Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP)

UHRP objects to the treatment of Uyghurs by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including the CCP’s re-education and detention camps, which have been described as internment camps and concentration camps by international organizations and news outlets. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

UHRP was founded with a grant from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). ⁶ In 2021, UHRP received $100,000 from the left-of-center New Venture Fund ⁷ and $100,000 from NED. ⁸

History and Leadership

Uyghur Human Rights Project was founded in 2004 with a grant from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) ⁶ as a project of the Uyghur American Association. ⁹ In 2016, the organization received tax-exempt status from the IRS. ¹⁰

Omer Kanat is the executive director of UHRP. He is a co-founder of UHRP and the executive committee chairman of the World Uyghur Congress. Kanat often briefs members of the U.S. Congress on Uyghur-related issues and has testified on these issues before the U.S. Congress several times. From 1999 until 2009, Kanat was senior editor of Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur Service. ¹¹

Activities and Funding

Uyghur Human Rights Project is an organization that advocates for the human rights of the Uyghurs, an ethnically and culturally Turkic Muslim group of people who live in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. UHRP objects to the Chinese Communist Party’s treatment of Uyghur individuals in the region, including the CCP’s re-education and detention camps, which have been described as internment camps and concentration camps by international organizations and news organizations. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

UHRP also promotes the human rights of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim peoples in the region, ¹²  maintains a bill tracker on Uyghur-related matters before the U.S. Congress, ¹³ maintains a list of U.S. sanctions on companies suspected of violating human Uyghur rights in China, ¹⁴ hosts events on China’s actions in Xinjiang, ¹⁵ and tracks international responses to Uyghur human rights issues in China. ¹⁶

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. ¹⁷ 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. ¹⁸

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. ¹⁹

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). ²⁰

In 2021, the UHRP spent $271,923 to document and mobilize public awareness of crimes committed against Uyghurs in China. It also published nine reports, including three that analyze the Chinese government’s transnational efforts attempting to repress Uyghurs overseas. The group’s activities also focus on internal and external propaganda in China, Chinese-language activities, social media outreach, and other programs. UHRP also spent $507,537 on advocacy efforts promoting accountability for the Chinese government and opposition to forced labor, religious persecution, and gender-based violence and $45,287 in support of the general Uyghur diaspora. ¹²

Funding

Uyghur Human Rights Project is funded by individual donations and foundation grants. ²¹ UHRP was initially founded by a grant from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The organization has received funding from NED since its founding. ⁶

In 2021, UHRP reported revenue of $1,231,264 and expenses of $891,608. In 2020, the organization reported revenue of $1,080,506 and expenses of $669,833. ²²

In 2021, UHRP received $100,000 from the left-of-center New Venture Fund ⁷ and $100,000 from NED. ⁸

In 2018 and 2019, the organization received at grant of $315,000 from NED. ^{23 24} UHRP also received $299,698 from NED in 2017 ²⁵ and $310,000 from NED in 2016. ²⁶