The Ilham Tohti Institute (ITI) is a non-governmental organization, that was founded after the unjustly imprisoned Uyghur academic Professor Ilham Tohti. Before Ilham Tohti was imprisoned by the Chinese government, he publicly conducted research and pursued campaigns, including: establishing an open dialogue and peacefully solving the existing conflict between Uyghurs and Han people in the Chinese state; campaigning to eliminating racial discrimination and safeguarding for Uyghurs’ equal citizenship rights before the law; take action and fully implement equal rights for the Uyghurs as equals to the majority Han Chinese; conduct research and publicize these critical issues among the Han Chinese people as well in the international community about how Uyghurs are suffering in the hands of Chinese Government with racial discrimination, injustice before law and with the widespread human rights abuses.

Despite the obvious risk to his life, Mr. Ilham Tohti openly submitted his proposals and opinions to the Chinese government. Unfortunately, he was unfairly tried in Chinese court in 2014 and sentenced to life in prison. Our Institute will work to release Professor Ilham Tohti. We will continue working on his research and inform the world of his work on the human rights abuses of the Uyghur people, as well as his tireless effort on finding a method for a peaceful solution for the existing Uyghur issues, and it’s possible implementation. Our institute is actively involved in conducting research, investigations and the disclosing of cases of violations to the international community regarding the human rights abuse of the Uyghur people within the criteria of United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all relevant human rights under the international law.

We will restore the “Uyghur Biz” website founded by Mr. Ilham Tohti with the relevant materials published on this site being translated into English and Uyghur and then it being provided for the use of Uyghur people and researchers worldwide; we will publish books and magazines about the life and work of Ilham Tohti and we will play a bridging role in improving the understanding of the current, most urgent, the “Uyghur genocide” tragedy. As well as this, we aim to provide reliable sources of information on the situation of the Uyghurs and we will also target to present our latest research and information about the Uyghurs to the world.