The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) marks the 15th anniversary of the July 5, 2009, unrest in Ürümchi and calls on China to publicly report on the steps taken to implement recommendations made by United Nations bodies and experts.

“On this somber anniversary, public pressure is needed to ensure that China finally implements critical recommendations made by the UN Human Rights office according to international law,” said UHRP Executive Director Omer Kanat.

The July 5 incident began with a peaceful protest against the murder of Uyghur workers in a factory in Guangdong. Eyewitnesses state that security forces fired on the demonstrators, leading to violence in the city and an unknown number of deaths. In subsequent days, security forces conducted mass disappearances.

The practice of enforced disappearances has proliferated in recent years. A 2021 UHRP report, "The Disappearance of Uyghur Intellectual and Cultural Elites," documented the internment, imprisonment, and forcible disappearance of 312 intellectuals and cultural producers.

Since the 2022 assessment, pressure on China has mounted. This includes a landmark ruling by the UN’s anti-racial discrimination committee in November 2022. In September 2023, UN experts warned of “forced assimilation” as a result of “forced separations and language policies for Uyghur children.” China also faced scrutiny from the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in early 2023.

Following China’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in January 2024, China received dozens of recommendations related to Uyghurs, most of which were officially rejected. China’s UPR adoption took place on July 4.