The Uyghur Reader: Stories We’re Following (Issue 13)

Uyghur Reader 13

Issue 13: November 13–26, 2025

Welcome to the thirteenth issue of the Uyghur Reader, a biweekly content roundup curated by the staff of the Uyghur Human Rights Project.

Each issue features carefully selected articles, reports, and publications from media outlets, academic institutions, NGOs, and government sources. While we highlight urgent human rights issues, we also aim to reflect the breadth of the Uyghur experience, including politics, economics, history, and culture.

🧠 This week’s selections come from Director of Research Henryk Szadziewski, Associate Director for Research and Advocacy Peter Irwin, and Chinese Outreach Coordinator Zubayra Shamseden. 

📌 China has significantly expanded state radio broadcasts in Tibetan and Uyghur as U.S.-funded outlets like Radio Free Asia have gone off air, according to data for the High Frequency Coordination Conference. Beijing is moving quickly to fill the information gap left by declining independent media voices in Tibet and the Uyghur Region. Lisa Bongiovanni, “China boosts radio coverage in Tibet and Xinjiang as US-backed voices fade,” AsiaNews, November 24.

📌 Sydney Lang writes Australia’s booming solar-panel uptake comes at a hidden cost in that many of the panels are made with polysilicon sourced from East Turkistan. Ramila Chanisheff of the Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association told SBS News, “We know that solar is one of the biggest industries complicit in Uyghur forced labour.” As such, Australia’s clean-energy transition risks being built on the backs of persecuted Uyghur workers. “‘You don’t have the freedom to leave’: The human cost of Australia’s solar boom,” November 23. Podcast, “Solar panels save the planet – until they don’t.”

📌 Laura Murphy describes to Madeleine Spence of The Sunday Times (UK) how her research into the forced labour of Uyghurs was blocked by Sheffield Hallam University after pressure from Chinese authorities, revealing through leaked emails that the university prioritized political and financial concerns over academic freedom. She says the university even appeared to signal compliance to China’s state security services, leaving her “angry and confused and dismayed.” “She stood up to China. Now she’s exposing how her university caved in,” November 23.

📌 Nithin Coca, writing for Coda Story, looks at China as a notable exception to the global climate movement’s focus on the human costs of climate inaction and calls for climate justice. Coca notes that China’s “enormous green energy industrial complex” is largely located in the Uyghur Region and Tibet, and that when approaching major global climate and environmental civil society organizations about this problem, many were “hesitant or unwilling to speak critically about China and completely silent when it comes to Uyghur and Tibetan human rights.” “China’s green energy miracle and a conspiracy of silence,” November 21.

📌 Satellite imagery shows China rapidly expanding its Lop Nur nuclear test site in the Uyghur Region, adding new tunnels, deep vertical shafts, and upgraded command facilities, just as renewed U.S. talk of nuclear testing heightens global tensions. Analysts say the buildup fits Beijing’s push to modernize its arsenal, and geospatial expert Renny Babiarz describes the changes as a “dramatic expansion” of China’s testing capacity. China denies any breach of test-ban norms, but its growing opacity and refusal to engage in arms-control talks deepen international concern. Cate Cadell, “China rapidly expands nuclear test site as Trump revives Cold War tension,” The Washington Post, November 17.

📌 For the Financial Times, Amy Kazmin reports how China’s tomato paste exports to Italy have collapsed, leaving the Uyghur Region with a vast surplus after allegations of forced Uyghur labor and mislabeled products sparked European outrage. State-backed producers, including the paramilitary Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, or Bingtuan, have had to sharply cut output as Italian buyers reject imports. “China left with tomato paste mountain as sales to Italy collapse,” November 15.

📌 Human Rights Watch’s new report documents how Türkiye, once a key refuge for the Uyghur diaspora, has increasingly endangered Uyghurs through arbitrary “restriction codes” that cancel residency, block citizenship, and funnel people into deportation centers. Many Uyghurs now live in fear, unable to leave their homes, as Turkish authorities label them “security threats” without evidence and pressure detainees into signing “voluntary return” forms that can lead to refoulement. Courts have upheld deportation orders using vague national security claims, ignoring clear risks of torture and persecution if Uyghurs are sent back to China. The report warns that Türkiye’s escalating crackdown, driven by shifting politics and closer ties with Beijing, has eroded legal protections and made the country unsafe for Uyghurs seeking refuge. “Protected No More Uyghurs in Türkiye,” November 12. 

📢  Event announcement

December 9, 2025, 3:00–4:00 p.m. EST, Three Years of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act: Assessing the Impact, Human Rights Initiative along with the Coalition to End Forced Labor in the Uyghur Region.

  • Dr. Laura Murphy will discuss her research on how the UFLPA has shaped trade enforcement and global forced-labor laws. Following the discussion, Jewher Ilham (Worker Rights Consortium), Anasuya Syam (The Human Trafficking Legal Center), and Thea Lee, former Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs in the Department of Labor, will continue the conversation with Andrew Friedman, Director of the CSIS Human Rights Initiative, moderating.

📖  Keep reading