The Chinese government is interrogating Uyghur Australians visiting Xinjiang, pressing them to collect information on Uyghurs in Australia, Human Rights Watch said today as its executive director, Philippe Bolopion, visited Australia.
Chinese authorities have long engaged in transnational repression-human rights abuses committed beyond a country's borders to curtail dissent-against Uyghurs living abroad and their relatives in Xinjiang, by targeting activists critical of the Chinese government. By pressing visitors to provide information about Uyghur activists, organizations, and language schools in Australia, the authorities are repressing the rights of Uyghurs in Australia to freedom of expression, association, culture, and family life.
"The Chinese government exploits the vulnerability of separated Uyghur families as an opportunity for surveillance and disruption of communities abroad," said Philippe Bolopion, executive director at Human Rights Watch. "Interrogating Uyghurs visiting Xinjiang and strict monitoring of diaspora activities have a chilling effect emblematic of Beijing's transnational repression in Australia."
Human Rights Watch interviewed 11 Uyghur Australian citizens and permanent residents in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide in April and May 2026. They included recent visitors to Xinjiang and Australia-based activists.
Uyghurs in Australia who have been unable to visit their families in Xinjiang said they have no information about relatives there or can communicate with them only under strict official surveillance, with Chinese government officials monitoring their calls.
In recent years, the Chinese government has permitted Uyghurs from Australia and elsewhere in the diaspora to make restricted visits to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Such visits are important for many Uyghur families who have been separated since the government's abusive Strike Hard Campaign in Xinjiang began in 2016. However, these visits have also provided the local authorities with opportunities to question or interrogate visitors and monitor their movements.
Uyghurs living abroad who have been able to visit Xinjiang need to pass stringent Chinese government vetting processes. Those with foreign passports eligible for a visa-free program that began in 2024 have been told by their families in Xinjiang that they need to undergo background checks and obtain prior approval from local authorities.
Three Uyghur Australians, who are not activists, described traveling to Xinjiang on Australian passports under this visa-free program. They said their families in Xinjiang had to seek permission from local authorities before their visits.
One said they first had to check in at a government-designated hotel, rather than their family home, and that their relatives in Xinjiang told them they would face problems with the authorities if they did not comply. The visiting Australians also said they had to report their daily activities in Xinjiang to local authorities and were kept under heavy surveillance, especially when traveling outside Urumqi, the regional capital, where restrictions seem less severe than in other cities.
Another Uyghur Australian said authorities interrogated him more than a dozen times, once for more than seven hours: "They asked for addresses and phone numbers of several prominent Uyghur activists in Australia." When he said he did not have that information, the police pressed him to monitor the activists' activities upon returning to Australia and photograph them during events.
A third person who was also interrogated by the police in Xinjiang said she was put under severe pressure because she feared for her and her family's safety. "How could I say no to anything they asked me to do?"
Others interviewed said they were questioned about Uyghur language schools in Australia; in Xinjiang the authorities have sought to erase Uyghur culture and language.
Some Uyghur Australians interviewed said they would not return to Xinjiang, even with the visa-free program, because they feared being detained or imprisoned, and would not be able to communicate with their families free from government control.
On August 7, Human Rights Watch sent a summary of its findings to the Chinese and Australian governments. The Chinese government has not responded. Australia's Department of Home Affairs responded on August 14 and said in part, "The Australian Government takes the issue of all forms of foreign interference, including transnational repression seriously. It is unacceptable for any foreign Government to target members of community in ways that prevent individuals from exercising their fundamental rights and freedoms in Australia."
Australian officials have raised the cases of separated Uyghur Australian families with their counterparts in Beijing but with little success. In December 2020, the Uyghur Australian Sadam Abdusalam reunited with his wife and child with support from the Australian government.
But numerous other Uyghur families in Australia remain unable to reunite with even immediate family members because their loved ones are banned from leaving Xinjiang. They also worry that their peaceful actions in Australia affect their families' freedom in Xinjiang or any eventual opportunity to reunite.
The Chinese government's abuses against visiting Uyghur Australians have enabled transnational repression by remotely isolating and marginalizing Uyghur activists in Australia, as other Uyghurs fear being seen with them at public events.
In July, China's new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress took effect. The law contains provisions having extraterritorial application that could be used to deny rights to Uyghurs abroad, and other diaspora groups. Article 63 broadly states that "organizations and individuals outside the territory of the People's Republic of China" that "undermine national unity and progress or incite ethnic division" will be held "legally accountable."
The Australian government and other affected governments should adopt measures to protect their citizens and residents from Beijing's acts of transnational repression, Human Rights Watch said.
"The Chinese government's transnational repression poses a serious threat to the rights and freedoms of Uyghur Australians who wish to maintain family ties in Xinjiang while preserving their culture and identity in Australia," Bolopion said. "Australia and other affected governments should take meaningful steps to address these concerns."
For accounts of repression against Uyghurs in Australia, please see below.
China's Crimes Against Humanity in Xinjiang
Over the past decade, the Chinese government has committed widespread and systematic abuses against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang that constitute crimes against humanity. These include mass arbitrary detention, unjust imprisonment, mass surveillance, religious persecution, and forced labor.
Beijing's transnational repression derives its impact abroad from these crimes. Chinese authorities use the vulnerability of relatives in Xinjiang, restrictions on travel and communication, and fear of retaliation to pressure Uyghurs abroad.
Since the start of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's Strike Hard Campaign in Xinjiang in late 2016, the authorities have arbitrarily confiscated Uyghurs' passports in the region, and punished Uyghurs for contacting family members and others abroad. While the authorities are now permitting select Uyghurs to travel internationally or to visit family members in Xinjiang, they continue to exert tight control over those who travel.
Interrogation and Pressure to Monitor Uyghurs in Australia
Uyghur Australian citizens interviewed said they experienced heavy surveillance and interrogation while they were visiting Xinjiang. They said that Chinese authorities used controlled family visits to question them and pressure them to monitor Uyghur community life after they returned to Australia.
One visitor said:
