The treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China and why we are only just reacting to it
By Tanya Giridharan
Over recent months, the world is becoming increasingly aware of the treatment of Uyghurs in China; however, the Chinese persecution of Uyghurs has been going on since 2014. So why are the many people just hearing about it now, and why has the world been so slow to respond?
https://www.businessinsider.com/uighur-china-detention-centers-activists-urge-accountability-2020-2?r=US&IR=T
The Uyghurs, or Uighurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from central and eastern Asia. They are recognised by the Chinese government as one of China’s ethnic minorities and are native to the Xinjiang Uyghur region in north west China. Most Uyghurs are Muslim and there are thought to be 13.5 million Uyghurs worldwide, with about eighty percent of Xinjiang’s Uyghurs still living in the region.
Historically, many Chinese dynasties have exerted control over parts of what is now Xinjiang, and in recent decades, there's been a mass migration of the Han Chinese (China's ethnic majority) to Xinjiang, and the Uyghurs have felt that their culture and livelihoods are under threat. In July 2009, many riots broke out in response to a violent dispute between Uyghur and Han Chinese workers in a factory, resulting in over one hundred deaths. Following this, Uyghur terrorists killed dozens of Han Chinese in attacks from 2009 to 2016. So, In May 2014, China launched the "Strike Hard Campaign Against Violent Terrorism" in Xinjiang in response to growing tensions between the Han Chinese and the Uyghur population of Xinjiang itself. This was just the start of the current Chinese persecution of Uyghurs.
Chen Quanguo carried on as Communist Party Secretary of Xinjiang in 2016, and as a result new bans and regulations were implemented the next year. For example, abnormally long beards, the wearing of veils in public and giving a child a name that would ‘exaggerate religious fervour’ such as Muhammad were all banned or made illegal. Along with this, many mosques were demolished or destroyed.
Allegedly the ‘re-education’ effort started in 2014; then the camps were for the housing of students of the ‘re-education’ programs, the majority of whom were Uyghurs. Only in 2018 did the Chinese government acknowledge the existence of such camps, calling them ‘vocational education and training centres.’ The camps tripled in size from 2018 to 2019 despite the Chinese government claiming that most of the detainees had been released.
Media is almost completely banned from Xinjiang so it is hard to know what occurs there. People have been subjected to torture, sterilization and political indoctrination in addition to forced labour as part of an assimilation campaign in a region with a Han Chinese majority. There have also been reports of forced birth control.
The BBC's Newsnight programme also interviewed former prisoners who were able to leave for other countries. Here is what one of them, Omir, said:
"They wouldn't let me sleep, they would hang me up for hours and would beat me. They had thick wooden and rubber batons, whips made from twisted wire, needles to pierce the skin, pliers for pulling out the nails. All these tools were displayed on the table in front of me, ready to use at any time. And I could hear other people screaming as well."
The evidence is compelling, and although there's growing international criticism of China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims, no country has yet taken any action beyond issuing critical statements. Part of the reason for this is the fact the genocide is understood as a legal term, meaning it has to be proven before the term can be used and governments are willing to act. As well as this, the main method of determining whether a situation is classified as a genocide is through the UN. It is not just extremely slow, but it can also be vetoed by countries with that power or those who command a majority of votes. The UK and other countries have said that Russia and China would veto any referral to the International Criminal Court.
Governments aren’t even willing to try to get a legal determination through the United Nations about what the Chinese Communist Party is doing to the Uyghurs, because they know China will block it.
Another major question to be asked is, if this has been occurring as early as 2014, why are we just hearing of it recently and why are people only now speaking out. The main reason for this is the Chinese censorship of their treatment of the Uyghurs. However, China still claims that they are just responding to "ethnic separatism and violent terrorist criminal activities", and the reports of a million Uyghurs being detained is “completely untrue.”
In addition, Xinjiang re-education camps and the Uyghur genocide allegations included in the overseas censorship of Chinese issues. This refers to the censorship outside the People’s Republic of China of topics considered sensitive by the ruling Chinese Communist Party. The censorship is set about by foreign companies who want to do business in China, and those who want to avoid offending Chinese customers take it upon themselves to self-censor. Those who are accused of offending Chinese government understandings, have posted apologies or made statements in support of government policy.
Censorship of overseas services is also undertaken by companies based in China, such as TikTok and WeChat. Chinese citizens living abroad as well as families residing in China have also been subject to threats to their employment, education, pension, and business opportunities if they engage in expression critical of the Chinese government or its policies.
As well as this, the China limits media freedom. Foreign journalists have reported rising official interference with their work, and visas have been denied to some foreign journalists who wrote articles on the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
https://www.theweek.co.uk/107945/china-blanks-out-map-to-hide-uighur-detention-camps
Satellite imagery of the camps:
All of this has resulted in the majority of the world unaware of the details and the depth of what is occurring. James Leibold, as associate professor in politics and Asian studies at Melbourne’s La Trobe University, says “China’s economic values and other countries’ reluctance to rock the trade boat is clearly a factor, but there are others”.
As Xinjiang is a very remote part of China, many have not even heard of it and of Uyghurs. In addition, what is going on has not been brought to light by a public figure well-known in the west, as the Dalai Lama did for the Tibetan situation. Then of course, there is the problem of getting information out of Xinjiang. China has restricted access to foreign journalists, other than the few taken on propaganda tours where they are shown smiling inmates and cultural acceptance. As a result, reports have been left to rely on satellite imagery depicting high-security buildings, and the accounts of escapees which are later dismissed by the Chinese government as lies. Many escapees are frightened to tell their stories and “no one wants to talk, with good reason,” says Leibold.
Some say part of the reason it is not getting more attention is the fact that people aren’t openly being killed, raped or tortured. But others say that although we don't know, it is still terrifying. Elaine Pearson, the Australia director of Human Rights Watch states that “They are blueprinting a way of eradicating Muslim identity from a population and I think that’s something we should all be quite scared about.”
Sources
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20201120133357669
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13957801/uighur-muslims-china-camps-genocide/
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/global