Organization: Uyghur Hjelp
Organization Number: 922 777 594
Manager: Abduweli Ayup
Email: yanmaymiz@gmail.com
Website: www.uyghurhjelp.org
1. Introduction
Uyghur Hjelp is a non-profit organization dedicated to documenting human rights violations against Uyghurs, supporting Uyghur refugees, promoting the Uyghur language, and preserving Uyghur culture.
In 2025, the organization continued its work in advocacy, education, humanitarian aid, and cultural preservation across multiple countries.
2. Main Areas of Work
- Human Rights Documentation: Investigating human rights violations and transnational repression targeting Uyghurs.
- Refugee Support: Providing direct assistance to Uyghur refugees stranded in third countries.
- Education and Language Promotion: Teaching English, Publishing textbooks, training teachers, and organizing language camps.
- Cultural Preservation: Promoting Uyghur literature, translation projects, and cultural workshops.
- Advocacy and Awareness: Conducting lectures, film screenings, and international cooperation with NGOs and universities.
3. Advocacy and Outreach
Uyghur Hjelp representatives visited universities, human rights organizations, and religious institutions in:
Stockholm, New York, Washington, Vancouver, Paris, Geneva, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Prague, Madison, and Chicago.
At these venues, we introduced the Uyghur genocide through lectures and screenings of the documentaries All Static and Noise and Behind the Mask, both of which document the persecution of Uyghurs.
4. Educational and Language Projects
Textbooks for Children
Between October 2024 and May 2025, Uyghur Hjelp published two Uyghur-language textbooks for children and distributed them free of charge in Turkey, Syria, and Central Asian republics.
We also visited Munich, Washington, and Adelaide to distribute textbooks, observe Uyghur schools, and support heritage language teachers.
Media: Uyghur Times
Language Teaching and Teacher Training
From May 2025, Uyghur Hjelp started Uyghur weekly language class, we are teaching Uyghur kids in Bergen. We continued teaching English to Uyghur refugees in Turkey, Syria, UAE and Central Asia, it is online class which started 2021.
On March 5, 2025, Uyghur Hjelp held an online seminar for Uyghur mother-tongue teachers, presenting four new textbooks and collecting teachers’ feedback.
5. Publications
- In February 2025, Abduweli Ayup published excerpts from his prison memoirs in The New York Review of Books:
A Thornbush in the Desert - Uyghur Hjelp published two books for adult readers and began translating three psychology and wellbeing books from English into Uyghur.
- From May 2024 to May 2025, the organization released several short reports on book banning, digital surveillance, and arbitrary detentions in the Uyghur region.
The major report published in 2025 was “China is Violating the UNESCO Convention.”
Read report
6. Film Screenings and Public Events
In 2025, Uyghur Hjelp organized film screenings in Norway, France, Germany, and Sweden, each attracting over 80 participants.
Abduweli Ayup also lectured in Tromsø, Stavanger, Haugesund, Stockholm, Paris, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Frankfurt, focusing on Uyghur genocide and linguistic rights.
In April 2025, he lectured at San Francisco University and the University of California, Berkeley, with screenings of All Static and Noise.
(Indiana University coverage)
7. Research and Translation
Uyghur Hjelp continued documenting the biographies of Uyghur intellectuals imprisoned in China.
More than 120 writers and poets have been introduced, and their works translated into English, Turkish, and Norwegian.
We co-authored two reports:
- “Twenty Years for Learning the Quran” – about Uyghur women persecuted for their faith.
(UHRP report) - “China: Hundreds of Uyghur Village Names Change.”
(Human Rights Watch report)
8. Conferences and International Cooperation
Abduweli Ayup participated in several international conferences advocating Uyghur linguistic and cultural rights:
- Växjö, Sweden – January & March 2025 (Digital Dictatorship Network)
- Stockholm Folk and Kultur Festival – February 2025
- Vancouver & Madison – March & June 2025
- University of Kansas – September, lectures at the Departments of Linguistics and East Asian Studies
(Event link)
He was also invited to the UNESCO headquarters in Paris in February 2025, though his presentation was later cancelled.
(New York Times article)
In collaboration with the University of Southern California, he lectured at universities in Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and San Francisco as part of the Genocide Summer School.
9. Partnerships and Media
Uyghur Hjelp worked with Human Rights Watch, Uyghur Human Rights Project, Amnesty International, PEN International, and their European branches, including Norwegian PEN and Swedish PEN.
Lectures were held in Copenhagen, Trondheim, and Stockholm.
The organization also supported Dialog, an online Uyghur media platform promoting human rights, democracy, and mental health awareness.
YouTube: uDialog
10. Cultural Activities
In August 2025, Uyghur Hjelp organized a Uyghur Culture Workshop for teenagers from five European countries.
(Uyghur Times coverage)
11. Refugee support in 2025
Uyghur Hjelp assisted Uyghur refugees in Sudan, Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Cambodia, and Bosnia, helping them contact UNHCR, secure housing, and access humanitarian aid. Uyghur Hjelp continued supporting Uyghur activist Idris Hasan and his family. After collaboration with Front Line Defenders and UNHCR, he was released in February 2025.
(RFA report), N1 Info, The Washington Post
Due to the outbreak of internal armed conflict in Sudan, a Uyghur family residing in Khartoum contacted us June 2024. The family, consisting of six members, faced serious safety risks.
Uyghur Hjelp coordinated with UNHCR and the State Department to secure their safety and stabilize their living conditions. Efforts are ongoing to relocate the family to a safe third country.
In March and August 2025, Uyghur Hjelp assisted two Uyghur refugees from Peyziwat and Fukang counties in East Turkistan who were stranded during their escape to Europe.
Uyghur Hjelp provided essential travel support, including train and bus tickets as well as accommodation, enabling them to safely reach countries where they could seek protection.
In September 2025, Uyghur Hjelp received verified information that a Uyghur individual was detained at Jeddah International Airport and faced imminent deportation to China.
Through appropriate diplomatic and humanitarian channels, Uyghur Hjelp facilitated the individual’s transfer to a safe country. All associated costs were fully covered by Uyghur Hjelp.
In August 2025, a Uyghur resident in Kyrgyzstan was detained after the Chinese embassy issued a fake passport. Authorities demanded the individual leave for China within 20 days.
Uyghur Hjelp worked closely with UNHCR to secure the individual’s legal status in Kyrgyzstan. The individual has since obtained lawful residency and is no longer at risk of deportation.
Uyghur Hjelp continued its commitment to preserving Uyghur language and culture through educational support in Turkey.
- Two Uyghur mother-tongue schools received ongoing institutional support.
- 2,000 Uyghur-language books were donated to children interested in learning their mother tongue in Istanbul, Idlib.
- Textbooks were provided to 200 students enrolled at the Hira Mother-Tongue School in Sefakoy Istanbul.
Uyghur Hjelp provided targeted humanitarian assistance to vulnerable Uyghur families in Turkey:
- In August 2025, Uyghur Hjelp covered USD 1,200 in medical expenses for a mother of five receiving treatment at a private hospital in Istanbul. Her children attend a Uyghur mother-tongue school in Zeytinburnu.
- In December 2025, Uyghur Hjelp paid USD 435 in rent for another mother whose husband was imprisoned suddenly in Istanbul, preventing eviction and homelessness.
Conclusion
- Throughout 2025, Uyghur Hjelp strengthened its role as a leading Uyghur human rights and cultural organization.
Through publications, education, humanitarian aid, and advocacy, we worked to preserve the Uyghur language and culture while supporting those affected by persecution and exile. - We thank all partners, donors, and volunteers who contributed to our work.
