Rushan Abbas is a prominent Uyghur-American activist and a leading voice against China’s transnational repression. Her sister, Dr. Gulshan Abbas, a retired physician, has been imprisoned by the Chinese government since September 2018 in direct retaliation for Ms. Abbas’s advocacy, a case that has become a global symbol of the CCP’s reach beyond its borders.

Ms. Abbas is the founder and executive director of Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU), chairwoman of the executive committee of the World Uyghur Congress, chairwoman of the Advisory Board of the Axel Springer Freedom Foundation, and serves as a board member of the Interparliamentary Taskforce on Human Trafficking.

Ms. Abbas works tirelessly with governments and international lawmakers to shape policy, including by testifying before Congress and advising parliaments worldwide on the Uyghur genocide. She is a frequent commentator in major international media outlets.

Under her leadership, CFU was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 and 2025 and received the Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy in 2025. Ms. Abbas was also honored with the Huntington Her Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024. In June 2025, she published her memoir, “Unbroken: One Uyghur’s Fight for Freedom.”