Date: Friday, March 7, 2025
Time: 10:00–11:00 a.m. EDT
Watch live on UHRP’s LinkedIn, Facebook, or YouTube pages
(Online Chinese language event)

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

UHRP draws attention to the difficult situation faced by Uyghur, Kazakh 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. Likewise, Tibetan women in Tibet, and Chinese women in China also face horrific rights abuses under the Chinese communist regime. 

Today, let’s hear voices of exiled Uyghur, Tibetan, Chinese women, who will shed a light on the Chinese government’s atrocious crimes against women. 

Speakers:

Cynthia Sun is a researcher at the Falun Dafa Information Center. Her research focuses on persecution, transnational repression, and policy recommendations. Before joining Falun Dafa Information Center, Cynthia worked as a Research Affiliate for database synthesization at Innovations for Peace and Development. She also has experience as a research intern at the Edward A. Clark Center for Australian & New Zealand Studies. Cynthia holds a B.A. in International Relations and a Business Minor, from the University of Texas.

Nuria Zyden is an Uyghur activist, founder, and executive director of the Irish Uyghur Cultural Association. Born and raised in Kashgar, she has been living in Ireland for over a decade. With more than ten years of leadership experience in international corporations, Nuria is deeply committed to preserving Uyghur culture and language, as well as raising global awareness about the ongoing Uyghur genocide. She holds a master’s degree in business financial risk management from Ulster University and a Level 9 Certification in Workforce Management. Leveraging her professional expertise and personal dedication, Nuria tirelessly advocates for human rights, promotes cross-cultural understanding, and actively supports the Uyghur community in Ireland.

Phenthok is a researcher and she was Born in Shigatse, Tibet. After graduating from the local elementary school, she was sent to the Tibetan middle school and high school in mainland China, then she graduated from the Department of Sociology of Xiamen University. From 2011 to 2012, she studied at Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Seda for one year. After fleeing to India in 2013, she worked as a reporter and broadcaster in the Chinese department of the Voice of Tibet in Norway for five years. She is currently a researcher at the Tibet Policy Research Center, and her research topics are the CCP policies on Tibetan Buddhism, the freedom of belief in Tibet, and the ethnic assimilation policy. She has published academic papers at the Reincarnation Seminar held by the National Palace Museum in Taiwan, the 16th International Tibetan Studies Conference held in Prague, Czech Republic, and the International Seminar on Mongolia and Tibet held at the University of Tokyo, Japan, and published articles in newspapers and media such as Apple Daily, Independent Review, Reporter, Beijing Spring, Tibet Times, and Voice of Tibet, analyzing the CCP’s human rights persecution and social control in Tibet.

Sophie Luo is a Chinese activist and human rights defender, and the wife of Ding Jiaxi, a prominent human rights activist and lawyer who has been detained since December 2019 by the Chinese government. She is also the founder and CEO of the NGO Alliance for Citizens Rights. She has been speaking up for her husband and other persecuted human rights defenders in China for over 12 years, calling for social justice, anti-authoritarian, freedom, democracy, and rule of law.

Moderator: Andréa Worden

Andréa Worden is a writer, advocate, translator, and educator who’s focused on human rights in China in different capacities over her career. She has held various positions at the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and has worked at, or consulted for, the International Campaign for Tibet, Asia Catalyst, UHRP and other small NGOs focused on China and its regions.