East Asia and Pacific (EAP)
Sayragul Sauytbay (Ele Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture) – Sayragul Sauytbay was born in Ele Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. She attended medical university and worked as a doctor, teacher, education director, and headmaster. In July 2016, Sayragul and her family attempted to move to Kazakhstan but the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) confiscated her passport and prevented her from going with her husband and children. From November 2017 to March 2018, Sayragul was forced by the CCP to teach Chinese to ethnic minority people in a detention camp. In March 2018, Sauytbay fled to Kazakhstan to avoid being sent back to the camps, where she feared she would die. Subsequently, Sauytbay become one of the first victims in the world to speak publicly about the CCP’s repressive campaign against Muslims, igniting a movement against these abuses. Her testimony was among the first evidence that reached the broader international community of the CCP’s repressive policy, including both the camps and the coercive methods used against Muslim minorities. Sayragul and her family received asylum in Sweden, where they now live.