January 12, 2020 Ambassador Samuel D. Brownback Office of International Religious Freedom U.S. Department of State 2201 C St., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20520 Dear Ambassador Brownback: On behalf of the Uyghur Human Rights Project I wish to extend my sincere gratitude for the work you have done as the Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom. I wish to thank you for being one of the strongest advocates for the cause of human rights for the Uyghur people in the Administration over the past four years. As the scale of the crimes against humanity happening in East Turkistan became cle ..read more

Blog post by Omer Kanat, UHRP Executive Director– 2 min read In March, UHRP thanked Senator Rubio (R) and Representative McGovern (D) for introducing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in the Senate (S.3471) and the House (H.R.6210). As I said then, for companies to continue business as usual would be a green light for China’s atrocities.  UHRP strongly endorses this legislation and calls on governments around the world to apply joint pressure on the Chinese government to end its human-rights crimes against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims.  Contact your Senators to urge the ..read more

Below is the transcript of UHRP Director Omer Kanat’s remarks at the launch of UHRP’s new report on the systematic destruction of mosques in East Turkestan.  The event also featured remarks by the report’s main researcher and writer Bahram Sintash, NED President Carl Gershman, and commentary by Elise Anderson and RFA Uyghur Service Director Alim Seytoff.  The entire event can be viewed on the video posted below. October 29, 2019 National Endowment for Democracy I want to thank the National Endowment for Democracy for co-hosting this event and for supporting UHRP’s human-rights docume ..read more

A speech delivered by Zubayra Shamseden of UHRP at the 2019 annual ‘Keep Taiwan Free’ event in New York on September 7, 2019 Dear Jenny and other organizers of this great event. I am honored to be here today to join you and support you to ‘Keep Taiwan Free’ from the Chinese Communist government’s totalitarian regime. Taiwan is currently a free and democratic state. It is a beacon of hope for those inside mainland China under the dictatorial regime of Xi Jinping. It is a society where freedom of expression without persecution, detention, torture, and disappearance is possible. It is a version ..read more

Henryk Szadziewski, Senior Researcher, Uyghur Human Rights Project The accounts of the ‘re-education’ regime that people are undergoing in those camps are harrowing…I imagine my lovely, principled, dedicated colleague there, and I feel incredibly angry. Dr. Rachel Harris, University of London The disappearance of Dr. Rahile Dawut, a leading expert on Uyghur folklore and traditions at Xinjiang University, into an internment camp around December 2017 shocked her academic peers outside of China as the above quote notes. Dr. Rahile worked and is friends with several overseas scholars focused on Uy ..read more

April 6, 2019 “I want to applaud the Uyghur Human Rights Project for organizing this rally to stand against the detention of a million or more Uyghurs in political education camps in China.  I applaud your efforts and will continue to work with you to end the horrific abuses being committed by the Chinese government and Communist Party. We must all continue to speak with one voice on this issue. The Chinese government’s creation of a vast system of internment and surveillance cannot be tolerated in the 21st century. As a U.S. Senator, I promise to continue shining a light on China’s bruta ..read more

April 6, 2019 Good afternoon and thanks to all of you for the invitation to join you today. Although I am unable to be with you in person, I want you to know that I am with you in spirit and I stand in solidarity with your struggle on behalf of the rights and freedom of the Uyghur people. That is why I was an original cosponsor of both bills that you are here to support: The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act (H.R. 649 and S. 178) and the Uighur Intervention and Global Humanitarian Unified Response (UIGHUR) Act of 2019 (H.R. 1025). For too long the U.S. government has talked the talk but not walke ..read more

April 6, 2019 Thank you to the Uyghur Human Rights Project for organizing this rally to highlight and condemn the internment of over a million or more Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in political education camps in China What is happing to Uyghurs in China today is unconscionable – it should be treated and declared as a crime against humanity. Human rights leaders here in the U.S. and around the globe cannot be silent when the Chinese government is constructing a high-tech police state whose goal is the forced assimilation of Uyghurs and the “sinicization” of religious beliefs and culture. Su ..read more

April 6, 2019 Congressman Tom Suozzi stands with the Uyghurs! He has sponsored legislation to help shed light on the persecution of the Uyghurs and he will continue to speak out on their behalf. Congressman Suozzi says “The Chinese government’s authoritarian state uses re-education camps and surveillance methods that it pioneered in Tibet to target Uyghurs in Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has created a surveillance state unlike anything the world has seen. The Chinese Communist Party’s campaign to destroy the cultural and religious identities of ethnic minorities requires more th ..read more

April 6, 2019 Dear friends of the Uyghur community: Thank you so much for inviting me to be with you today. I am sorry that I am not able to attend, but please know that I stand with you in support of the Uyghur people. Human rights violations of any kind are unacceptable, and the treatment of the Uyghur people by the Chinese government is no exception. State-sponsored violence and “re-education” camps that suspend civil and religious liberties have no place in East Turkestan or anywhere in the world. The Uyghur people have suffered for too long under the Chinese government, and it is past tim ..read more