The Uyghurs’ Struggle For Their Human Rights Need To Be Supported

March 15, 2023 | ACCIN

Guest speakers were Mr Omer Kanat, Executive Director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) in the USA and President of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and Mr Mehmet Celepci from WUC Australia. Hj Jamaludin pointed out that all the Uyghurs hope for is to live with dignity and practice their religion, culture and way of life in an environment of multiculturalism and peaceful coexistence as is practiced all over the world.

In his speech, Mr Omer Kanat started by saying that XUAR is rich in natural resources such as oil & gas and minerals and this could be part of the reason for China’s stranglehold on the region. He said that the Uyghurs have faced discrimination for a long time, but the situation became worse since 2010. From 2017 onwards, China started adopting a more aggressive approach by rounding up the Uyghurs and imprisoning them in concentration camps which they refer to as ‘re-education camps’.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have come up with similar conclusions. However, there has been no real action although it has been 6 years since the mass detentions began. OIC initially criticised the Chinese government but withdrew the criticism later. Mr Omer Kanat lamented that the Muslim ‘ummah’ should be one body but it seems that the Uyghurs have been amputated from that body. He urged Muslim nations to push for on official enquiry on the status of Islam in China.

Read the full article: http://www.accin.org/the-uyghurs-struggle-for-their-human-rights-need-to-be-supported/