Uyghurs launch silent campaign to demand more international attention on the persecution in Xinjiang

William Yang
Apr 26, 2020

Over the last few months, the COVID19 pandemic has been at the center of the global attention, as the number of confirmed cases continue to rise across the world. In order to redirect the global attention back to the plight of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, the Uyghur diaspora launched an international campaign called “#HearUyghurs” across social media platforms, hoping to keep the issue of China’s persecution of the Uyghurs in international spotlight.

As the coronavirus continues to spread across the world, overseas Uyghurs remain concerned about the situation in Xinjiang. On top of that, they worry as the pandemic continues to occupy the global spotlight, the international community will forget about the mass-internment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. To prevent the issue from slipping through the international agenda, dozens of Uyghurs around the world initiated a global campaign to raise awareness about China’s persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Arsland Hidayat, a Uyghur activist based in Australia, kicked off a campaign called “#HearUyghurs” on April 17. He called on overseas Uyghurs to upload video testimonies of their missing family members to social media platforms like Twitter, but the only difference is that these videos are silent.

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