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Jewher Ilham is the daughter of Ilham Tohti - a Uyghur scholar detained by the Chinese authorities due to his advocacy for the Uyghur people. Jewher has been campaigning for his release, as well as an end to the persecution endured by 1 million Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region of China.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
Follow Jewher Ilham on Twitter and Instagram to stay updated with her campaigning.
If you are a professional, use your expertise and network to keep this issue in the public consciousness.
Get in touch with your political representatives and let them know that this is an issue you want them to keep on the agenda when they address the wider government. Here is a template (inspired by René Cassin):
See here for the responses of some companies when they were asked about their supply chain. Please continue to write to these companies, tag them in your social media posts, and boycott purchasing their products. Your calls for change will eventually put pressure on them to stop using materials sourced from factories in the Xinjiang region which rely on the forced labour of the Uyghur people.
According to a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, “there are 83 globally renowned brands which have Uyghur forced labor in their supply chains.
The list includes; Abercrombie & Fitch, Acer, Adidas, Alstom, Amazon, Apple, ASUS, BAIC Motor, BMW, Bombardier, Bosch, BYD, Calvin Klein, Candy, Carter’s, Cerruti 1881, Changan Automobile, Cisco, CRRC, Dell, Electrolux, Fila, Founder Group, GAC Group (automobiles), Gap, Geely Auto, General Motors, Google, Goertek, H&M, Haier, Hart Schaffner Marx, Hisense, Hitachi, HP, HTC, Huawei, iFlyTek, Jack & Jones, Jaguar, Japan Display Inc., L.L.Bean, Lacoste, Land Rover, Lenovo, LG, Li-Ning, Marks & Spencer, Mayor, Meizu, Mercedes-Benz, MG, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Mitsumi, Nike, Nintendo, Nokia, The North Face, Oculus, Oppo, Panasonic, Polo Ralph Lauren, Puma, Roewe, SAIC Motor, Samsung, SGMW, Sharp, Siemens, Skechers, Sony, TDK, Tommy Hilfiger, Toshiba, Tsinghua Tongfang, Uniqlo, Victoria’s Secret, Vivo, Volkswagen, Xiaomi, Zara, Zegna ve ZTE.”
OTHER RESOURCES
Here is a non-exhaustive list of resources to learn more about the issue:
The documentary film, “Static and Noise”, will be released next year. To learn more about it, please click here. Please donate if you can.
Jewher’s first book was released in 2015: Jewher Ilham: A Uyghur's Fight to Free Her Father (Broken Silence). Her second book is set for release in 2021.
The World Uyghur Congress – an NGO active in raising awareness about Uyghur-related issues on national and international fora. .
The Uyghur Human Rights Project – a human rights research, reporting and advocacy organisation.
The Uyghur PEN Centre - dedicated to promoting freedom of expression, thought and information for all. It stands in solidarity with writers everywhere who have been forced into silence by censorship. Uyghur PEN’s main activities are to protect and raise awareness of arrested Uyghur writers, poets, journalists and artists in the Uyghur homeland of East Turkistan (Xinjiang, China).
René Cassin– a faith-based organisation which works to promote and protect universal human rights for the rights of other minorities on issues that resonate with Jewish values and Jewish experience, and advocating for the rights of other minorities. They frequently advocate about the Uyghur crisis in the context of their “Never Again” campaign.
Unfortunately, Ilham Tohti’s website, which Jewher spoke about on the podcast, was shut down by Chinese authorities in 2014.