Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 2d

"Political will is critical to the continued effectiveness of the UFLPA," @lauratmurphy.bsky.social + Charlotte Tate write for @csis.org.

@jasminchua.com covers their views on Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act effectiveness.

@sourcingjournal.com.web.brid.gy.

sourcingjournal.com/topics/labor...

Three Years On, Does the UFLPA Still Make Sense?

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department said that China does not fully meet the minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking, nor is it making significant efforts to do so.

sourcingjournal.com

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 3d

Scholar-activist Dilnur Reyhan faces trial in 🇫🇷 France after protesting Beijing’s atrocities against Uyghurs.

The case follows a pattern of transnational repression—France should drop charges and defend free expression.

@yalkun.bsky.social @benjeannerod.bsky.social
www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...

Uyghur Scholar-Activist Faces Charges in France for Criticizing Beijing

On October 13, a court outside Paris will put on trial Dr. Dilnur Reyhan, a prominent French-Uyghur scholar and activist, and the president of the European Uyghur Institute, for the criminal offense o...

www.hrw.org

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 3d

📡 Suspected Chinese government operatives used ChatGPT to draft surveillance proposals targeting Uyghurs + other "high-risk" groups, according to an OpenAI report.

@snlyngaas.bsky.social @jimsciutto.bsky.social

www.cnn.com/2025/10/07/p...

Suspected Chinese government operatives used ChatGPT to shape mass surveillance proposals, OpenAI says | CNN Politics

Suspected Chinese government operatives asked ChatGPT to help write proposal for a tool to conduct large-scale surveillance and to help promote another that allegedly scans social media accounts for “...

www.cnn.com

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 5d

"[I]mporters [...] can assess their exposure by carefully tracing their supply chains, even if they can’t trace the chemical itself."

Kharon on supply-chain challenges for caustic soda, on the #UFLPA's priority sector list.

www.kharon.com/brief/lye-xi...

The UFLPA’s Tricky New Priority: A Chemical That Seeps into Laptops and Apparel and Disappears

Caustic soda, also known as lye, poses a unique challenge for U.S. importers under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act: It’s used in a wide range of consumer categories, but it’s invisible in the f...

www.kharon.com

Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 6d

"The white paper reveals three aspects of Xi’s Xinjiang policies: nihilism, denialism, and annihilation," writes Arran Hope, on China's new White Paper ("Guidelines for Governing Xinjiang").

@thejamestownfdn.bsky.social

jamestown.org/program/nihi...

Nihilism, Denialism, and Annihilation in New Xinjiang White Paper

Executive Summary: Xi Jinping’s personal imprimatur on the Party-state’s policies in Xinjiang are unambiguous, according to a new white paper published to coincide with a central-level delegation to t...

jamestown.org

Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 6d

"In practice, [Xinjiang Aid] is a comprehensive system of repression, coercion, and assimilation."

New report from Uyghur Rights Monitor traces the policy evolution of the "Xinjiang Aid" program.

www.uyghurrightsmonitor.org/2025/10/01/w...

Weaponized “Development”: How Xinjiang Aid Drives Repression - Uyghur Rights Monitor

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched “Xinjiang Aid” (对口援疆) in 1997 as a poverty-alleviation and ethnic-unity program in the Uyghur Region. In practice, it is a comprehensive system of repression...

www.uyghurrightsmonitor.org

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 10d

"At the sacrifice of the morals, obligations, and values that Cornell says they stand for, the University has continued to remain steadfast in its commitment to China."

Zilala Mamat writes in Cornell Daily Sun on Cornell's unwillingness to stand up for Uyghurs.

www.cornellsun.com/article/2025...

MAMAT | Cornell’s China Ties Threaten Its Students, And It Doesn’t Care

On the 76th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, Opinion Columnist Zilala Mamat '26 puts Cornell's China ties into Uyghur perspective.

www.cornellsun.com

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 10d

🌍 Mara Hvistendahl (NYT) shows how the Trump admin’s retreat from U.N. funding created a vacuum now filled by China and other autocracies, undermining human rights oversight and labor investigations.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/w...

Autocrats Move Quickly to Fill Void as Trump Retreats From U.N.

www.nytimes.com

Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 10d

🧠 Writing for @scroll.in @jleibold.bsky.social examines Xi Jinping’s "soul-casting" project, a campaign to erase Uyghur culture, faith, family, and fertility through coercion, assimilation, and re-engineering.

scroll.in/article/1086...

Forged souls, broken lives: China’s ‘soul-casting’ project in Xinjiang

The repression of the Uyghur minority involves a project of forced assimilation and cultural erasure.

scroll.in

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 10d

⚡ Ryan Bourke (@theheraldsun.bsky.social) reports Victoria’s gov’t approved a AUS$453m battery deal with Trina Solar, despite links to Uyghur forced labour.

Uyghur community leaders in Australia called it a betrayal.

t.co/xC7EpLB23Y

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 10d

📚 @rferl.org.web.brid.gy (Balkan Service) shares the story of Qalbinur Sidiq, an Uzbek teacher forced into Xinjiang’s detention camps.

She witnessed torture, indoctrination, and sterilizations—and now speaks out from exile in the Netherlands.

www.rferl.org/a/china-uygh...

Uyghur Camp Survivor Details Forced Sterilization, Torture In Xinjiang

A schoolteacher shares her harrowing account of the torture and forced sterilization she witnessed at an internment camp in northwestern China.

www.rferl.org

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 10d

🚨 @rte.ie also profiles Nuria Zyden, an Uyghur woman in Ireland.

She recounts harassment, threats, and surveillance by Chinese authorities: tactics aimed at silencing her activism and punishing her family.

www.rte.ie/news/investi...

Uyghur woman in Ireland details Chinese pressure and harassment

Around 200 Uyghurs live in Ireland, part of a minority of 12 million in China's Xinjiang region. The UN says they face possible crimes against humanity — and one woman says Beijing's repression has fo...

www.rte.ie

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 10d

🧵 Joe Galvin (@rte.ie) reveals how cotton tainted by Uyghur forced labour still flows into global supply chains. Retailers in Ireland and beyond sell garments tied to coercion despite laws like the UFLPA.

📺 Watch the investigation: "Forced Fashion"

www.rte.ie/news/investi...

How forced Uyghur labour could be woven into your wardrobe

Behind the 'sustainable' labels on Ireland's high streets, cotton from China's Uyghur region is still slipping through. RTÉ Investigates uncovers the routes of forced labour and the systems that fail ...

www.rte.ie

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 10d

⚖️ Professor Magnus Fiskesjo argues that forced assimilation must be recognized as a core element of genocide.

His paper compares Nazi Europe and East Turkistan, urging that "cultural genocide" be central in legal prosecution.

sinopsis.cz/en/comparing...

Comparing genocides: Forced assimilation in Nazi Europe and East Turkestan (Xinjiang), China - Sinopsis

Forced assimilation as a neglected yet crucial instrument of genocide, past and present.

sinopsis.cz

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 10d

📖 Issue 9 of the #UyghurReader is out!

🧵 A biweekly roundup highlighting essential reporting + analysis on the Uyghur crisis (Sep 18 – Oct 1), curated by
@henrykszad.bsky.social @peterirwin.bsky.social @zubayra.bsky.social

uhrp.org/uyghur-reade...

The Uyghur Reader: Stories We’re Following (Issue 9) - Uyghur Human Rights Project

Welcome to the ninth issue of the Uyghur Reader, a biweekly content roundup curated by the staff of the Uyghur Human Rights Project.

uhrp.org

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 11d

"These cases reflect deeply troubling patterns where cultural identity, artistic creativity, and academic work are treated as threats to national security [...] States must not suppress music, literature, or language as a means of silencing cultural identities."

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 11d

Experts also cite the disappearance and sentencing of Rahile Dawut, a renowned woman ethnographer and cultural scholar, which the experts say "exemplifies the risks faced by those engaged in cultural and academic work."

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 11d

Experts cite the case of Yashar, the 26-year-old Uyghur songwriter who was sentenced to three years in prison in 2024. He was convicted on baseless charges of "promoting extremism" for his artistic work in the Uyghur language and possession of books central to Uyghur cultural history.

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 11d

New UHRP💡#Insights by @henrykszad.bsky.social:

"The iterative nature of [flag-raising ceremonies], week after week, year after year, creates the conditions in which people internalize the power of the Chinese state."

Examining how China internalizes state power.

uhrp.org/insights/for...

Forced Allegiance: Reflections on Flag-raising Ceremonies and National Anthems in Britain and East Turkistan - Uyghur Human Rights Project

A UHRP Insights column by Dr. Henryk Szadziewski, Director of Research, Uyghur Human Rights Project

uhrp.org

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 11d

🇺🇳 UN experts express "serious concern over the increasing criminalisation of Uyghur and other minority cultural expression in China."

Experts cite the case of Uyghur musician Yashar and the enforced disappearance of scholar Rahile Dawut.

www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

UN experts urge China to end repression of Uyghur and cultural expression of minorities

GENEVA – UN experts* today expressed serious concern over the increasing criminalisation of Uyghur and other minority cultural expression in China, citing the case of artist Yaxia’er Xiaohelaiti and t...

www.ohchr.org

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 13d

China’s proposed "Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity" would codify repression and forced assimilation of Uyghurs, Tibetans, Mongolians, and other groups.

The proposed law targets language rights, culture, and free expression.

www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

China: Draft ‘Ethnic Unity’ Law Tightens Ideological Control

A newly proposed law in China would provide a broad legal framework to justify existing repression and force assimilation of minority populations throughout the country and abroad.

www.hrw.org

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Reposted by Uyghur Human Rights Project

Human Rights Watch @hrw.org · 13d

A newly proposed law in China would provide a broad legal framework to justify existing repression and force assimilation of minority populations in China and abroad.

This is a blatant effort to control people’s thoughts and expression about China.

China: Draft ‘Ethnic Unity’ Law Tightens Ideological Control

A newly proposed law in China would provide a broad legal framework to justify existing repression and force assimilation of minority populations throughout the country and abroad.

www.hrw.org

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · Aug 25

📊 UHRP research by @peterirwin.bsky.social and
@henrykszad.bsky.social uncovers surge in air cargo flights between Ürümchi and over a dozen European cities.

These ✈️ 📦 routes risk carrying goods linked to Uyghur forced labor directly into European supply chains.

uhrp.org/report/manif...

Manifest Risk: New “Air Silk Road” Cargo Flights Carry Risk of Uyghur Forced Labor into Europe - Uyghur Human Rights Project

Air cargo routes are rapidly expanding between Ürümchi and over a dozen European cities. Since June 2024, nine cargo companies have launched new air freight routes between Ürümchi and cities across th...

uhrp.org

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Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · Aug 25

Significant new investigation from @robhastings.bsky.social for @theipaper.com shows significant 📈 in imports from Uyghur Region to the 🇬🇧 UK.

The report builds on UHRP research by @peterirwin.bsky.social and @henrykszad.bsky.social showing a surge in cargo flights into the EU and UK.

Rob Hastings @robhastings.bsky.social · Aug 25

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: UK's £800m+ "slave labour" imports from Xinjiang revealed

Vast numbers of products flown into Britain from Uyghur region of China - revealed for first time by my @theipaper.com investigation

Stop Uyghur Genocide calls it a "national disgrace" 🧵1
inews.co.uk/news/uk-800m...

UK's £800m 'slave labour' China imports revealed - from bras to lawnmowers

Thousands of tonnes of clothes, toys, furniture and tech are being flown in from Xinjiang - which Uyghur campaigners say is a 'national disgrace'

inews.co.uk

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Reposted by Uyghur Human Rights Project

Rob Hastings @robhastings.bsky.social · Aug 25

Labour MP Sarah Champion says UK is letting down "enslaved people we should be protecting"

Crossbench peer Lord Alton says the UK’s anti-slavery laws are failing "on a colossal scale"

@uhrp.org and ‪@antislavery.org have also expressed outrage at what we've uncovered 🧵11

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