Recent Posts

Rights Groups Demand Release of Uyghur Professor Ilham Tohti on Fifth Anniversary of Arrest
January 15, 2019
Ilham Tohti and his wife in a photo sent to RFA's Uyghur Service via WeChat on Jan 13, 2014, two days before his detention. RFA

Observers say Beijing’s rejection of his advice about policies in Xinjiang has furthered instability there.

Xinjiang Authorities Detain Uyghur Aspiring Professional Footballer in ‘Political Re-education Camp’
January 15, 2019
Erpat Ablekrem in an undated photo. Photo appears courtesy of Muyesser Abdulehet

His cousin says he was arrested for maintaining contact with family members who fled the region.

Five years after his arrest, the lessons China’s Ilham Tohti tried to teach are left unheeded
January 15, 2019
Ilham Tohti in France, February 2009. RFA

Ten years ago, it would have been difficult to anticipate how Uyghurs in China would manage under new Party leadership. Five years ago, two dozen police stormed into Ilham Tohti’s apartment, snatching him up in a matter of minutes. Nothing has been the same since.

In full: 5 years on, 132 scholars & 18 civil society groups urge China to release Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti
January 15, 2019
Ilham Tohti. Photo: Martin Ennals Award

 On the five year anniversary of the arrest of Uyghur professor Ilham Tohti, civil society is calling for China to grant his immediate release and to heed calls for the release of an untold number of Uyghur scholars currently detained.

Xinjiang to keep pressure on terrorism
January 15, 2019
Women dressed in colorful outfits perform at the 27th Silk Road Turpan Grape Festival in Turpan, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Sept 3, 2018. [Photo provided to Chinadaily.com.cn]

The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will maintain pressure against terrorist activities and make frequent terrorist attacks in the region a thing of the past, the chairman of the regional government said on Monday.

Fred Fredrikse: Assimilation for Uyghurs
January 15, 2019
The ancient Bezeklik Thousand Buddha caves in China's Xinjiang Province are the work of the Uyghur people.

The millisphere of Uyghurstan (population 8 million) is in the south of China's far western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and sits in the Tarim Basin (below sea level).  Uyghurstan is where China tested nuclear weapons from 1959 to 1996, and cancer rates there are one third higher than the Chinese average.

Uyghurs’ heartfelt message to the Malaysian people
January 14, 2019

 In October 2018, Malaysia released 11 Uyghur refugees to Turkey, after dropping immigration-related charges. This welcome decision marked the end of an arduous journey to freedom for the men. It also demonstrated Malaysia’s leadership in standing up for the rule of law, in the face of interference from China, which pressed strongly to have the men returned.

Opinion: The Strange Silence Over China's Muslim Crackdown
January 14, 2019
There have been protests in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in recent months calling on authorities to do more to free relatives held in China's Xinjiang region. RFE/RL

President Trump says trade talks between the United States and China have been, "going very well." The United States put $250 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese goods last year, to counter what it considers unfair trade practices and theft of U.S. technology.

Pakistan abruptly stopped calling out China's mass oppression of Muslims. Critics say Beijing bought its silence
January 14, 2019

Pakistan, China's largest economic ally in the Muslim world, abruptly stopped censuring Beijing over its unprecedented crackdown on Muslims.

'China is after us': Uighurs in Pakistan report intimidation
January 14, 2019
Muhammad Hassan Abdul Hameed from the Uighur community runs a restaurant along with his brother in Rawalpindi's China Market [Saiyna Bashir/Al Jazeera]

Members of Uighur Muslim community say Islamabad is not fighting for their rights as it keeps close ties with China.

We can’t keep ignoring human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims
January 14, 2019

As an Uighur Muslim myself, it feels like too few know or care about our plight. But with around 1 million of us detained in camps, now is not the time for inaction

UAA & UHRP Reports

A Laboratory for Repression: China's Crimes Against Humanity in the Uyghur Homeland
Dec 12, 2018

The Chinese Communist Party poses a fundamental threat to civilized values and a rules-based international order. The Party’s massive crackdown in 2018 is breathtaking, encompassing independent intellectuals, civil society, and religious believers of all kinds, including Christians, Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetan Buddhists, Chinese Buddhists, and Hui and Turkic Muslims across the length and breadth of China.

The Persecution of the Intellectuals in the Uyghur Region: Disappeared Forever?
Oct 22, 2018

A new report from the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) details how 231 intellectuals have been forcibly disappeared, interned in political indoctrination camps, removed from their posts or imprisoned since April 2017. 

BRIEFING: China’s Unprecedented Campaign to Eradicate the Faith and Identity of the Uyghur People
Oct 3, 2018

Remarks at the International Religious Freedom Roundtable