He previously served as General Secretary and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the congress, respectively, and has spoken on behalf of the rights of the Uyghurs which make up the majority population in that region.
In 1988, when he was studying at Xinjiang University, he led the student demonstration on 15 June 1988 in Ürümqi against alleged discrimination and unfair treatment of Uyghurs and was expelled from the school in the same year.
In November 1996, he played an important role in establishing the World Uyghur Youth Congress in Germany and served as Executive Chairman and President.
In 1984 he was admitted by the Faculty of Physics of Xinjiang University and studied there until his dismissal in early 1988, just a half-year before he was to graduate, due to his human rights activities for minorities.
In 1994, he left the country due to a claimed detention threat and studied in Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey and received a master's degree in Politics and Sociology.
There were reports in Taiwanese media in July 2009 that Dolkun had secretly entered the country in the lead-up to the World Games which were hosted in the southern city of Kaohsiung.
Premier Wu Den-yih stated that if Dolkun or Kadeer stepped down from their respective positions in the World Uyghur Congress as secretary-general and president, the ban would be lifted.
[19] Dolkun was denied entry into the Republic of Korea and was briefly detained in September 2009[20][21] while preparing to attend the World Forum for Democratization in Asia.
[27] The Indian government, in a U-turn from its earlier stance, later withdrew Dolkun's visa on 25 April 2016, a day after China raised objections to India.
[33] On 26 July 2017, Dolkun was approached by 15-20 plainclothes members of the Divisione Investigazioni Generali e Operazioni Speciali (DIGOS) while walking with colleagues to the Italian Senate.
"All the above actions seriously violates relevant rules and regulations of the United Nations," the letter said, urging the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations "to uphold the authority of the UN Charter and withdraw the consultative status of STP".
[37] Kelley Currie, the United States representative to the UN for economic and social affairs, accused Beijing of preventing the exiled Uighur activist Dolkun Isa from entering UN headquarters in New York to speak at a forum on indigenous rights in February 2018.
The United States sprung to Dolkun's defense, saying China was seeking to retaliate against an irritating advocate who has shed light on political repression against the Uighurs.
[39] Although Gün did not immediately report the incident to the World Uyghur Congress and kept it hidden from other activists for years, she later came forward, expressing her reluctance to tarnish the reputation of the organization's leader.
[39] In response to the allegations, Isa made a public apology for his actions and impact on others on X, stating, "I have a duty to admit serious errors of judgement, for which I apologise without reservation.