Monday marks 70 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Drafted in the wake of the atrocities of WWII, its 30 articles constitute governments’ explicit pledge to prevent a repetition of the crimes against humanity of the 1930s and 40s.
In the Chinese region of Xinjiang, tens of thousands of ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities have been detained inside enormous extrajudicial ‘re-education camps’. China claims the region faces a serious threat from Islamist militants and separatists, stirring up tensions between the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority and the ethnic Han majority.
The Chinese government is under increased pressure over its archipelago of mass detention camps, holding approximately one million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (also known as East Turkestan). Beijing has responded with a flurry of contradictory rhetoric, first denying that the camps exist, then portraying them as voluntary vocational training centres, and most recently describing them as a ‘counter-terrorism’ measure that Europe should learn from.
Dolkun Isa doesn’t have the money or powerful backing that most people who successfully lobby Congress have. But he’s going up against the government of China anyway.
We speak to a Uighur refugee, and debate if data theft, interference and illegal spending tainted the Brexit referendum.
China’s campaign against Uyghur nationalism, branded by Beijing as separatism, has abruptly spiked in the last two years and spread beyond just the Uyghurs.
Czech and Slovak Appeal for the Closure of Political Reeducation Camps for Uyghurs and Other Minorities and for the Observance of Internationally Acknowledged Human Rights in the People’s Republic of China
Uyghur Reveals Chinese Communist Party's Crimes in Xinjiang
We speak to Rushan Abbas, a Uyghur-American activist based in Washington, D.C. After she spoke out against China’s repression of the Uyghurs earlier this year, her aunt and sister disappeared and have not been heard from since.
Campaign group urges foreign governments to halt ‘business as usual’ relations with Beijing until action is taken
Bibliography of select news reports & academic works
Compiled by Professor Magnus Fiskesjö
A new report from the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) details how 231 intellectuals have been forcibly disappeared, interned in political indoctrination camps, removed from their posts or imprisoned since April 2017.
Remarks at the International Religious Freedom Roundtable
Testimony of UHRP Chairman Nury Turkel, House Foreign Affairs Committee, Asia Subcommittee Hearing: "China's Repression and Internment of Uyghurs: U.S. Policy Responses." September 26, 2018.
Oral Statement of UHRP Chairman Nury Turkel, House Foreign Affairs Committee, Asia Subcommittee Hearing: "China's Repression and Internment of Uyghurs: U.S. Policy Responses." September 26, 2018.
The human rights crisis in East Turkestan (also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) requires an urgent international response. The mass internment of Uyghurs in camps across the region is occurring as the Chinese government promotes itself globally as a model of governance and trade through the Belt and Road Initiative.
The mass internment of Uyghurs in camps across the region is occurring as the Chinese government promotes itself globally as a model of governance and trade through the Belt and Road Initiative. A new report from the Uyghur Human Rights Project documents the camp system and the individuals impacted.