15 Nov
2019
15 Nov
'19
1:01 p.m.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 15, 2019
Contact: Rohit Mahajan | 202.530.4976 | mahajanr(a)rfa.org
<mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org>
Radio Free Asia Uyghur Journalist Wins Magnitsky Human Rights Award
WASHINGTON - Radio Free Asia's (RFA) Uyghur Service journalist Gulchehra
Hoja last night received a Magnitsky Human Rights Award at a ceremony in
London <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-svElzDHyJg> for her reporting on
the ongoing humanitarian and human rights crisis
<https://www.economist.com/china/2019/10/24/to-suppress-news-of-xinjiangs-
gulag-china-threatens-uighurs-abroad> in China's Xinjiang Uyghur
Autonomous Region (XUAR).
"Gulchehra and RFA's Uyghur Service have worked tirelessly to bring to
light the human rights abuses happening in China's Uyghur region," said
Libby Liu, President of RFA. "We must also remember the extraordinary
pressure facing her and her fellow journalists in RFA Uyghur, as Chinese
authorities have targeted their family members in China in retaliation.
"Heroically, Gulchehra and her colleagues have not let this unacceptable
emotional intimidation stop them from keeping RFA audiences and the world
informed about an unfolding humanitarian crisis affecting millions."
Hoja said, "It is an honor to be recognized with this award for my
reporting about the dire situation in China's Far West for the Uyghurs. My
colleagues and I know that no matter the obstacles or the adversity we
face, it is crucial that we continue to reveal the truth."
Along with her colleagues in RFA's Uyghur Service, Hoja
<https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/14/asia/uyghur-china-xinjiang-interview-intl/
index.html> has been at the forefront
<https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/training-camps-09112017154343.htm
l> of coverage of the internment of, by many estimates, more than 1
million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the XUAR. RFA, the only
outlet outside China that has a Uyghur-language service, has received wide
recognition for first reporting on the mass internments and related
developments in the XUAR. The Economist recently published an editorial
<https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/10/24/knowledge-of-chinas-gulag-ow
es-much-to-american-backed-radio> noting RFA's ability "to penetrate
China's wall of secrecy in Xinjiang by pumping local sources for
information, using their own language."
Hoja began her career in journalism in the XUAR with Chinese state media.
But when she first heard RFA's reports during a trip to Germany in the
summer of 2001, she was inspired to leave China and join RFA. Hoja shortly
thereafter settled in the United States and became a full-time journalist
with RFA in October of that same year, and later a U.S. citizen. Among
many other stories, Hoja has reported on the construction of crematoria
<https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/crematoriums-06262018151126.html?
searchterm:utf8:ustring=%20crematoria> near the internment camps in the
XUAR, the sterilization and sexual abuse
<https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/abuse-10302019142433.html?searcht
erm:utf8:ustring=%20gulchehra%20hoja> of female detainees, and the
situation facing
<https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/children-11082018162416.html>
"orphaned" children, whose parents have been detained. Hoja is among at
least six members of RFA
<https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/03/radio-free-asia
-uighur-service/583687/> 's Uyghur Service who have family members in
China who are missing, detained, or jailed in retaliation for these RFA
journalists' work.
The Magnitsky Human Rights Awards were established in 2015 to recognize
brave journalists, politicians, and activists for human rights-related
work. This year's honorees included Maria Ressa, co-founder and CEO of the
media outlet Rappler, and the late Jamal Kashoggi, a Washington Post
contributing columnist and critic of the Saudi government, who was slain
in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Past winners of the Magnitsky
Award have included journalists from Radio Free Europe, Bellingcat, and
MBK Media. This instance marks the first time a journalist from RFA has
been recognized.
# # #
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and
publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian
languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media.
RFA's broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and
expression, including the freedom to "seek, receive, and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." RFA
is funded by an annual grant from the United States Agency for Global
Media.
Rohit Mahajan | Radio Free Asia | Vice President of Communications &
External Relations
<mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org | O: 202.530.4976 | M:
202.489.8021
