By Uyghur Times Staff
April 12, 2025
A Danish anthropologist known for his extensive research on Uyghur studies, Dr. Rune Steenberg, was denied entry to Kazakhstan on April 12, despite having traveled to the country multiple times in the past. The incident occurred at the Qordai-Dostuk land border crossing between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, Global Voices reports.
According to Steenberg, Kazakh border officials provided no explanation for the ban. “I asked about the reasons. They said there was no information,” he told Global Voices. “I think it has to do with my research on Xinjiang.”
Steenberg has worked for years studying Uyghur communities across the world and is currently leading an EU-funded project titled Remote Ethnography of XUAR. He is also a resident fellow at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek. His research focuses on the repression faced by Uyghurs and Kazakhs in China, particularly in the Uyghur homeland.
“Ironically, I am now barred from entering the two countries with the largest Uyghur populations in the world,” Steenberg noted. Still, he remains undeterred, saying, “There is so much to do even when you cannot go in person.”
Steenberg’s experience echoes similar incidents involving other Uyghur rights advocates, such as Bunin, who was also denied entry to Kazakhstan in 2021.
Observers say Kazakhstan’s close political and economic ties with China — its largest trading partner and investor — may be influencing such decisions. During a 2023 visit to the Uyghur homeland, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev did not publicly raise the issue of China’s abuses.
Credit: Global Voices
