Uyghur Human Rights Project

10/14/2026

🌏 As Secretary of State Marco Rubio prepares to visit Uzbekistan, the U.S. has an important opportunity to stand up for Uyghurs facing Beijing's transnational repression in Central Asia.

More than 400,000 Uyghurs live across Central Asia, where many face pressure to remain silent, restrictions on their cultural identity, and the threat of forced return to China. U.S. diplomacy can play a critical role in protecting these vulnerable communities.

In a new op-ed for The Diplomat, UHRP Executive Director Omer Kanat calls on Secretary Rubio to press Central Asian governments to protect Uyghur refugees, resist Beijing's coercion, and safeguard Uyghur cultural and human rights.

📰 Read the full op-ed:

By pressing Central Asian governments to protect Uyghurs and resist Beijing’s coercion, Secretary Rubio can demonstrate that America’s moral leadership still matters.

10/01/2026

While China celebrates October 1 as National Day, Uyghurs worldwide remember it as a day of dispossession and grief.

On the 77th anniversary of the CCP's takeover of East Turkistan,
Uyghur Human Rights Project calls on governments, international institutions, and civil society to reject propaganda and hold China accountable for its ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity against the Uyghur people.

“From the very beginning, the so-called autonomy promised to Uyghurs was an illusion,” said UHRP's Omer Kanat. “What Beijing calls autonomy is a roadmap for occupation and genocide.”

Read more 👇

For immediate releaseOctober 1, 2026, 12:00 p.m. EDTContact: Omer Kanat, +1 (202) 790-1795 On the 71st anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s proclamation of the “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,” the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) calls on governments, international institutions, ...

10/01/2026

Last week, UHRP was honored to stand with the Tibetan Youth Congress in Washington, D.C., to protest Xi Jinping’s state visit.

UHRP Executive Director Omer Kanat spoke about the shared struggle of Tibetans and Uyghurs, and the importance of standing together against the Chinese government’s efforts to eradicate our identities.

09/30/2026

Last week, UHRP joined Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, and supporters in Washington, D.C. to protest Xi Jinping’s visit and stand in solidarity with those who remain detained, imprisoned, and separated from their families.

During Xi’s state dinner, we marched to the White House, raising our voices to make clear: the CCP’s human rights violations cannot be ignored.

Thank you to everyone who marched and stood with us.

09/23/2026

✍️ New op-ed by UHRP Executive Director Omer Kanat for The Diplomat Magazine: When Xi Visits Washington, Trump Must Raise China’s ‘Ethnic Unity’ Law

Why are Uyghur Americans being forced to choose between exercising their freedoms here and protecting their relatives from retaliation in China?

Trump should raise the ethnic unity law directly with Xi and make clear that attempts to enforce it against people in the United States will not be tolerated.

Read the full article ⬇

Trump should raise the ethnic unity law directly with Xi and make clear that attempts to enforce it against people in the United States will not be tolerated.

09/21/2026

UHRP Executive Director Omer Kanat warns of the threat China’s new ethnic unity law poses to Uyghurs, particularly as Xi Jinping visits Washington this week.

Watch his remarks from last week’s “CCP Oppression in America and China” event alongside Bhuchung Tsering and Piero Tozzi ⬇️

09/16/2026

🗣️ Open letter to Xi Jinping ahead of DC visit 🗣️

UHRP joined 29 human rights organizations in calling upon Xi Jinping to commit to concrete actions ahead of his visit. Before he arrives in Washington next week, we urge him to:

➡️ Release prisoners of conscience
➡️ End transnational repression
➡️ Commit to legal reforms – including repealing the 2026 Ethnic Unity Law

Read the full open letter 👇

September 16, 2026 The following is an open letter, led by Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) and supported by UHRP and 28 other human rights organizations, calling upon Xi Jinping to take specific actions to improve the human rights situation ahead of his upcoming visit to Washington, DC. An ope...

09/03/2026

📰 Issue 31 of the is out!

Check out the biweekly roundup of essential reporting and analysis on the Uyghur crisis, curated by UHRP staff.

August 20, 2026 – September 2, 2026

🌾 Control Through Cotton Regulation: China’s new cotton regulation expands traceability requirements while deepening state oversight of Uyghur farmers’ land and labor, writes Asiye Uyghur for Global Voices. The article argues that land-transfer and labor policies can leave farmers without meaningful control over land and livelihoods, while greater supply-chain traceability alone does not address underlying economic coercion.

🚨 Decade of Impunity: Marking ten years since the escalation of China’s repression in the Uyghur Region, Human Rights Watch argues that the international response has weakened and urges stronger UN monitoring, forced-labor import bans, targeted sanctions, and protections for Uyghurs facing repression abroad.

💧 Reframing Karez: Proposed revisions to the Uyghur Region’s Karez Protection Regulation recast the traditional irrigation system as a symbol of Chinese national unity, writes Ablet Turdi of Uyghur Rights Monitor. Turdi argues the changes reflect a broader effort to preserve selected elements of Uyghur heritage while detaching them from Uyghur history and identity.

🇨🇦 Broken Promise: Canada has resettled fewer than 300 of the 10,000 Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples it promised to admit, writes Alex Bagdade for The McGill International Review. He argues delays leave Uyghurs vulnerable, calling for faster resettlement and stronger protection from transnational repression in Canada.

📢 Silencing Uyghur Voices: Chinese state media and pro-Beijing narratives are gaining ground in Türkiye, writes Gulchehra Hoja for Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The piece warns the trend risks marginalizing independent Uyghur voices and obscuring accounts of repression.

🔎 Read the full Uyghur Reader 🔎

Issue 31: August 20, 2026 – September 2, 2026  Welcome to the thirty-first issue of the Uyghur Reader, a biweekly content roundup curated by the staff of the Uyghur Human Rights Project. Each issue features carefully selected articles, reports, and publications from media outlets, academic instit...

08/21/2026

China's new Ethnic Unity Law codifies its brutal persecution of Uyghur religious believers into national law.

“Uyghurs cannot practice their faith freely, even at home, and under this law, they are told their religion must serve the Party or not exist at all.” – UHRP's Omer Kanat

Ahead of tomorrow's International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief, UHRP renews calls for international action condemning the law and raising the cases of Uyghur victims.

For immediate release August 21, 2022, 10:00 a.m. EDT Contact: Omer Kanat, +1 (202) 790-1795 On the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief, the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) highlights Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples who have been persecuted...

08/20/2026

📖 Issue 30 of the – A biweekly roundup of essential reporting and analysis on the Uyghur crisis, curated by UHRP staff.

August 6, 2026 – August 19, 2026

🇦🇺 Family Separation as Leverage: Chinese authorities are targeting Uyghur Australians who visit East Turkistan, pressuring some to collect information on others in the diaspora. Yalkun Uluyol for Human Rights Watch warns that this pressure has had a chilling effect on Uyghur community life in Australia.

✈️ Conditional Visits Home: Beijing increasingly allows some diaspora Uyghurs to visit relatives in East Turkistan, but they face interrogation and pressure to surveil others, write Adrian Zenz and Muetter Tohti for Foreign Policy. The authors argue China is exploiting family separation, using conditional visits to influence and silence Uyghurs abroad.

📚 Kalbinur Sidik Speaks Out: In her new memoir, Heart Full of Light, Kalbinur Sidik describes the atrocities she witnessed while teaching detainees in camps in East Turkistan and her journey to testify publicly despite pressure from Chinese authorities. "[A] wake-up call to a world that has not been listening," writes Ruth Ingram, reviewing the book for The Diplomat Magazine.

🐟 Forced-Labor Seafood: Tianyun, China’s premier fish farm in East Turkistan, has links to government-sponsored labor-transfer programs involving Uyghurs. A new report from The Outlaw Ocean Project (Ian Urbina) reveals seafood from Tianyun has entered global supply chains, including those supplying U.S. food-service giant Sysco.

🔎 Read the full Uyghur Reader to learn more ⬇

Issue 30: August 6, 2026 – August 19, 2026  Welcome to the thirtieth issue of the Uyghur Reader, a biweekly content roundup curated by the staff of the Uyghur Human Rights Project. Each issue features carefully selected articles, reports, and publications from media outlets, academic institutions...