Chinese Authorities Deliberately Severing Communication Between Uyghurs in China and Abroad, According to New UHRP Research

For immediate release
February 23, 2026, 9:00 a.m. EST
Contact: Henryk Szadziewski (+1-703-727-8495), Omer Kanat +1 (202) 790-1795

New research by the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) documents how the Chinese government has deliberately severed communication between Uyghurs abroad and their families in the Uyghur Region (East Turkistan) as part of a broader strategy of transnational repression.

The report, Fading Ties: Uyghur Family Separation as a Tool of Transnational Repression, finds that Chinese authorities have systematically disrupted family contact through surveillance, detention, intimidation, and retaliation, leaving many Uyghurs in the diaspora cut off from parents, siblings, and children for many years. The research finds that these methods inflict profound psychological harm on members of the diaspora and are designed to silence Uyghur advocacy.

The research combines interviews with Uyghur diaspora members, NGO documentation, and media reporting since 2024 to reveal how the Chinese government has transformed contact from a basic function of family life into an act that carries personal risk.

“This research shows, unequivocally, that the disruption of family ties is not a side effect of repression. It is a tool of repression itself, mobilized by the Chinese state to silence dissent overseas, disrupt family life, and complicate intergenerational cultural transmission,” said Dr. Henryk Szadziewski, the report author and Director of Research at UHRP. “Uyghur families are enduring sustained isolation, uncertainty, and fear because even attempting to communicate can expose relatives to punishment.”

The report details how communication between Uyghurs abroad and relatives in East Turkistan fell off dramatically after 2016, at the beginning of intensified Chinese state repression targeting Uyghurs, leaving diaspora members without contact for years. The consequences documented in the report include unresolved grief, fragmentation of cultural memory, and severe psychological stress tied to long-term uncertainty.

“The emotional toll of family separation is profound and ongoing as it affects not just individuals, but entire communities, and impacts the basic human right to family life,” said Omer Kanat, Executive Director of UHRP. “Governments must recognize communication loss as a form of transnational repression and take concrete steps to uphold the rights of Uyghurs, especially those who are their citizens and permanent residents.”

UHRP urges policymakers, human rights mechanisms, and civil society to integrate recognition of transnational repression into monitoring, reporting, and advocacy strategies, and to support efforts that restore contact, preserve family unity, and address the psychological harms borne by Uyghur diaspora communities.