iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Adrian Zenz

Uyghur Human Rights Project @uhrp.org · 20/08/2026

✈️ Beijing now allows some diaspora Uyghurs to visit East Turkistan, but they face interrogation & pressure to surveil others. China exploits family separation to influence & silence Uyghurs abroad, write @adrianzenz.bsky.social, Muetter Tohti. @foreignpolicy.com foreignpolicy.com/2026/08/12/c...

foreignpolicy.com

China Is Finding New Ways to Coerce Uyghurs Abroad

Beijing is a pioneer in softer tools of transnational repression.

102

Reposted by Adrian Zenz

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Zhang observed how Uyghur culture is now nearly extinct: the village he worked in has been largely emptied of working-age adults — many are in prison or shipped away for forced labor. Speaking Uyghur is prohibited in schools. Mosques are closed or guarded 24/7.

214

Reposted by Adrian Zenz

Magnus Fiskesjö @magnusfiskesjoe.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Now let's see ... the hordes of pro-Beijing govt trolls like Vijay Prashad won't like a Chinese policeman with the inside scoop on China's ongoing torture genocide. Xinjiang’s Repression of Uyghurs Has Evolved, Not Ended foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/16/c... From the brilliant scholar, Adrian Zenz

foreignpolicy.com

Xinjiang’s Repression of Uyghurs Has Evolved, Not Ended

A rare insider testimony reveals how China tries to hide state violence in Xinjiang

121

Reposted by Adrian Zenz

UK 🇬🇧 🤝 🇺🇦 □ @ukbastard.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Xinjiang’s Repression of Uyghurs Has Evolved, Not Ended A rare insider testimony reveals how China tries to hide state violence in Xinjiang archive.is/en7Mq

023

Reposted by Adrian Zenz

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

NEW EVIDENCE: Former Xinjiang police officer (2014–2023) confirms that detentions and forced labor continue today. From 2023, officials detained Uyghurs who avoided forced labor or allegedly disobeyed state orders. Thread below: foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/16/c...

foreignpolicy.com

Xinjiang’s Repression of Uyghurs Has Evolved, Not Ended

A rare insider testimony reveals how China tries to hide state violence in Xinjiang

1108

Reposted by Adrian Zenz

Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Mandatory reading for two types of people: 1) "I just want to China, it was awesome." 2) "China is taking over the world, stop resisting and just submit."

1154

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

HOW COERCION WORKS: Village committees have unilateral authority to order residents to accept labor transfers. Refusal triggers mandatory night school, unpaid communal labor, or up to 15 days in detention facilities.

001

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

In 2019, Zhang worked at the Hotan County re-education headquarters where detainee records were falsified and the true scale hidden even from higher-level authorities.

111

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Zhang estimates a quarter of the adult population in his village was interned in re-education camps between 2017–2019, excluding those sent to prisons. Under Ma Xingrui, Chen Quanguo's successor, visible repression campaigns were replaced with hidden coercion.

101

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

214

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Zhang, the former police officer, says that under Ma Xingrui, Chen Quanguo's successor, visible repression campaigns were replaced with hidden coercion. Village committees have unilateral authority to order residents to accept labor transfers. Refusal triggers up to 15 days in detention.

101

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

foreignpolicy.com

Xinjiang’s Repression of Uyghurs Has Evolved, Not Ended

A rare insider testimony reveals how China tries to hide state violence in Xinjiang

1108

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Thank you @yaqiu.bsky.social, Europe really needs to step up now.

110

Reposted by Adrian Zenz

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

"Irreparable harm": Critical new statement from UN Special Procedures highlights strategic nexus between land seizure and an alarming increase in forced labor transfers in Xinjiang and Tibet. Thread: www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

ohchr.org

UN experts alarmed by reports of forced labour of Uyghur, Tibetan and other minorities across China

GENEVA – UN experts* today expressed deep concern regarding persistent allegations of forced labour affecting Uyghur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz minority groups as well as Tibetans within the Xinjiang Uyghur A...

163

Reposted by Adrian Zenz

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

I am honored to be appointed to the European Commission's Expert Group on Forced Labor, informing guidelines and indicators for the EU Forced Labor Regulation (EUFLR) through expert meetings in Brussels. 2026 will be pivotal for EUFLR implementation. My focus will be on state-imposed forced labor.

142

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

"Labour and land transfers forcibly change their agriculture-based or nomadic traditional livelihoods... Consequently, their language, chosen communities, ways of life... are eroded."

120

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

This represents a significant precedent—apparently the first time UN Special Procedures have explicitly articulated the causal mechanism between "land grabbing" (land transfers) and the displacement of targeted rural populations into forced wage labor.

100

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Having contributed to the empirical and conceptual data underpinning this assessment, I can attest to the rigor and accuracy of these findings.

110

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Issued by four UN Special Rapporteurs and the Working Group on Business and Human Rights, the statement highlights alarming recent increases in coercive labor volumes in both regions and underscores the resulting contamination of global supply chains.

100

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

142

Reposted by Adrian Zenz

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Major victory: Chinese tomato exports to Italy collapse, following our research report & BBC investigation into tomato-linked Uyghur forced labor and land-grabbing. Official 2025 customs data confirms the collapse. Over 2/3 of China’s tomato exports are linked to Xinjiang. Report links below:

164

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Excited to see our 136-page report on Uyghur forced labor in Xinjiang's agricultural production & land grabbing now published with University of Sheffield's International Network for Critical China Studies. sites.google.com/sheffield.ac...

111

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

164

Reposted by Adrian Zenz

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Next week we hold our annual China Forum in Washington, DC, with panels on Transnational Repression, Uyghur forced labor, responding to China's global agenda, and the rising challenge of techno-authoritarianism. Registration link and list of speakers below: 👇

131

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

131

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

At #APSA2025 in Vancouver, I was privileged to present papers on Investigative Policy Analysis, the research methodology I use to uncover Xinjiang's policies, and on the information-coercion nexus in authoritarian repression. The venue featured stunning panoramic views.

170

Reposted by Adrian Zenz

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Systemic Coercion, Forced Labor, and Land Grabbing in Xinjiang's Agricultural Sector: Our recent research report provides a detailed analysis of the systemic, state-imposed forced labor present throughout Xinjiang's agricultural sector. THREAD:

323

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

This state-led campaign is dismantling traditional livelihoods and engineered the mass dispossession of ethnic agricultural producers, while implicating a vast network of Chinese agribusinesses and their global supply chains.

100

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

1. Coercive transfers of land-use rights: Systematically dispossessing ethnic peasants of their primary means of livelihood. 2. Forced labor programs: Transferring the now-landless "rural surplus laborers" into state-controlled agricultural and industrial employment.

100

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

The findings demonstrate that the production of key global commodities—including tomatoes, peppers, stevia, and marigolds—is deeply intertwined with a range of severe human rights abuses. The architecture of this coercive system is predicated on two primary state-driven mechanisms:

100

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

323

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

And yet, despite the outcry that followed, despite the condemnations and calls for justice, we have seen very little in the way of concrete action.

010

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

They included mugshots of thousands of detainees, the youngest just 15, shows faces frozen in fear and confusion - the human cost of a genocidal campaign hidden behind slogans of “stability” and “progress.”

110

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

These files laid bare what many of us Uyghurs already knew in our hearts: that our loved ones had been disappeared into a nightmare system of camps and prisons, governed by shoot-to-kill policies, endless interrogations, and a relentless effort to erase our culture, language, and faith.

100

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

The Cost of Silence: Reflections Three Years After the Xinjiang Police Files Leak Powerful op-ed by Rahima Mahmut: "despite the outcry that followed, despite the condemnations and calls for justice, we have seen very little in the way of concrete action" bitterwinter.org/the-cost-of-...

bitterwinter.org

The Cost of Silence: Reflections Three Years After the Xinjiang Police Files Leak

The Files should have generated robust policies against companies profiting from slave labour in the Uyghur region. In the UK, it did not happen.

201

Reposted by Adrian Zenz

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Major media investigation finds thousands of Uyghurs forced to work in 75 factories across 11 Chinese regions, with links to major western companies. I supported this joint investigation into state-imposed forced labor transfers by @nytimes.com @spiegel.de @tbij.bsky.social. THREAD: 👇

11510

Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

The @nytimes.com also published a backgrounder on forced Uyghur labor transfers, citing key public and internal documents that we had analyzed and published: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/29/w...

nytimes.com

How China Uses Work to Reshape Uyghur Identity and Control a Strategic Region

100