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Danish anthropologist denied entry to Kazakhstan for criticizing China's repression of Uyghurs
Danish anthropologist Rune Steenberg was denied entry to Kazakhstan on April 12 at the Kazakh-Kyrgyz land border near Bishkek. Despite his numerous previous visits to the country, Kazakh border guards did not explain the denial.
"I asked about the reasons. They said there was no information. I think it concerns my research on East Turkistan (Xinjiang)," Steenberg explained.
Steenberg, who leads an EU-funded research project at Palacky University Olomouc and serves as a teaching fellow at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, has extensively studied Uyghur communities worldwide, including in East Turkistan (Xinjiang).
Originally focused on academic research, Steenberg's work evolved into advocacy as the situation in East Turkistan (Xinjiang) deteriorated. Since 2014, Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in East Turkistan have faced mass detention in "reeducation camps," surveillance, forced labour, and other human rights abuses under China's anti-extremism campaigns.
This is not an isolated incident. In 2021, Yevgeny Bunin, creator of the Shahit.biz database documenting East Turkistan (Xinjiang) detention victims, was similarly denied entry to Kazakhstan.
The denials likely stem from Kazakhstan's close political and economic relationship with China. The countries maintain a "permanent comprehensive strategic partnership," with China being Kazakhstan's largest trading partner and a major investor, contributing over USD 25 billion to Kazakhstan between 2005 and 2023. During Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's October 2023 visit to East Turkistan (Xinjiang), issues concerning the rights of ethnic Kazakhs in China were notably absent from public discussions.