Uyghurs

Historical Background

A succession of people and empires have vied for control over all or parts of Xinjiang territory for at least the last 2,500 years. The territory came under the rule of the Qing dynasty in the 18th century; the dynasty was later overthrown by the 1911 revolution and replaced by the Republic of China. Since 1949 and the Chinese Civil War, the Xinjiang region has been part of the People's Republic of China. In 1954, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) established the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) to strengthen border defense against the Soviet Union and promote the local economy by settling soldiers into the region. In 1955, Xinjiang was administratively changed from a province into an autonomous region. In recent decades, China’s state-owned oil corporations found abundant oil and mineral reserves in Xinjiang. It is currently China's largest natural-gas-producing region. 

Prior to the 20th century, the Uyghur populations resided in an area of central Asia known as Xinjiang. The Uyghur are predominantly Muslim of an ethnic Turkic descent. They have a unique culture and language and may physically differ from people who identify as Han Chinese. In the mid-20th century, the People’s Republic of China incorporated Xinjiang, and the Chinese government began an extensive program to assimilate the Uyghur. However, the Uyghurs resisted the efforts to replace their customs and language with those of Communist China. By the early 1990s, the Chinese government began taking what some believe to be extreme measures to bring the Uyghur population under their control. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has held millions of Uyghurs in huge "re-education" prisons and labor camps and forcibly placed Han Chinese monitors in Uyghur families. The Chinese government justified these and other actions such as using facial and voice recognition to identify the Uyghur population by citing concerns for national security, terrorism and religious extremism. These assimilationist policies are designed to stop independence movements by Uyghurs.  

The Chinese government sought to “help” the Uyghurs assimilate into Chinese society through re-education camps. When those attempts were not as successful as the government hoped, it began to detain and indoctrinate individuals, forcing their renunciation of Islam. To further the cultural erasure, the Chinese government began a program of forced sterilization, IUD placements and abortions aimed at reducing the Uyghur population. 

Another action taken by the Chinese government to break the will of the Uyghur people is to place individuals in mass internment camps for both re-education and to force the Uyghurs to work in factories producing goods for the global market. This forced labor includes coerced relocation, language instruction in Mandarin, and strict control over the workers. Additionally, there have been reports of physical abuse, sexual violence and psychological torture in detention centers. The Chinese government calls the facilities vocational education and training centers; International media organizations and researchers call them reeducation camps, internment camps, and detention camps. Some activists describe them as concentration camps. 

Additionally, the Chinese government assimilation efforts include demolishing religious sites and mosques and banning or restricting religious practices, such as fasting during Ramadan, studying the Qur’an or wearing of hijabs for women or growing heavy beards for men. 

Does this constitute Genocide? 
Legal experts look to the United Nations Genocide Convention to determine if China’s actions toward the Uyghur people constitutes genocide. According to this UN Convention, Genocide involves acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Within this definition there are five categories: 

1. Killing members of the group. 

2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm. 

3. Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s destruction. 

4. Imposing measures that prevent birth. 

5. Forcibly transferring children to another group. 

It can be said that the actions of China toward the Uyghur people met almost all the above categories.

There is evidence of forced sterilization and re-education camps within Xinjiang (XUAR). The Chinese government has denied any intent to eliminate the Uyghur population; however, their actions do not seem to support their assertions. Leaked documents known as the “Xinjiang Papers” suggest significant directives targeting the Uyghur people. 

Implementation of Genocide

The Chinese government began the implementation of ethnic cleansing during the last few decades of the 20th century. The Chinese used the excuse of trying to gain control of possible terrorists and extremists and started labeling individuals by obtaining blood samples and using voice recognition and facial analysis to identify people who were ethnic Uyghurs. The Chinese government banned the practice of the Islamic faith and made it illegal to teach the Uyghur culture and language. Following these actions, Beijing began forced sterilization of men and women and the forced marriages of Uyghur women to Chinese men. Additionally, the government placed over 500,000 Muslims into political education camps and required them to work as forced laborers in factories. 

Since 2017, between 800,000 and two million Uyghurs have been held in Xinjiang's so-called re-education camps where they are forced to participate in CCP indoctrination programs and abandon their Muslim faith and culture. The CCP forbids use of the Uyghur language and imposes Mandarin Chinese within these camps. Inside camps, CCP officials subject Uyghurs to physical beatings, sexual assault, and gang rapes of women. 

The government of China has consistently denied any form of genocide or ethnic cleansing. The government stands by its statement that they are only protecting the people of Xinjiang and the rest of China from terrorism and extremist religious beliefs. 

International Response

They found that China refashioned some lower-security reeducation camps into formal detention centers or prisons; expanded existing detention centers; and constructed new, high-security detention centers throughout Xinjiang.  

Much of the world has condemned China’s detention of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The UN Human Rights Office has urged China to release people who have been arbitrarily detained and disclose the whereabouts of those who are missing. Lawmakers in several countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom, have declared that China is committing genocide against Uyghurs; the U.S. government was the first to do so, in January 2021. Many countries have sanctioned Chinese officials and entities linked to rights abuses. The European Union (EU) also sanctioned Chinese officials in 2021, marking the first time the bloc placed restrictions on China since 1989.  

China denies all accusations of genocide. In addition to using diplomatic channels and official media resources, China’s government has expanded its public diplomacy operations and disseminated false information on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms. The CCP and its propaganda apparatus offer financial support to third parties that create large numbers of fake accounts which advance the party line. 

As the international community continues to react to the genocide of the Uyghurs, many countries have not taken a stance as they import many goods from China. The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) continues to add to the growing list of products produced in China by forced labor or goods produced elsewhere with component parts that were produced by forced labor. This list includes items ranging from textiles to polysilicon. The US Department of Commerce has limited the access to US markets of several Chinese entities accused of crimes in Xinjiang and the US Department of Homeland Security has stopped some shipments containing cotton and cotton products from entering the country. 

Ultimately, overwhelming credible evidence, besides the report from the former High Commissioner, human rights organizations, civil society, and UN special rapporteurs (experts) have warned the world that Chinese authorities are carrying out a campaign of persecution against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities, using mass surveillance and detention, forced sterilization, torture, cultural and ethnic erasure, and forced labor. This meets the criteria for Genocide. 

Long Term Impact 

It is too soon to tell the long-term impact of the Uyghur Genocide as it is currently on going. However, many aspects of Muslim life have been erased. Halal food, which is prepared according to Islamic law, has become harder to find in Ürümqi, the capital of Xinjiang, as the local government has launched a campaign against it. Government data indicates that in Xinjiang’s two prefectures with the highest proportions of Uyghurs, the natural population growth rates (which exclude population change from migration) fell by 84 percent between 2015 and 2018 and declined further still in 2019.