Uyghur Human Rights Project
AbbreviationUHRP
Formation2004 (2004)
TypeNon-Profit NGO
PurposePromoting human rights for Uyghurs.[1]
HeadquartersWashington, D.C., United States
Region served
International
Official languages
English, Uyghur, Mandarin Chinese
Executive Director
Omer Kanat
Websitewww.uhrp.org

The Uyghur Human Rights Project (Chinese: 维吾尔人权项目, Uyghur: ئۇيغۇر كىشىلىك ھوقۇق قۇرۇلۇشى; abbreviated UHRP) is a research-based advocacy organization located in Washington, D.C. that promotes human rights for Uyghurs. According to the UHRP, its main goal is "promoting human rights and democracy for Uyghurs and others living in East Turkistan" through research-based advocacy.

Due to challenges in collecting information regarding China, the group states that organizations focusing on the Uyghur crisis are especially important, in addition to organizations that focus on human rights more broadly.[1] The organization also hosts events, like panels of experts, to discuss the crisis facing the Uyghurs.[2]

History

Uyghur Human Rights Project was founded in 2004 by the Uyghur American Association, and have eight full-time staff.[1] The project was founded with a grant from the National Endowment for Democracy, and became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax-exempt organization in 2016.[3][4]

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo meets with Nury Turkel and Chinese dissidents in July 2020

Omer Kanat has been the organization's Executive Director since 2018. He previously served as the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) Vice President from 2006 to 2017, and has also been a WUC Executive Committee Chairman since 2017.[5] Co-founder Nury Turkel also serves as Board Chair,[6] and was appointed by the U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (2019-2022).[7]

The group also joined with fifty other organizations and experts in September 2020 to call on the UN Human Rights Council to appoint a Commission of Inquiry to investigate atrocity crimes against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim peoples.[8] In January 2022, the group wrote to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in support of the Open App Markets Act, arguing that the bill's sideloading protections will help Chinese citizens bypass censorship.[9]

UHRP maintains a bill tracker on Uyghur-related matters before the U.S. Congress, maintains a list of U.S. sanctions on companies suspected of violating human Uyghur rights in China, hosts events on China’s actions in Xinjiang, and tracks international responses to Uyghur human rights issues in China.[10]

UHRP has documented the Chinese Communist Party’s use of transnational repression against Uyghurs and the CCP’s evolving strategy to harass, intimidate, and silence Uyghurs abroad. The organization has also expressed concern that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is not fully implementing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, calling on the organization to make full use of its “entity list” to designate companies that are in violation of the act.[11]

In 2023, UHRP signed a letter to Biden administration Secretary of State Antony Blinken prior to Blinken’s June 2023 visit to China asking him to support international investigation into the Xinjiang and call on Chinese authorities to release human rights criminals.[12]

In 2022, UHRP supported the Uyghur Policy Act, which would have created a special coordinator for Uyghur Issues at the U.S. Department of State, direct the U.S. Agency for Global Media to disseminate information on Uyghurs and other minority groups to Islamic countries, and raise Uyghur issues at the United Nations. The bill was co-sponsored to by U.S. Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) and Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA).[13]

Nomination for Nobel Peace Prize

In February 2022 two U.S. lawmakers Tom Suozzi of New York and Chris Smith of New Jersey wrote a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee saying that the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) and Campaign for Uyghurs have made significant contributions to building fraternity between nations and promoting peace by defending the human rights of the Uyghur, Kazakh and other predominately Muslim ethnic minorities that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has targeted with genocide and other crimes against humanity. Both lawmakers stressed the gravity of the abuses, which include documented instances of mass detention, sexual violence, torture, forced labor, forced abortions, and sterilization of Uyghur Muslims.[14] Rushan Abbas welcomed the nomination and said: “Regardless of the outcome of the nomination, the fact that the Uyghur issue will be discussed along with the Nobel Peace Prize nomination is a great victory for the Uyghur movement.”[15]

Reports

The organization publishes reports and analysis in English and Chinese to defend Uyghurs' civil, political, social, cultural, and economic rights according to international human rights standards.[16][17][18]

In July 2020, the UHRP published the report, "'The Happiest Muslims in the World': Disinformation, Propaganda, and the Uyghur Crisis," which analyzes the Chinese Communist Party's counter-narrative in response to escalating international alarm about human rights violations against Uyghurs.[19][20]

UHRP has published reports on the CCP's policies regarding all aspects of Uyghur human rights, including cultural rights, such as "Kashgar Coerced: Forced Reconstruction, Exploitation, and Surveillance in the Cradle of Uyghur Culture,"[21] and "Extracting Cultural Resources: the Exploitation and Criminalization of Uyghur Cultural Heritage."[22]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "About Us". Uyghur Human Rights Project. 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  2. ↑ Acosta, Carmen Molina (July 30, 2020). "'Huge uptick' in Chinese propaganda over Uighur camps, report finds". The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP)". Devex. 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  4. ↑ "Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act Builds on Work of NED Grantees". National Endowment for Democracy. 29 May 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  5. ↑ Axelsson, Pelle (September 29, 2020). "Omer Kanat / Uyghur Genocide". IntellectInterviews. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  6. ↑ Schor, Elana (June 5, 2020). "Q&A: Nury Turkel on Uighurs and new religious freedom post". Associated Press. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  7. ↑ Seytoff, Alim; Lipes, Joshua (May 26, 2020). "US House Speaker Appoints Uyghur Attorney Nury Turkel to Panel on Religious Freedom". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  8. ↑ "Activists want UN to probe 'genocide' of China's Uighur minority". Al Jazeera. September 15, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Chinese Human Rights Letter on Sideloading". United States Senate. January 31, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP)". InfluenceWatch. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  11. ↑ "Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP)". InfluenceWatch. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  12. ↑ "Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP)". InfluenceWatch. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  13. ↑ "Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP)". InfluenceWatch. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  14. ↑ Juliegrace Brufke, Human rights groups that expose China’s abuse of Uyghurs nominated for Nobel Peace Prize, New York Post, Feb. 3, 2022
  15. ↑ Kurban Niyaz and Alim Seytoff, US lawmakers nominate Uyghur rights groups for Nobel Peace Prize, Radio Free Asia, Feb. 4, 2022
  16. ↑ Paton, Elizabeth; Ramzy, Austin (10 August 2020). "Coalition Brings Pressure to End Forced Uighur Labor". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  17. ↑ Jacobs, Andrew (23 November 2014). "Prosecution of Uighur Students Underscores Perils of Chinese Clampdown". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  18. ↑ Khan, Aysha (10 July 2020). "Uighurs reflect on 2009 violence that set off Chinese crackdown". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  19. ↑ "New Report from UHRP —"The Happiest Muslims in the World": Disinformation, Propaganda, and the Uyghur Crisis, July 2020". Save Uighur. Justice for All. August 5, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Media warned against Chinese 'propaganda' on plight of Uyghurs". LiCAS.news. July 31, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  21. ↑ Lipes, Joshua (June 5, 2020). "Kashgar's Old City Destruction Emblematic of Beijing's Cultural Campaign Against Uyghurs: Report". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  22. ↑ Millward, James; Peterson, Dahlia (September 2020). "China's System of Oppression in Xinjang: How It Developed and How to Curb It" (PDF). The Brookings Institution. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
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