CFU PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 31, 2025, 10:00 AM EST
Contact: contact@campaignforuyghurs.org
+1 650-703-4523
https://campaignforuyghurs.org
CFU Urges Global Response on Anniversary of OHCHR Uyghur Region Findings
Washington, D.C. – Today, Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) marks the third anniversary of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ (OHCHR) landmark assessment of human rights in East Turkistan, which confirmed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) crimes “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.” Three years later, China has not only ignored the report’s recommendations but deepened its repression of Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan. This anniversary underscores both the urgency of accountability and the cost of continued international inaction.
The 2022 OHCHR assessment was historic, marking the first time a UN body acknowledged the scale of abuses in East Turkistan, including mass arbitrary detention, torture, sexual violence, and cultural erasure. Yet three years later, Beijing has not only refused to implement its recommendations but continues to expand its repression. Just weeks ago, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor raised alarm over the torture, denial of medical care, and enforced disappearances of imprisoned defenders in China, including Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti and others. Her findings highlighted the CCP’s ongoing defiance of international law and reinforced the urgent need for accountability.
A 2025 report published by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum found that all of the state policies that have led to accusations of atrocity crimes in the Uyghur region, including forced labor, residential schools, forced birth prevention, and the separation of families and communities, either continue or are currently expanding. In addition, the Chinese government has been pressuring Uyghur and other ethnic farmers to surrender their land, forcing many into forced labor. Research by leading China expert Dr. Adrian Zenz, published in December 2024, shows that between 2001 and 2021, land transfers in the Uyghur region increased nearly 50 times, highlighting the massive scale at which ethnic farmers were forced to give up their land and pushed into state-controlled work.
“For Uyghur families, three years have passed with no relief, no justice, and no answers, only more repression,” said Rushan Abbas, Founder and Executive Director of CFU. “The recent reports and developments made clear that China continues to torture, imprison, and silence Uyghurs and other defenders of human rights. Each year of inaction emboldens the regime and deepens the suffering of the victims. The United Nations must move beyond engagements and take meaningful steps to ensure the recommendations made by the office of OHCHR are implemented and the crimes against humanity against the Uyghurs are ended.”
On this third anniversary, CFU reaffirms its solidarity with Uyghurs and all victims of CCP repression and demands immediate steps to implement the OHCHR’s recommendations. The world must ensure that the report does not remain an empty document of record, but a catalyst for justice, accountability, and the protection of human rights.
