The Uyghur American Association (UAA) is a prominent non-profit advocacy organization based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It was established on November 16, 1998, by a group of overseas Uyghur activists to raise public awareness about the Uyghur people, who primarily reside in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, also referred to by Uyghurs as East Turkestan.
The UAA was the first Uyghur organization to be established in the United States. Its charter was developed using a blueprint from an earlier organization, the California-based Uyghur Overseas Student and Scholars Association, which was founded in 1993. Being based in the Washington, D.C. area has allowed the UAA to engage closely with U.S. policymakers and political institutions.
The UAA serves as an affiliate organization of the World Uyghur Congress and works to promote Uyghur culture and improve human rights conditions for Uyghurs. In 2004, the UAA founded the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) with a grant from the National Endowment for Democracy to further its focus on human rights documentation and advocacy.
The organization has been instrumental in mobilizing the Uyghur community for advocacy, organizing numerous protests, rallies, and awareness campaigns. These efforts have coincided with significant legislative actions such as the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of 2021.
The greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, particularly Fairfax County, Virginia, is home to one of the largest concentrations of the Uyghur diaspora in the United States, and the UAA serves as a central hub for this community. The organization provides cultural programming, community support services, and serves as a liaison between the Uyghur community and American civic institutions.
Through its decades of work, the UAA has established itself as one of the most influential Uyghur diaspora organizations, playing a key role in bringing Uyghur issues to the attention of the American public and government officials at the highest levels.