Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Time: 10:00–11:00 a.m. EST

Watch live on UHRP’s Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube pages

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, join the Uyghur Human Rights Project for a discussion highlighting ongoing atrocities against Uyghur and other Turkic women in East Turkistan.

Uyghur and other Turkic women face multiple forms of discrimination and are subject to horrific human rights abuses on the basis of their ethnic identity, religion, and gender. UHRP’s recent report, Twenty Years for Learning the Quran: Uyghur Women and Religious Persecution, presents compelling evidence of the systematic oppression faced by Uyghur women, revealing stark persecution on the basis of religion.

Our event will feature Abduweli Ayup, a linguist, former Uyghur political prisoner and one of the authors of the above report; Hena Zuberi, Director of Advocacy for Justice For All; and Elfidar Iltebir, President of the Uyghur American Association. The event will be moderated by Dr. Szadziewski, Director of Research at UHRP and contributor to the above report.

Speakers:

Abduweli Ayup is a writer, journalist and a linguist specializing in Uyghur language education. Born in Kashgar, he was a university lecturer and opened language schools and kindergartens in Ürümchi and Kashgar in 2011. He was arrested in August 2013 and detained for 15 months on political charges. In exile since 2015, he founded Uyghur Hjelp in 2016. He has interviewed former detainees, translated leaked documents, and documented the plight of Uyghurs in diaspora. He is the author of seven books in Uyghur and English, and co-author and contributor to several UHRP reports.

Hena Zuberi is the Director of Advocacy for Justice For All, a human rights organization, where she oversees Justice For All’s campaigns. Hena also runs advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill to stop the Rohingya and Uyghur genocide, and the persecution of Indian Muslims and Kashmiris. A journalist who loves to tell stories about her community, she anchors the daily Muslim News and hosts the Justice For All Now Show, a talk show on peace and justice on Muslim Network TV. For over a decade, she has written for and run Muslimmatters, an online Islamic magazine read the world over, as the Editor in Chief. Hena has worked as a television news reporter and producer for CNBC Asia and World Television News (now AP News).

Elfidar Iltebir, President of the Uyghur American Association (UAA), immigrated to the US in 2000 from Ürümchi, East Turkistan. With a B.A. in Marketing from George Mason University, she boasts over two decades of marketing and project management experience. Being the daughter of a notable Uyghur writer and journalist, she passionately advocates for Uyghur rights, delivering crucial insights at civil society groups, UN events and US government committees. Additionally, she raises awareness in US universities and faith institutions.

Moderator: Henryk Szadziewski is Director of Research at the Uyghur Human Rights Project. He leads original research projects, supervising a diverse team of researcher writers. Henryk presents research findings to influential government, NGO, and academic bodies and collaborates with organizations to strategically align and expand the scope of human rights research on Uyghurs. Henryk amplifies the visibility and credibility of research conducted at the Uyghur Human Rights Project through proactive stakeholder engagement and relationship building. He creates influential and innovative content by authoring an array of reports, research papers, and opinion articles. Henryk has extensive experience in providing expert commentary to top-tier print and broadcast media outlets.