Staff

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Executive Director

Omer Kanat

Omer Kanat is a Uyghur human rights advocate, Executive Director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), and Executive Committee Chairman of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC). He co-founded UHRP in 2003 and the World Uyghur Congress in 2004. He has served as Vice President of the World Uyghur Congress since 2006 and Chairman of the WUC Executive Committee since 2017.
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.  

Email: kanato@uhrp.org
Office Phone: +1.202.478.1901
Cell Phone: +1.202.790.1795
Twitter: @OmerKanat1
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Senior Researcher

Ben Carrdus

Ben Carrdus is Senior Researcher at the Uyghur Human Rights Project, returning to the position having first worked for the organization soon after its founding in 2004. Ben graduated in Modern Chinese Studies from the University of Leeds in 1999, since when he has worked for various human rights organizations including Index on Censorship, Amnesty International and the Tibet Information Network in London, and the International Campaign for Tibet in Washington, DC.
Email: bcarrdus@uhrp.org
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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
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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 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.

Email: lgreve@uhrp.org
Cell Phone: +1.571.882.4825
Twitter: @LouisaCGreve

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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.

Email: pirwin@uhrp.org
Cell Phone: +1-646-906-7722
Twitter: @PeterIrwin_
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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 outreaching to Chinese speaking communities through education, collaboration, connection and delivering UHRP’s documentation regarding Uyghur repressions in Chinese language. Zubayra is also responsible for editing translated UHRP’s Chinese version  reports, statements, joint letters, Chinese version insight pieces, coordinating contribution of outside authors to UHRP’s CN insight section,  organizing Chinese language events, monitoring Chinese language media news developments,  maintaining and updating UHRP’s Chinese social media, website and mailinglist. Zubayra also engages in research, translation, community support, particularly Uyghur Youth support, media interviews, speaking engagements and writing opinion pieces. Zubayra’s writings published by ChinaFile, Diplomat, Bitter Winter, South China Morning Post and a co-authored academic paper published by Johns Hopkins University Press. As an Uyghur expert, Zubayra also contributed in book publishing on Uyghurs (McGill University, Canada), producing investigative reports on Uyghurs’ condition in ET of other organizations (Outlaw Ocean etc.) and supporting Chinese concentration camp survivors in many capacities. 

Ms. Shamseden was a 2016-2018 Fellow at the Center for Women, Faith & Leadership (CWFL) of the Institute for Global Engagement's (IGE). She has a bachelor’s degree in Library and Information Science from East China Normal University (华东师范大学), in Shanghai; 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 a graduate diploma in Information Studies and a master’s degree in International Studies, both from the University of South Australia, where she focused on the modern history of Uyghur human rights. She is fluent in English, Uyghur, Chinese, Uzbek and Russian, and has a working knowledge of Turkish.

Email: zshams@uhrp.org
Twitter: @UHRP_Chinese
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Director of Research

Henryk Szadziewski

 
Dr. 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.
Henryk holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, a M.Sc. (Econ.) in Development Management from the University of Wales, and a B.A. (Hons) in Modern Chinese Studies from the University of Leeds. Dr. Szadziewski received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award to conduct research on the Belt and Road Initiative and has authored peer-reviewed and opinion articles for publications such as Political Geography, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Geoforum, Asian Ethnicity, Inner Asia, Asia Policy, Geographical Research,  Los Angeles Review of Books, The Conversation, Asia Times, OpenDemocracy, and OpenGlobalRights. He also serves as a Country of Origin Information Expert on Uyghurs for the Rights in Exile Programme.

Email: hszad@uhrp.org
Twitter: @henrykszad

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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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