CFU PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 21, 2023, 6:00 PM ET
Sabrina Sohail: sabrina@campaignforuyghurs.org
(650) 703-4523
Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) applauds the US State Department’s recently released 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for calling attention to the Chinese regime’s “genocide and crimes against humanity” against Uyghurs and other Turkic groups in East Turkistan. The report highlights the ongoing detention of millions of individuals, forced labor, and restrictions on religious and cultural practices.
CFU also commends the State Department for shining a spotlight on the case of Dr. Gulshan Abbas, sister of founder and Executive Director Rushan Abbas, a victim of enforced disappearance by the Chinese regime and detained since September 2018. Dr. Abbas was later harshly sentenced to prison without trial as a retaliatory act against Rushan Abbas’s activism and advocacy. Dr. Abbas is a victim of transnational repression and the broader atrocities of China’s genocide against Uyghurs and Turkic peoples.
Executive Director Rushan Abbas expressed her appreciation, stating, “I am heartened to see that the U.S. State Department has included the name of my missing sister Gulshan in its latest report on China’s human rights abuses. This recognition is not only important for me and my family, but also for the countless other Uyghur families who have been torn apart by the Chinese regime’s oppressive policies. We will continue to fight for justice and accountability, and I urge the international community to join us in demanding an end to the atrocities being committed against my people by the genocidal Chinese regime.”
CFU urges the international community to take immediate action to address the Uyghur Genocide. We call on governments and international organizations to impose targeted sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for these abuses and to use all available tools to pressure the Chinese regime to end its human rights violations in East Turkistan. We also call on corporations and other stakeholders to ensure that they are not complicit in these abuses by conducting thorough human rights due diligence and taking steps to address any abuses that are identified in their supply chains. CFU will continue to work tirelessly to raise awareness of the situation in East Turkistan and to hold the Chinese regime accountable for its actions.
