Are you a student enrolled at a higher education institution in the UK? Are you passionate about human rights? If so, Students for Uyghurs needs you to join our campaign. Our Ambassadors play a vital role in educating students and young people about the abuses being committed against Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities by the Chinese state. With a presence at numerous universities across the UK, we welcome any student who shares our objectives. We are detemined to hold to account those organisations that enable and profit from genocide. If we don’t already have an Ambassador at your university, why not consider becoming our first?
Who are we?
We are a UK-based cross-community, cross-party coalition of all faiths and none. We invite all those across the political spectrum, of all backgrounds, who care about human rights to join us in our efforts to end Uyghur genocide. Crucially, the target of our campaign is not the people of China, and we reject racist narratives, remaining sensitive to the rise in anti-East and Southeast Asian racism.
When did we form?
We launched at the end of 2020, and we grew to having almost 100 SFU Ambassadors from almost 25 universities across the UK in 2021. We re-launched in March 2022, seeking more Ambassadors and restructuring given the institutionalisation of our parent organisation, Stop Uyghur Genocide. We are looking for students who would like to become SFU Ambassadors, helping us to form representation at universities across the UK who can run campaigns on their own campuses.
The Context
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pursuing an active policy of genocide against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim groups in China, especially in East Turkestan. Approximately one million Muslim Uyghurs are held in camps. Rape, torture, forced marriage, sterilisation and abortion and organ harvesting just some of the abuses that Uyghur Muslims are
encountering. Many higher education institutions in the UK are heavily involved with and have links to the CCP and the Chinese state apparatus. We, as British students cannot allow our Universities to have any involvement in Genocide.
Our Aims
1. To investigate UK universities’ ties to the CCP (and associated businesses) and ultimately, to make sure that UK higher education institutions disaffiliate with any organisations implicated in Uyghur Genocide.
2. To raise awareness about the issues facing Uyghur people amongst UK students.
3. To call out Western corporations implicated in the Uyghur genocide as well as the UK higher education institutions whose behaviour facilitates the genocide.
5. To increase awareness of the scale and severity of this suffering through the media, in parliament and among civil society organisations.
Our Targets
As well as targeting the Chinese Government, we will seek to focus on the Western corporations implicated in the Uyghur genocide as well as the UK higher education institutions, whose behaviour facilitates said genocide. By targeting these organisations, we hope to make these issues feel relevant to British Students. Crucially, the target of this campaign is not the people of China. We reject racist narratives, which make it more difficult to secure greater respect for human rights in China. We are not party political and would like to invite all those across the political spectrum who care about human rights to join us in our efforts to end Uyghur genocide.
Get Involved
If you would like to get involved in our student driven campaign to end the Uyghur genocide, then get in contact with us at sfu@stopuyghurgenocide.co.uk. We can offer you advise, resources and supportfor you to raise awareness and campaign against this genocide on your campus.