Why Hilton Must Leave the Uyghur Region of China: No Hospitality in the Shadow of Genocide

In a world increasingly demanding accountability from global corporations, one glaring moral failure stands out: Hilton’s continued presence in Xinjiang, the Uyghur region of China, at the center of one of the most egregious abuses of human rights of the 21st century.

For years, international experts, journalists, and human rights organizations have documented the Chinese government’s systematic persecution and genocide of Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim communities in Xinjiang, the Chinese word for the Uyghurs' region in China. These abuses include mass surveillance, arbitrary detention of over one million people in internment camps, forced sterilization, torture, and forced labor. Multiple governments, including the United States, have formally recognized these actions as genocide and crimes against humanity.

Yet, Hilton remains in Xinjiang.

A Hotel on the Rubble of Faith

The most damning example of Hilton’s complicity is the construction of a Hampton by Hilton hotel on the site of a demolished Uyghur mosque in Ürümqi, Xinjiang’s capital. That mosque—once a center of community, culture, and religious life—was razed by the Chinese state as part of its effort to erase Uyghur identity. In its place now stands a Hilton-branded hotel.

This is not a misunderstanding or coincidence. It is corporate collaboration with cultural erasure. By building on stolen sacred ground, Hilton has aligned itself not only with the regime responsible for the genocide but with the physical erasure of Uyghur faith and heritage.

Complicity by Operation

Hilton’s operations in the Uyghur region of China do not exist in a vacuum. In a region where freedom of movement, speech, and religion are violently suppressed, businesses cannot operate independently of the state. Any local partnerships, staffing decisions, or supply chains are at risk of being entangled in forced labor and state-controlled repression.

International business standards—particularly the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights—make clear that companies must avoid causing or contributing to human rights abuses, and they must prevent and mitigate impacts where they are directly linked to abuses through their operations or relationships. Hilton has failed on all counts.

Why Hilton’s Exit Matters

Hilton’s continued presence in Xinjiang sends a powerful message: that profits can take precedence over people, and that even genocide is not enough to lose a corporate partner. This not only undermines the global movement of support for the Uyghurs, but it also gives cover to the Chinese government’s attempts to normalize and whitewash its crimes.

If Hilton pulls out, it sets a precedent. It tells other companies—and the world—that doing business on the ruins of oppression is unacceptable. It tells the Uyghur people that their suffering is not invisible. It becomes a powerful act of corporate resistance against complicity.

A Call for Action

It is long past time for Hilton to act. Public statements of concern are not enough. Internal assessments and risk management language are not enough. What’s needed is action—a full and public withdrawal from Xinjiang, and a commitment never to return while mass atrocities continue.

Hilton must:

• Immediately close and disassociate from its Xinjiang properties.

• Publicly condemn the genocide of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims.

• Commit to not operating in regions where human rights cannot be upheld.

There can be no hospitality in the shadow of concentration camps. There can be no integrity in the ashes of a mosque. And there can be no neutrality in the face of genocide.

Hilton must choose: complicity or conscience.

For More Information:

"It Does Matter Where You Stay: International Hotel Chains in East Turkistan," Uyghur Human Rights Project, April 17, 2025