Rushan Abbas 2023 Global Forum Keynote

Rushan Abbas presented the Keynote address for the opening session of of the 2023 Freedom from Slavery Global Forum, in the Dominican Republic on May 8, 2023.

Rushan Abbas's Bio:
Rushan Abbas is an Uyghur American activist who has been campaigning for the human rights of the Uyghur people since she was a student at Xinjiang University (In East Turkistan), organizing and leading the pro-democracy demonstrations at Xinjiang University in 1985 and 1988, she continued her activism since she arrived in the United States in 1989. She co-founded the Uyghur Overseas Student and Scholars Association in 1993 and served as its first Vice-President, which played an important role in the establishment of the Uyghur American Association in 1998. Ms. Abbas was subsequently elected Vice President of UAA for two terms.

In 2017, when Beijing’s genocidal crimes accelerated against Uyghurs, Rushan Abbas co-founded the Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) to advocate and promote human rights and democratic freedoms for Uyghurs, and mobilize the international community to act to stop the human rights atrocity in East Turkistan. Ms. Abbas introduced and led the “One Voice One Step” movement and successfully organized a demonstration on March 15th, 2018, in 14 countries and 18 cities on the same day to protest China’s detention of millions of Uyghurs in concentration camps. In September 2018, Rushan Abbas’ sister, Gulshan Abbas, was taken by the Chinese government six days after Rushan Abbas’ first public speech.

In July 2020, Ms. Abbas’ organization, CFU, published the report “Genocide in East Turkistan,” which laid out the ways that the actions of the Chinese regime met every condition of genocide laid out in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. CFU was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for activism and advocacy done to promote the Uyghur cause for freedom in February 2022.

Ms. Abbas frequently briefs lawmakers and officials around the world on the human rights situation in East Turkistan and testifies at the United States Senate and Congress on the Chinese regime’s genocide and crimes against humanity. She regularly appears on media outlets to advocate for the Uyghur cause and gives public speeches, having spoken for audiences at Holocaust museums, universities, U.S. embassies, interfaith societies, grassroots groups, and more.

Ms. Abbas has three children and currently resides in Falls Church, Virginia, with her husband, Abdulhakim Idris, Executive Director of the Center For Uyghur Studies.