The Uyghur Human Rights Project has identified at least 386 Uyghur intellectuals detained and disappeared since early 2017, victims of the massive campaign of ethno-religious repression carried out by the Chinese government in the Uyghur homeland. It is time to end business as usual.
Twenty-two years later the unlawful killing of Uyghur demonstrators in Ghulja remains uninvestigated, as the Chinese government conducts a campaign of mass internment and imprisonment. The Chinese authorities' zero tolerance for peaceful dissent in 1997 has developed into the targeting of any Uyghur in a bid to eradicate the Uyghur identity and culture.
Persecution of teachers, scholars and artists constitutes an attempt to erase Uyghur culture. 338 Uyghur intellectuals interned, imprisoned or forcibly disappeared since April 2017, including 21 staff mebers of Xinjiang University. International scholarly exchange with China cannot be justified until they are released.
The Chinese Communist Party poses a fundamental threat to civilized values and a rules-based international order. The Party’s massive crackdown in 2018 is breathtaking, encompassing independent intellectuals, civil society, and religious believers of all kinds, including Christians, Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetan Buddhists, Chinese Buddhists, and Hui and Turkic Muslims across the length and breadth of China.
UHRP calls on governments, Muslim and all faith leaders, companies, and academic institutions to end business as usual with the government of China, at a time when it is expanding concentration camps for Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim groups. UHRP asks governments and businesses to think about the judgment of history, and take urgent action.
For immediate release
November 21, 2018 12:40 PM EST
Contact: Uyghur Human Rights Project +1 (202) 478 1920
For immediate release
November 19, 2018 11:15 AM EST
Contact: Uyghur Human Rights Project +1 (202) 478 1920
For immediate release
November 8, 2018 12:00 pm EST
Contact: Uyghur Human Rights Project +1 (202) 478 1920
For immediate release
November 2, 2018 11:00 am EST
Contact: Uyghur Human Rights Project +1 (202) 478 1920
For immediate release
October 30, 2018 12:30 pm EST
Contact: Uyghur Human Rights Project +1 (202) 478 1920
Bibliography of select news reports & academic works
Compiled by Professor Magnus Fiskesjö
The Uyghur Human Rights Project has identified at least 386 Uyghur intellectuals detained and disappeared since early 2017, victims of the massive campaign of ethno-religious repression carried out by the Chinese government in the Uyghur homeland. It is time to end business as usual.
Persecution of teachers, scholars and artists constitutes an attempt to erase Uyghur culture. 338 Uyghur intellectuals interned, imprisoned or forcibly disappeared since April 2017, including 21 staff mebers of Xinjiang University. International scholarly exchange with China cannot be justified until they are released.
The Chinese government has been demolishing Uyghur neighborhoods across East Turkestan, for more than a decade. This has resulted in the loss of physical structures, including Uyghur homes, shops, and religious sites. Uyghurs have been forcibly relocated to heavily monitored apartment blocks.
The massive scale and sudden establishment of the concentration camp system in East Turkestan is unprecedented. According to US government estimates, there are a minimum of 800,000 and possibly over 2 million people currently detained. This is up to 20 percent of the Uyghur population.
Religious expression is one of the primary reasons the government is sending people to the expanding network of internment camps across East Turkestan (aka Xinjiang). There are reports of people being sent to the camps for having attended a wedding or funeral where a religious passage was read.
Chinese government officials have emphasized Mandarin language ability as a marker of modernity and, more recently, a necessity in the fight against “terrorism.”