Staff
Executive Director
Omer Kanat
Omer Kanat is a Uyghur human rights advocate and the Executive Director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP). He co-founded UHRP in 2003 and the World Uyghur Congress in 2004. He is a member of the Board of Directors and Steering Committee of the International Religious Freedom Summit (IRF Summit), and serves as a Senior Advisor to the World Uyghur Congress. Mr. Kanat previously served as a World Uyghur Congress Vice President, and as Chairman of its Executive Committee.
Mr. Kanat regularly meets with members of US Congress to brief them on Uyghur human rights and policy responses, and has testified before the Senate Human Rights Caucus and the U.S. Atrocity Early Warning Task Force. He has published op-eds for media outlets including EU Observer, The Diplomat, The Globe Post, The Geopolitics, Bangkok Post, Hong Kong Free Press, Malaysiakini, and Tempo (Indonesia). His comments and interviews have been featured by PBS NewsHour, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy, Politico, and Radio Free Asia, among others. His public speaking includes remarks at universities, think tanks, faith-based groups, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the National Endowment for Democracy.
Before his work as a human rights advocate, he worked for two decades as a broadcast journalist. From 1999 to 2009 Mr. Kanat was Senior Editor at Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur Service, where he covered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, edited Uyghur-language news, conducted exclusive interviews with prominent figures in Inner Asia, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and reported on breaking news around the world. Prior to his work at Radio Free Asia, he was Senior Editor at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service.
Outreach Specialist
Tashken Davlet
Mr. Tashken Davlet is the Outreach Specialist at the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP). He serves as an editor and manager for the Chinese-language UHRP website, writes commentary for the UHRP “Insights” series, supports UHRP events, and conducts outreach and advocacy in the Chinese-speaking world.
His past work experience mostly covers the fields of media and nonprofit organizations, with skills in journalism, program producing, multimedia editing, event planning, and translation. He is proficient in Mandarin and also speaks Taiwanese Hokkien. He has a Bachelor's degree from National Tsing Hua University (國立清華大學), majoring in Sociology and minoring in Philosophy.
Email: tdavlet@uhrp.org
Director of Global Advocacy
Louisa Greve
Ms. Louisa Greve is Director of Global Advocacy for the Uyghur Human Rights Project. At UHRP, she is responsible for shaping strategies to end complicity and increase leverage to end human rights crimes against Uyghurs, and to assist victims and secondary survivors. She focuses on government policy and sanctions enforcement, corporate accountability, and ethics standard-setting by professional and industry bodies. She also leads coalition-building to mobilize civil society support around the world. Ms. Greve is the author of several book chapters on ethnic issues and human rights in China and co-author of several UHRP reports. She has testified before Congress and her commentary has been published in The Hill, The Independent (UK), Global Policy, Law & Liberty, Hong Kong Free Press, and Taiwan Sentinel, among other outlets. Previously, Ms. Greve was Vice President for Programs, and East Asia Director, at the National Endowment for Democracy. She has served on the Amnesty International USA Board of Directors, the Virginia Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and the International Advisory Committee of the Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China. She is Board Chair of Liberty's Promise. She has a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Cornell University and a Graduate Certificate from the Johns Hopkins (SAIS)-Nanjing University Center for Chinese-American Studies.
Associate Director for Research & Advocacy
Peter Irwin
Peter Irwin is Associate Director for Research and Advocacy at the Uyghur Human Rights Project. He directs the organization’s communication strategy across platforms and works with journalists to amplify research and advocacy globally. Peter leads UHRP’s advocacy at the United Nations and other multilateral organizations, and supports targeted engagement with diverse stakeholders, including governments and civil society. Peter also conducts and edits research for the general public, researchers, governments, and for submissions to UN bodies and government agencies.
Peter regularly offers commentary to leading media outlets on UHRP research, and has written original pieces for The Guardian, The Independent, Hong Kong Free Press and The Diplomat. Mr. Irwin is an MSc graduate of Human Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and former Program Manager and Spokesperson for the World Uyghur Congress.
Chinese Outreach Coordinator
Zubayra Shamseden
Ms. Zubayra Shamseden is the Chinese Outreach Coordinator at the Uyghur Human Rights Project. In this capacity, she leads UHRP’s outreach to Chinese-speaking communities through education, collaboration, connection, and delivering UHRP’s documentation regarding Uyghur repression in Chinese. Zubayra is also responsible for editing UHRP’s Chinese-language reports, statements, joint letters, and Insight pieces; coordinating contributions from outside authors to UHRP’s Chinese Insight section; organizing Chinese-language events; monitoring Chinese-language media developments; and maintaining UHRP’s Chinese social media, website, and mailing list. She also engages in research, translation, community support (especially for Uyghur youth), media interviews, speaking engagements, and writing op-eds. Her writings have been published by ChinaFile, The Diplomat, Bitter Winter, and the South China Morning Post, and she co-authored an academic paper published by Johns Hopkins University Press. As an Uyghur expert, she has contributed to books (McGill University Press), investigative reports (Outlaw Ocean), and supported survivors of Chinese concentration camps.
Ms. Shamseden was a 2016–2018 Fellow at the Center for Women, Faith & Leadership (CWFL) of the Institute for Global Engagement (IGE). She has a bachelor’s degree in Library and Information Science from East China Normal University (华东师范大学), a certification in Chinese from the Industrial University of Xinjiang, a diploma in Russian language and literature from the State University of Eastern Kazakhstan (Восточно-Казахстанский Государственный Университет), and both a graduate diploma in Information Studies and a master’s degree in International Studies from the University of South Australia, where she focused on modern Uyghur human rights history. She is fluent in English, Uyghur, Chinese, Uzbek, and Russian, and has a working knowledge of Turkish.
Email: zshams@uhrp.org
Twitter: @UHRP_Chinese
Director of Research
Henryk Szadziewski
Email: hszad@uhrp.org
Twitter: @henrykszad
Program Assistant
Adaire Criner
Email: acriner@uhrp.org
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FEATURED VIDEO
Atrocities Against Women in East Turkistan: Uyghur Women and Religious Persecution
Watch UHRP's event marking International Women’s Day with a discussion highlighting ongoing atrocities against Uyghur and other Turkic women in East Turkistan.
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