Date: May 18, 2022

Time: 9:00–10:00 a.m. EDT / 3:00–4:00 p.m. CET

No registration required, watch on our UHRP pages here: Facebook, Twitter or YouTube

Join the Uyghur Human Rights Project, the Norwegian Uyghur Committee, and the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights for a virtual event examining the role of Norway in the Uyghur crisis. Speakers will discuss the work of their organizations in the Norwegian context and what must be done going forward to elevate the issue for the government.

Speakers:

Muetter Iliqud, Head of Communications, Norwegian Uyghur Committee

Muetter Iliqud is a project researcher at the Uyghur Transitional Justice Database (UTJD), based in Norway. The UTJD project is founded by the Norwegian Uyghur Committee (NUC) in 2018. NUC aims to hold the Chinese regime accountable for its gross human rights violations in East Turkistan, and to advocate justice for the victims. Muetter has served as the head of communications for the NUC for more than one year.

Muetter resides in Norway and received her first Bachelor’s degree in Political Economics, and a second degree in Comparative Politics, at the University of Bergen. She has been actively involved in Uyghur human rights advocacy related projects since 2018 and has primarily worked on advocacy on national level in Norway, cooperating with Norwegian human rights organizations, student groups, political parties, media, and government.

Gunnar Ekeløve-Slydal, Acting Secretary General, Norwegian Helsinki Committee

Gunnar Ekeløve-Slydal is part of the management group of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and works with issues related to international criminal law and human rights, fact-finding, minority issues and education. He has overall responsibility for following up the work in the NHC’s centres for International Justice and freedom of religion and belief. He coordinates the NGO Forum for Human Rights.

Jostein Hole Kobbeltvedt, Executive Director, Rafto Foundation for Human Rights

Jostein Hole Kobbeltvedt was appointed Executive Director of the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights in 2016. He has a comprehensive background as a human rights advocate, including from Norwegian Church Aid where has served as policy advisor and held several management positions.

Jessica Chiu, Hong Kong Activist

Jessica Chiu is an activist and Board Chair of the Hong Kong Committee in Norway.

Peter Irwin, Senior Program Officer, Uyghur Human Rights Project (moderator)

Peter Irwin is the Senior Program Officer for Advocacy and Communications at the Uyghur Human Rights Project. He is the former Program Manager and Spokesperson for the World Uyghur Congress, where he worked primarily as the UN representative for Geneva-based human rights mechanisms, as well as with national governments and civil society. As English-language spokesperson, he regularly offered commentary to media including Reuters, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, the Guardian, Deutsche Welle, among others, and has appeared on media outlets such as BBC News World, Al Jazeera and Reuters TV.