UHRP Marks International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances
August 29, 12:00 p.m. EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact: Omer Kanat +1 (202) 790-1795, Peter Irwin +1 (646) 906-7722
The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) marks the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances and calls for information on the fate, whereabouts, and health conditions of disappeared Uyghurs like Ilham Tohti and Rahile Dawut.
“Enforced disappearance is especially cruel because of the uncertainty it inflicts—the torment of not knowing where someone is, or even if they are alive,” said UHRP Executive Director Omer Kanat. “The international community must publicly press for the release of detained Uyghurs by name, and work with international partners to hold Beijing accountable.”
UHRP has documented the Chinese government’s use of enforced disappearances against Uyghurs for many years. A 2021 UHRP report by Abdullah Qazanchi and Abduweli Ayup recorded at least 312 Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim cultural and intellectual leaders who have been disappeared, detained, or imprisoned. The report demonstrates how the Chinese government targets intellectuals as part of a broader campaign to eradicate Uyghur identity and culture.
UHRP Associate Director for Research and Advocacy Peter Irwin highlighted the Chinese government’s targeted repression of Uyghur cultural and religious leaders, including intellectuals, scholars, artists, and imams in his testimony at the Uyghur Tribunal in 2021.
Additional UHRP research has documented the detention and disappearance of intellectuals. A 2018 report by UHRP Research Director Henryk Szadziewski profiled detained intellectuals and a 2019 update added more than 100 cases, including numerous deaths in detention.
At a recent UHRP event, Jewher Ilham, daughter of imprisoned Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti, and Akida Polat, daughter of imprisoned Uyghur ethnographer Rahile Dawut, shared not just the deep pain of family separation, but also their remarkable resilience in fighting for their parents’ release.
The International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances is a powerful reminder: governments and civil society worldwide must condemn China’s systematic use of enforced disappearance and publicly call for the release of disappeared Uyghurs.