Uyghur American Association / Tossa

UAAs Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) produced three new in-depth reports on human rights violations against Uyghurs. Trapped in a Virtual Cage: Chinese State Repression of Uyghurs Online documents curtailments of Internet freedom for Uyghurs and large scale imprisonment of Uyghur webmasters; a report on political prisoners featured profiles of eight prisoners of conscience as well as a petition for their release that was signed by over 500 supporters; and Legitimizing Repression: Chinas War on Terror Under Xi Jinping and State Policy in East Turkestan critically analyzes violent incidents that occurred in the Uyghur region from 2013-2014.The reports were launched in Washington, DC, distributed electronically to over 3,000 recipients on UAAs email list and made available on the UAA and UHRP websites. Hard copies were printed and distributed at events and meetings. The reports were also translated into Chinese. In total, they have been downloaded in both languages a total of over 50,000 times. UAA issued twenty-nine press releases in English during the year and nineteen in Chinese. Media outlets such as Voice of America, CNN, MSNBC, South China Morning Post, Al-Jazeera, the Economist, Reuters, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal cited the press releases. UAA engaged in social media outreach over Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and a message board maintained on the UAA website. UHRP also published dozens of blog posts in Chinese and English, and produced new installments in a multimedia oral history project.In the ongoing initiative to connect Uyghur rights advocacy with Chinese democracy supporters, UHRP continued to develop its Chinese website and released new original research in Chinese. UHRPs Chinese Twitter has attracted thousands of followers in China and globally, and the Chinese website has in some months surpassed traffic to the English site. The Chinese Outreach Coordinator addressed Chinese democracy activists in several conferences and increased the prominence of Uyghur human rights within Chinese democracy forums. For outreach and advocacy, UHRP staff spoke at a number of NGO and academic forums, and published writing in Al Jazeera, The Diplomat, World Policy Blog, Asia Sentinel, the News Hub, and the Huffington Post. UAA worked and met with Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Initiatives for China, the U.S. Department of State, CECC, UNPO, Reporters Without Borders, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, UNHCR, Human Rights in China, the International Campaign for Tibet and Freedom House, among many others.UAA organized many well-attended events for the Uyghur American community. The events ranged from those with a cultural focus, such as Uyghur New Year and National Day to those with a more activist character, such as demonstrations. Uyghur community ties in the United States were kept strong by the mobilizing actions of UAA. The organization offers moral support to Uyghur residents in the USA that is invaluable to maintaining a healthy and productive Uyghur contribution to American life.