The history between China and the Uighur Muslims is well known. In one way or another, many of us have come across social media posts or reports on news channels talking about the matter. However, it does not receive nearly as much attention as it deserves.
Currently, China is facing increasing international condemnation due to the treatment of Uighur Muslims. The Chinese government is accused of committing genocide. There are allegations against China for implementing a campaign of torture, forced sterilization, and mass surveillance of the Uighur Muslims, among other abuses.
In 2018, a UN human rights committee said they found credible reports that a million Uighurs held in political ‘counter-extremism camps in China. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have implicated Beijing of mass imprisonment and torture. Although the Chinese government firmly denied the existence of such camps, images of camps with watchtowers and barbed wire fences proved otherwise.
In their defence, China accused Uighur militants of planning a violent campaign to be an independent state and stated that the camps are “re-education camps”. Reports say that inmates held captive in these “re-education camps” have never been charged with a crime and were not provided with any legal representation.
Since 2017, about one million Uighurs in more than 85 identified camps were reported. The locations of these camps were in Xinjiang. Many were established between the years 2017 and 2018. Uighur Muslims say that they were detained and beaten because of their religion and that these camps were not intended for “re-education”. Despite much incongruous evidence, China maintains its stance.
The tension between the Chinese government and the Uighurs had been steadily increasing over the years. Especially after the 9/11 attacks, Uighur separatists have been increasingly portrayed as auxiliaries of al-Qaeda by the Chinese government.
However, who exactly are the Uighurs? The Uighurs are of Turkic ethnicity and mostly Muslim. They identify themselves as culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian nations. The majority of Uighurs(about 11 million) live in Xinjiang, China. Uighurs also live in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Australia. They also have their language, which is also called Uighur.
The Uighurs briefly announced independence during the early part of the 20th century. However, China took complete control of the region in 1949. Xinjiang is currently identified as an autonomous region in China. Nonetheless, the province has little autonomy from the Chinese state.
In 2017, a directive issued by President Xi Jinping stated, “religions in China must be Chinese in orientation” and “adapt themselves to socialist society”. This affected the Uighurs especially, as it led to a new crackdown on religious practices. Xinjiang is now heavily monitored through a vast surveillance network, such as police, checkpoints and cameras.
The Chinese government claims that these measures have been taken to combat separatist violence in the region. However, it is said that China is overstating the threat to hide the oppression of the Uighurs. According to activists, central government policies have been slowly reducing Uighurs’ religious, cultural and commercial activities. Especially with large numbers of mainly Han Chinese being encouraged to move to the region.
There are accusations that Beijing increased its crackdown in Xinjiang after street protests in the 1990s, as well as in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008. University Students in Xinjiang said there was a ban against fasting during the month of Ramadan in 2014. The government passed a law in 2017 that prevented men from growing their beards long and women from wearing veils. Many mosques have also been demolished in Xinjiang to suppress the Uighur Muslims.
Despite all the pieces of evidence, the Uighur Muslims are not getting any closer to justice. Recently, the International Criminal Court announces that they will not investigate the mass detention of the Uighurs in China. The allegations that China committed genocide and other immoral crimes will not be investigated at this time. This is a great setback for activists who have been fighting to hold China accountable for its crimes against the Uighur Muslims.
The reason there will be no investigation is that the alleged crimes took place in China, which is not a party to the court. The Uighur groups also lobbied the court to investigate Beijing for pursuing the repatriation of Uighurs (through unlawful arrests and deportation from other countries). However, the prosecutor’s office said in its report that there was “no basis to proceed at this time” because there was not enough evidence to prove that Chinese officials have committed crimes over which the court had jurisdiction.
Regardless of this unfortunate setback, activists say they will continue their fight to hold China accountable for its actions. Even with all this happening currently, not many people talk about this ongoing issue. Whether it be due to lack of representation on local news channels or simply ignorance, the World has been uncharacteristically silent. History is repeating itself, and it is time we all wake up and fight back.
Written by Nafisa T., Age 15
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