The Center for Uyghur Studies (CUS) participated in the IRF Summit 2026 as a convening partner, contributing to high-level discussions on global religious freedom and the prevention of mass atrocities. Through panel participation and engagement with policymakers, civil society actors, and faith leaders, CUS helped ensure that the ongoing religious persecution of Uyghur Muslims by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were included in broader discussions at the summit.
A key contribution by CUS was its involvement in the panel “What Happens When FoRB Red Flags Are Normalized?”, which examined how early signs of persecution become institutionalized, embedded in laws, policies, and everyday practices, and gradually accepted as normal. The panel highlighted how this process often enables broader and more systematic human rights abuses when early warning signs go unchallenged.
Executive Director Abdulhakim Idris participated in the panel as a speaker, drawing from the Uyghur case to illustrate how repression does not begin overnight. He explained how long-standing restrictions on religious practice, surveillance, and discrimination against the Uyghurs were gradually normalized, creating the conditions for increasingly severe policies. Idris emphasized that what began as limited restrictions ultimately evolved into a comprehensive system that criminalized religious life, enabled mass detention, and dismantled Uyghur religious and cultural institutions.
The International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit is an annual global gathering of policymakers, advocates, faith leaders, and civil society organizations dedicated to advancing freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) worldwide. CUS was proud to serve as a convening partner at the IRF Summit for the second consecutive year, reaffirming its commitment to elevating Uyghur religious freedom issues and contributing evidence-based perspectives that support early warning, prevention, and accountability efforts.
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