog is an American-born Southern Mongolian. Currently, she is a high school student at the LaGuardia School of Performing Arts in New York City. As a young activist, Ms. Togochog has been actively involved in the promotion and protection of the rights and freedom of six million Southern Mongolians under the Chinese colonial occupation. Recently, Ms. Togochog spoke before the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and urged the international community to hold China accountable for its ongoing cultural genocide in Southern Mongolia. Ms. Togochog speaks Mongolian, French and English.
Yuki Zhang
Research Fellow, Citizen Power Initiatives for China (Yuki Zhang is a third-year law student at Georgetown Law. She has been an activist in the fight for human rights, social, and gender equality in China. Zhang pursued her master’s degree in Human Rights Studies at Columbia University in New York, where she specialized in gender discrimination against Chinese females. During law school, Zhang dedicated her time to working as a student editor at the Journal of Gender and the Law at Georgetown. Having been a long-term social network activist, Zhang actively participated in White Paper Revolution demonstrations in Washington, D.C.).
Sakina Batt
Sakina Batt is a producer at Meeting Point, a leading audio visual production house and buying agency in Nepal. She directs promotional videos, does voice overs, writes scripts and copywriting for the videos in Meeting Point. Sakina worked for Tibet TV at the Central Tibetan Administration in India for four years (2017-2021) where she served as a news presenter and an interview host. She also made short documentaries for the channel, wrote scripts, conducted research, edited videos and anchored the show In Conversation with Tibet TV. Sakina has a Masters in Mass Communication from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and a bachelors from Delhi University.
