China’s Genocide Against Uyghurs

Millions of Uyghurs are suffering from unspeakable atrocities at the hands of the Chinese government, including forced sterilization of young women, enforced separation of families and placement of children in state orphanages, and the mass detention of more than one million people since 2017 in detention camps and forced labor camps. Uyghurs are also being transferred to factories in China proper and used as modern-day slaves. Uyghurs in the diaspora are speaking out to be the voice of those voiceless and defenseless Uyghurs back home. Why is China trying to annihilate Uyghurs? What can we do to stop China’s genocide of the Uyghurs?

SPEAKERS

Tursunay Ziyawudun is a former Uyghur detainee from one of the concentration camps in Ghulja, China. She was taken to there in April of 2017 and was released after a few months due to severe health problems, but she was detained in March of 2018 for a second time. Due to her Kazakh husband’s and the Kazakhstan government’s help, she was released from the camp in December 2018 and was allowed to go to Kazakhstan to be reunited with her husband in 2019. She is continuing her fight for justice here in the US.

Kalbinur Gheni is an activist who has been living in the United States since 2019. She uses social media and traditional media to advocate for her sister, Renagul Gheni, who is being held in a concentration and labor camp in China. Kalbinur’s sister Renagul had been sentenced to 17 years in prison for observing religious rites after the death of their father and for keeping a copy of the Qur’an in her possession. She continues her fight for justice for her sister and millions of other innocent Uyghurs who are in the camps who are still facing constant transnational repression.

Dilyar Seypedin was born in Ghulja, East Turkistan. After graduating from university, he came to the United States in 2014 for the purpose of studying abroad. Since 2017, Dilyar has dedicated himself to participating in various human rights activities and marches to defend the human rights of Uyghurs. Since 2021, his father was arrested and sent to a concentration camp, Dilyar has been working hard to peacefully appeal to the Chinese government to release his detained father and other Uyghurs. He attended the hunger strike in front of the White House from September 19 to 21, 2022 in order to raise awareness of the Uyghur Genocide. 

Moderator Elfidar Iltebir

Elfidar, President of the Uyghur American Association (UAA), was born in Urumchi, East Turkistan and grew up in Istanbul, Turkey until immigrating to the US in 2000. She has a BA in Marketing from George Mason University and over 20 years of marketing and project management experience. As the daughter of a prominent Uyghur writer and journalist, she is an active member of the Uyghur community and an outspoken human rights activist. She is fluent in English, Uyghur, and Turkish.