China Uses Fake NGOs and Cyberattacks to Silence Uyghur and Global Dissent

By Uyghur Times Staff
April 30, 2025 – Geneva

A major investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and partners has exposed how China manipulates UN human rights bodies through fake NGOs—known as GONGOs—while targeting Uyghur activists with cyberattacks and surveillance abroad.

The report, Inside China’s Machinery of Repression, reveals how Chinese state-linked groups pretend to be civil society to block real NGOs and defend Beijing’s record on East Turkistan, Tibet, and Hong Kong. During UN events, World Uyghur Congress (WUC) leaders including Zumretay Arkın and Erkin Zunun were monitored and harassed.

Beyond the UN, China’s repression extends globally. In Germany, Erkin Zunun was targeted by sophisticated cyberattacks and malware from Chinese hackers, aiming to access his private and work accounts.

This global campaign of transnational repression—through institutional manipulation and digital attacks—threatens not only Uyghur activists but the very integrity of international human rights systems.