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Persecution of Uyghurs in China

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The ethnocide[1][2][3] of Uyghurs in China is a part of the Chinese policy of Sinicization under the presidency of Xi Jinping. Critics of China's treament of Uyghurs have stated that this effort involves the concentration of Uyghurs in state-sponsored re-education camps,[4][5] suppression of peaceful Uyghur religious practices,[6][7] forced steriliation of Uyghur women,[8] forced administration of drugs to Uyghurs,[4] as well as torture by electrocution and beatings.[4] China denies wrongdoing, having received the backing of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation[9] and stating that evidence for torture is "fake news."[10]

Historical Background

Photograph of a young Uyghur girl
A Uyghur girl in Turpan, Xinjiang.


Definitions of Ethnocide

Main article: Ethnocide

Ethnocide refers to extermination of national culture as a genocide component.[11][12][13]

Reviewing the legal and academic history of usage of the terms genocide and ethnocide, Bartolomé Clavero differentiates between them in that "Genocide kills people while ethnocide kills social cultures through the killing of individual souls".[14] In addition, "since cultural genocide can only be the cultural dimension of genocide", the idea of ethnocide is more than just "cultural genocide", but also part of broader genocidal process.[11]

Notions of Ethnocide

UNESCO

In UNESCO "Declaration of San Jose": [15]

The Declaration of San Jose commits the United States and the nations of Central America to a more in-depth discussion of a broad range of issues. These issues include: strengthening democracy and regional security, building trade and investment, combating crime, drugs and corruption, promoting dialogue on immigration, and achieving more equitable and sustainable development.[16]  In the Declaration of San José, UNESCO also addresses and works to define ethnocide. UNESCO defines the term as follows:

Ethnocide means that an ethnic group is denied the right to enjoy, develop and transmit its own culture and its own language, whether collectively or individually. This involves an extreme form of massive violation of human rights and, in particular, the right of ethnic groups to respect for their cultural identity.

Robert Jaulin

Main article: Robert Jaulin § The concept of ethnocide

The French ethnologist Robert Jaulin (1928-1996) proposed a redefinition of the concept of ethnocide in 1970, to refer not the means but the ends that define ethnocide.[17] Accordingly, the ethnocide would be the systematic destruction of the thought and the way of life of people different from those who carry out this enterprise of destruction. Whereas the genocide assassinates the people in their body, the ethnocide kills them in their spirit.

Pierre Clastres

In Chapter 4 of The Archeology of Violence by Pierre Clastres

Ethnocide, unlike genocide, is not based on the destruction of the physical person, but rather on the destruction of a person’s culture. Ethnocide exterminates ways of thinking, living, and being from various cultures. It aims to destroy cultural differences, especially focused on the idea of “wrong” differences, that are present in a minority group by transforming the group’s population into the culture norm of a certain place. This measuring of differences according to one’s own culture is called ethnocentrism. The ethnocentric mind is based on the assumption that there is a hierarchy of superior and inferior cultures. Therefore, ethnocide hopes to raise inferior cultures to the status of superior cultures by any means necessary. [18]

Barry Sautman

Barry Victor Sautman is a professor with the Division of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

The "intent that underlies ethnocide is not the same intent as the intent of cultural genocide, for the same reason that it is not tied to physical or biological destruction of a group. The intent is therefore typically aimed at forced assimilation and not on population decimation. Thus the intent that underlies ethnocide is an intentional act resulting in cultural death" [19]

Testimony of Prisoners in Internment Camps/Camp Detainees

Xinjiang Victims Database

Uyghur Aid

Arfat Erkin

Humar Issac-Wang

Mihrigul Tursun

Persecution of Artists and Cultural Extinction

Persecution of Academics

Persecution of Artists

Persecution of Musicians

Persecution of Clerics

The persecution of Muslim clerics is well-documented and longstanding.[20][21][22] In 2005, Human Rights Watch reported that “information scattered in official sources suggests that retaliation” against mosques not sponsored by the Chinese State was prevalent, and that the Xinjiang Party Secretary expressed that Uyghurs “should not have to build new places for religious activities.”[20] The Chinese government prohibited minors from participating in religious activities in Xinjiang in a manner that, according to Human Rights Watch, “has no basis in Chinese law.”[20] According to an analysis from The Guardian, over one-third of mosques and religious sites in China suffered “significant structural damage” between 2016 and 2018, with nearly one-sixth of all mosques and shrines completely razed.[22] This includes the tomb of Imam Asim, a mud tomb in the Taklamakan desert. According to The Guardian, Uyghur Muslims believe that repeated pilgrames to the tomb would fulfill a Muslim’s obligation to complete the Hajj.[22]

In addition to destroying religious spaces, the Chinese government has also imprisoned Uyghurs imams for engaging in "unapproved" religious actions. According to Radio Free Asia, the Chinese government jailed Abduheber Ahmet, a Uyghur imam, after he took his son to a religious school not sanctioned by the Chinese state. Ahmet had previously been lauded by China as a “five-star” imam, but was sentenced in 2018 to over five years in prison for his action.[21]

Persecution of Women

According to the outreach coordinator for the U.S.-based Uyghur Human Rights Project, [23] Zubayra Shamseden, the Chinese government “wants to erase Uighur culture and identity by remaking its women.” [24] Both the Genocide Convention and the lawyers who shaped the doctrine Crimes Against Humanity [25] agree that crimes against women are used specifically as a means to harm a population’s culture. The situation in Xinjiang, both inside and outside of re-education camps, has been targeting women as a means to destroy Uyghur culture. [24] In testimony from former female residentss of the re-education camps, the former residents stated that women had been injected with a solution that prevented menstruation, and that camp officials have repeatedly raped women.[26] In 2018 the Chinese government created a program in which Communist Party officials would stay in Uyghur family’s homes to teach the families about national unity. [27] According to the Human Rights Watch, these home-stays were used for Han Chinese men to take advantage of and rape Uyghurs women, therefore furthering the community’s repression. Moreover, Uyghur women have been reported as being forced into unwanted marriages with Uyghur officials. In these interethnic marriages, Uyghur cultural traditions are notably absent. [28] Additionally, according to gender studies expert Leta Hong Fincher, the Chinese government has offered Uyghur couples incentives to have fewer children, and for women to marry outside of their race [29].

Human Right Abuses

Human Right Abuses Inside the Uyghur Internment Camps

Tortures

"A young Uighur mother says she was tortured and subjected to other brutal conditions in one of the 're-education' camps in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Province ... Mihrigul Tursun recounted her horrifying experience. She was drugged, interrogated for days without sleep, and strapped in a chair and jolted with electricity. It was her third time being sent to a camp since 2015. Tursun told reporters that she remembers interrogators telling her: 'Being a Uighur is a crime.'"[30]


"'They made me wear what they called 'iron clothes,' a suit made of metal that weighed over 50 pounds,' says Samarkand, drawing a picture of the device on a piece of paper. 'It forced my arms and legs into an outstretched position. I couldn't move at all, and my back was in terrible pain.'

Samarkand says after half a day of standing like this, he did whatever they told him.

'They made people wear this thing to break their spirits. After 12 hours, I became so soft, quiet and lawful.'"[31]

Sterilizations and Sexual Abuse Within Camps

Zumrat Dwut is a woman who was in a Uyghur concentration camp until her husband was able to get her out through Pakistani diplomats. During her time there, she was forcibly sterilized [32]

Mihrigul Tursun accounts Tursun said she and other inmates were forced to take unknown medication, including pills that made them faint and a white liquid that caused bleeding in some women and loss of menstruation in others. Tursun said nine women from her cell died during her three months there.[33]

One reported being raped. Many said they were subjected to sexual humiliation, from being filmed in the shower to having their intimate parts rubbed with chili paste. [34]

Brainwashing

"In addition to living in cramped quarters, he says inmates had to sing songs praising Chinese leader Xi Jinping before being allowed to eat. He says detainees were forced to memorize a list of what he calls '126 lies' about religion: 'Religion is opium, religion is bad, you must believe in no religion, you must believe in the Communist Party,' he remembers. 'Only [the] Communist Party could lead you the to the bright future.'[35]

“Should students ask whether their missing parents had committed a crime, they are to be told no, it is just that their thinking has been infected by unhealthy thoughts. Freedom is only possible when this ‘virus’ in their thinking is eradicated and they are in good health.”[36]

In addition to torture and intrusive medical prcedures, Uyghur detainees are forced to abandon their native language, religious beliefs, and cultural practices. [37]


"...a 15-year-old Uighur girl reports that her mother was detained in March, after authorities discovered she and her father had left China for Kazakhstan.

The girl, who doesn't give her name for fear of retaliation against her mother, says she has repeatedly called the police back in her hometown in China.

'They only tell me that she's studying and learning Mandarin," she says. 'It's horrible. I've heard people in the camps are forced to eat pork and drink alcohol in order to denigrate their religion. They're also forced to give thanks to the Communist Party before every meal. I don't think a humane country would ever force people to do such things.'"[38]

Exploited Labor

"Xinjiang is also where most of China’s cotton is grown—between 74% and 84%, depending on the estimate. The Uyghur Human Rights Project, a US-based group that advocates for Uyghur rights in China, describes the region as a “cotton gulag” where prison labor is present in all steps of the cotton supply chain..."[39]

CSIS, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, DC, think tank, spoke out about concerns over forced Uyghur labor. "Cotton products don’t generally ship straight from Xinjiang to the US, though. Instead, the cotton can be turned into yarn and textiles in Xinjiang, other parts of China, or sometimes neighboring countries. US companies buy the yarn, fabrics, or even finished clothes made from the cotton. 'Given that Xinjiang provides the vast majority of China’s cotton and industry experts estimate that the majority of that cotton is further transformed into finished and semi-finished products in China, any product from China containing cotton is arguably suspect,' CSIS states..."[39]

Tahir Hamut, is a member of the Uyghur Muslim ethnic minority in Xinjiang. At the command of the Chinese government, he began working in a labor camp during elementary school. As an adult he was arrested and sent to a re-education camp, where he was subjected to completing various forms of unpaid labor. Such tasks included making bricks, shoveling gravel and picking cotton. [40]

"Everyone is forced to do all types of hard labor or face punishment," he said. "Anyone unable to complete their duties will be beaten." [41]


Human Right Abuses Outside the Uyghur Internment Camps

Civil Harassment

Women being taunted by soldiers on the street for their headdress

In 2017, long beards and face veils were banned in Xinjiang, as well as "choosing names in an abnormal way." [42]

Difficulty Tracing Family Members

Detail the difficulty people have had to trace their family members who disappear in the Internment Camps

"at least dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Uighur wives of Pakistani men who have disappeared since April 2017 into China's internment camps, according to estimates by their spouses. It is unclear how many children of such unions have also been seized...They are also prompted by a new fear: that their children, trapped in China, risk being taken away to state-run orphanages. The children are vulnerable because many of them are Chinese citizens. Many of the Pakistani men did not naturalize their children. They believed that before the crackdown, there was no need. Now, they say, Chinese authorities are not allowing the children to leave the country — and are taking them away on the pretext that their parents are not present.

"Children whose mothers and fathers aren't present — they take them to orphanages," says Javeid, a 62-year-old Pakistani businessman who says his wife was seized last October.[43]


In the past year, the office, run by a Kazakh rights organization called Atazhurt, has collected more than 1,000 testimonies from ethnic Kazakhs and Uighurs whose families have disappeared into a network of internment camps across the border, a few hundred miles away in the Chinese region of Xinjiang...

Thanks to a wide range of local connections in Xinjiang, Seytoff's team of ethnic Uighur reporters often breaks news developments in the region. Seytoff says he and his colleagues first learned of the re-education camps in April 2017, soon after the loyalty letter campaign.

"It was shocking," he recalls. "A large number of people in different towns were being detained not for committing any crimes, but simply because someone had a beard, or had a beard a couple of years ago, or someone's wife wore a long dress a few years back, or some people were just gathering to talk about a religious teaching."

Mosques

"reports suggest that dozens of mosques have been destroyed in China's crackdown".[44]

"Observers have called China’s actions in Xinjiang the work of a 'bulldozer state'. It is an apt way to describe the ongoing work of destruction and remodelling of the region’s landscape and its people. Mosques such as the one in Keriya were an early target of the campaign against “religious extremism”. A reporter visited the eastern region of Qumul in 2017 and learned from local officials that over 200 of the region’s 800 mosques had already been destroyed, with over 500 scheduled for demolition in 2018. Residents said that their local mosques had disappeared overnight, levelled without warning."[45]

Forced Cohabitation and Sexual Harassment Outside the Camp

"In 2018, Chinese public servants began mandatory home stays with Uyghur families to help the Xinjiang residents "assimilate," and watch for frowned-upon religious or cultural practices."[44]

On August 25, 2017, the local government in Cherchen (in Chinese, Qiemo) county in Xinjiang’s Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture announced its “Uyghur-Han Marriage and Family Incentive Strategy,” which gave 10,000 yuan to Uyghurs and Han Chinese couples who intermarried.[46]


"The police and local officials came and took me and my brother to a government building," the woman says. "They made my brother sign a document saying that if I don't get an abortion, he would suffer the consequences. I knew this meant he'd be detained in a camp. I'd do anything to protect my brother, so I agreed to the abortion."[47]

Biometric Technology


Chinese authorities have been utilizing Biometric Technology to track individuals in the Uyghur community.[44] According to Yahir Imin, a 38-year-old Uyghur, Chinese authorities in Xinjiang drew blood, scanned his face, recorded his fingerprints, and documented his voice.[44] As stated in the article written by Sui-Lee Wee, a key piece in China's strategy is to collect genetic material from millions of people in the Xinjiang region. The genetic material contributes to an extensive database that can track Uyghur individuals who defy the campaign. China is exploring the use of facial recognition technology to sort people by ethnicity and how to use DNA to tell if an individual is a Uyghur. According to an assistant professor at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Mark Munsterhjelm, The PRC is creating “technologies used for hunting people."[48] This process of mapping faces from DNA samples is called DNA phenotyping. With this process, scientists are able to use DNA genes to access skin color, eye color, and ancestry. A main problem with DNA phenotyping are the ethical issues that arise. For example, police could use this technology to target ethnic groups. In addition, there exists the fundamental issue of consent for people in the DNA database.

Various Chinese start-ups have been building algorithms to allow the Chinese government to track the Muslim minority group. Start-ups include: SenseTime, CloudWalk, Yitu, Megvii, and Hikvision.[49]

Biometric Data in the Tumxuk Area

As facial recognition technology develops throughout China and across the world, images produced from DNA samples are expected to aid the government in tracking criminals and protestors. Officials in Tumxuk (pronounced TUM-shook) have gathered hundreds of blood samples from Uyghur individuals, contributing to the campaign in mass-collecting DNA.[48]

Tumxuk is filled with different police checkpoints and was named a “major battlefield for Xinjiang’s security work” by the state news media. [48] In January of 2018, a forensic DNA lab overseen by the Institute of Forensic Science of China was built in Tumxuk.[48] Documents from within the lab showed that the lab was supported by software created by Thermo Fisher Scientific, a Massachusetts company.[48] This software was used in correspondence to create genetic sequencers, helpful in analyzing DNA. In response, Thermo Fisher declared in February that it would discontinue selling to the Xinjiang region as a result of “fact-specific assessments.”[48]

Research on genetic technology is conducted by China’s Ministry of Public Security.[48] As recorded in academic papers, it is stated that men in Tumxuk voluntarily donated their blood for research, but according to Uyghurs who have left the country, individuals in internment camps have little to no choice but to give blood samples.

Research Papers and Corresponding Authors

In 2018, a study on Uighur faces in the journal Hereditas (Beijing) was published by the government-backed Chinese Academy of Sciences.[48] In addition to this journal, DNA samples taken from 612 Uighurs in Tumxuk in April appeared in Human Genetics, a journal published by Springer Nature.[48] Contributors to these two papers include authors from many different Chinese research institutions. Authors of these papers include: Tang Kun, a specialist in human genetic diversity at Shanghai Partner Institute for Computational Biology; Liu Fan, a professor at Beijing Institute of Genomics, and assistant professor at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands; and Li Caixia, a chief forensic scientist at the Ministry of Public Security.[48] The Institute for Computational Biology is a supporter of genetic research in China. Founded by Max Planck Society, this top research group in Germany provided $22,000/year in funding to researchers in China.[48]

GPS Tracking on Cars

Security officials have ordered residents in China’s Northwest region to install GPS tracking devices in their vehicles so authorities can track their movements. This measure affects residents in the Xinjiang region and authorities say it is necessary to counteract Islamist extremists and separatists.[50] An announcement from officials proclaim that “there is a severe threat from international terrorism, and cars have been used as a key means of transport for terrorists as well as constantly serving as weapons.[50] It is therefore necessary to monitor and track all vehicles in the prefecture.”[50]

Installment of China-made Beidou satellite navigation systems will be required beginning February 20, 2020 for all private, secondhand, and government vehicles.[50] Drivers that refuse to install the GPS devices will not be allowed to fill their tanks at gas stations. Installing these devices is much cheaper in comparison to spy cameras and security devices put up across Xinjiang. All of these technological devices have contributed to the large investment in both low-tech and high-tech methods of surveillance in the Xinjiang region.


Samarkand, a prisoner recently released from an internment camp, said that "When I arrived back home, nobody in my village would talk to me because they were scared to talk to someone like me who had been in the camps," he says. "The village had changed. There were police everywhere, cameras on all corners and nobody even greeted each other on the street anymore. Traditional patterns of life in the village had been erased."[51]


China's Overall Expanse of Public surveillance

In addition to not only conducting mass surveillance on minority groups across the country, China has also started expanding mass surveillance techniques directed towards its general Han population. According to the BBC titled, “China due to introduce face scans for mobile users” under the veil of supposedly “protect[ing] the legitimate rights and interests of citizens in cyberspace” the Chinese government announced in September 2019 they would be requiring facial scans for the registration of mobile users. China already required consumers to provide their national identification card when signing up for new mobile/data contracts. As of December 2nd they will also be required to have their faces scanned to validate that individuals match the government ID that is provided. This comes in a slew of People's Republic of China (PRC) aggressively trying to strengthen its ability to, “ensure that the government can identify all mobile phone user”. Jefferey Ding who conducts research on Chinese artificial said a possible motivation for this is, “Connected to a very centralized push to try to keep tabs on everyone, or that at least the ambition” (Ding).




Social Media

Social Media's Role in Perpetuating Ethnocide

According to Samuel Sigal author of a Vox article titled, “China Paid Facebook and Twitter to Help Spread Anti-Muslim Propaganda” two large social media giants Facebook and Twitter were found to be enabling the Chinese State-owned media outlets to spread misinformation about Uyghur camps. Twitter allegedly allowed the Global Times geared which is a “English-Chinese Newspaper” to promote a “video of its editor-in-chief, who criticized politicians and journalists who’ve condemned the camps, saying, ‘Their hands are in a way soiled with the blood of the Chinese people who died in violent attacks’ perpetrated by Uighurs. This quote is framed out of true context as in 2009 ethnic riots had resulted in the deaths with the addition of radical Uyghurs having been alleged to have been conspirators in potential attacks. On Facebook the Global times posted a sponsorship paid video which was titled, “Xinjiang center trainees graduate with hope for the future” priding the camps for having helped establish vocational training and helped to fight religious extremism. The two social media groups have taken very different stances on issues related to accepting state-controlled news outlets. Twitter announced, “It will no longer take advertising money from state-controlled news media outlets”. While Facebook reiterated their previous rhetoric saying, “It will keep accepting such ads but will take a closer look at ads that have been raised to use to determine if they violate our policies”. This is the same public response that was issued in 2017 in response to social media outcry to violence directed toward the Rohingya another Muslim minority group that experienced hundreds of thousands were displaced, and thousounds killed. The United Nations labeled this, “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

Internal Documents

Main articles: Xinjiang papers and China Cables
Opinions on further strengthening and standardizing vocational skills education and training centers work[52]

"Integrated Joint Operation Platform" Daily Essentials. Autonomous Regional Party Committee Command for Cracking Down and Assaulting on the Front Lines

NO.2: "Backflow prevention, dispatching" Situation Clues[53]

NO.9: "Disconnect" Situation Clues[54]

NO.14: Four southern Xinjiang states "integrated" platform Data notification and check situation[55]

NO.20: “Excavation numbers, reduction numbers, shoveling soil” Situation Clues[56]

Xinjiang Uighur Autonomic Region Qakilik Country People’s Court Criminal Judgement[57]

403 Pages Leak of internal documents obtained by the New York Times

96 pages of internal speeches by Mr. Xi

102 pages of internal speeches by other officials

161 pages of directives and reports on the surveillance and control of the Uighur population in Xinjiang

44 pages of material from internal investigations into local officials.

"Tactics from Turpan City for answering questions asked by the children of concentrated education and training school students"[58]

Governmental Documents released by China

The Fight Against Terrorism and Extremism and Human Rights Protection in Xinjiang[59]
Vocational Education and Training in Xinjiang[60]


China's Response

China's response to the leaked Xinjiang camp cables[61]

Global Times Op-ed response[62]

Global Times video response

Embassy Spokesperson's Remarks on China's Policy in Xinjiang[63]

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on December 4, 2019[64]

Global Response

Middle East

According to several sources, the overall response from countries associated with the middle east has been either support or silence on the internment camps[65] Algeria, Angola, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and many others all signed a UN document defending China's human rights record.[66][67] Countries such as Turkey was silent on the issue till 2019.[68][69][70] Iraq, and Iran have also remained silent[71] While Saudi Arabia and Egypt have even been reportedly helping in the internment efforts.[72][73][74][75] Qatar supported China until recently, they were the first Middle Eastern country to withdraw their defense of the Uyghur Camps [76][77][78]

File:UN - Formal Support - Disagreement Infographic.png
Letters of support and defense in formal UN statements on Uyghur Issue

United Nations

According to Human Rights Watch News, twenty-two countries issued a combined statement that called upon China to end its mass violations against the Uyghur community in the Xinjiang autonomous region in China's Northwest. [79] John Fisher, Geneva director at Human Rights Watch stated “the joint statement is important not only for Xinjiang’s population, but for people around the world who depend on the UN’s leading rights body to hold even the most powerful countries to account.”[79] In the joint statement, countries stated their concerns regarding the surveillance, detention, and other ethical violations against the Uyghur and Muslim community in Xinjiang. Countries that have contributed to this statement include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.[79]

UAE

Russia

Russia has expressed support of the Uyghur camps on multiple occasions[80]They were among the 35 nations to formally declare their support of the Uyghur camps in China, the reason being "Faced with the grave challenge of terrorism and extremism, China has undertaken a series of counter-terrorism and deradicalization measures in Xinjiang, including setting up vocational education and training centers,” [81] Russia and the other states have also formally claimed the camps to be a "contribution to the international human rights cause.”[82]

New Zealand

The prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, visited Beijing after the massacre of 51 muslims and discussed Xinjiang privately with Xi Jinping. However, nothing resulted from such conversations and Ardern did pursue this topic further. The lack of concern was backed by the fact that New Zealand exports many products to China, including milk, meat, and wine. Thus, countries tend to criticize China in a group to avoid individualization and to diffuse any possible retribution.

America

The House recently passed a huge allegation offering full sanctions to the victims of the internment camps[83]

Europe

South-East Asia

Cambodia, Myanmar, and The Philippines signed formal support of China's policies[66] Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia have all deported Uyghur people on China's request[84]

Central Africa

Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Nigeria, Somalia, and many other central African countries are also defending China[66]


Possible Long-term Outcomes

According to , there are three possible long-term outcomes which the Chinese government must choose from. These are the continuing of the Internment Camps, the release of the Uyghers, or their liquidation.

Continuing the Internment Camps

This option is unlikely as the camps are expensive.

Release

This option is also unlikely because Uyghers have been further radicalized

Instead of re-educating him, says he says his experience at the camp 'made me hate the government even more.'[85]

A 15 year old girl whose mother was taken away to a detention camps said that "I want to go back to yesterday's China, not today's China," she says. "I love China very much. It's where I was born and raised. I never expected it would turn into what it has today. I used to be proud of being born in China. I told everyone I was Chinese. Now I don't know what to say."[86]

Liquidation


Persecution and Cultural Extinction

The Chinese government is performing mass arrests of famous figures in order to destroy the culture and identity of the Uyghurs.[87] Uyghur leaders and academics are likely brought to the re-education camps, where, according to numerous eyewitness testimonies, they are forced to denounce themselves, their very professional and personal dignity, and bow to prefabricated verdicts of being "two-faced" secret radicals.[87]

Uyghur Language

Chinese law states that “[s]chools (classes) and other educational organizations recruiting mostly ethnic minority students should, whenever possible, use textbooks in their own languages and use these languages as the media of instruction” (https://www.cecc.gov/resources/legal-provisions/peoples-republic-china-regional-ethnic-autonomy-law-chinese-and-english-text)


In 2011, schools in Xinjiang have transitioned to “bilingual education”. However, the majority of the instruction occurs in Mandarin Chinese, with only a few hours a week devoted to Uighur literature. Despite this emphasis on “bilingual education”, few Han children are taught to speak Uighur.  

(https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.nd.edu/docview/1691593600/2DE23A44F0E94862PQ/28?accountid=12874). In 2017, primary schools began to switch to Chinese only instruction. Additionally, the Uighur authors of the Uyghur-language textbook used in “bilingual” education received a suspended death sentence due to the lack of patriotic material in the sourced readings. The textbooks had previously passed all government censors. Uighur language books in households are also being confiscated, despite being previously approved. (https://supchina.com/2019/10/02/xinjiang-education-reform-and-the-eradication-of-uyghur-language-books/)

The Uighur language is a Turkic language that utilizes an Arabic-based alphabetic script, and has many loan words from Persian.

(https://thediplomat.com/2019/05/chinas-effort-to-silence-the-sound-of-uyghur/)

Uighur students are also increasingly being sent to residential schools, keeping them separated from their home communities where they are able to speak Uighur.


Since 2017, the educational system has also changed by way of the entrance exams offered to students. Previously, the exam was offered in either Chinese or the native language of minority students. Now, the exam is offered only in Chinese(?) and the bonus points that minority students taking the exam in their non-native language received has been dramatically reduced.

(https://supchina.com/2019/10/02/xinjiang-education-reform-and-the-eradication-of-uyghur-language-books/)


In 2018, Memtimin Ubal, one of the highest ranking Uighur officials declared that speaking Uighur was unpatriotic.  (https://supchina.com/2019/01/02/the-patriotism-of-not-speaking-uyghur/)

References

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  7. ^ Blackwell, Tom (25 September 2019). "Canadian went to China to debunk reports of anti-Muslim repression, but was 'shocked' by treatment of Uyghurs". National Post. Retrieved 2019-12-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ Enos, Olivia; Kim, Yujin (29 August 2019). "China's Forced Sterilization of Uighur Women Is Cultural Genocide". The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 2 December 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ "RESOLUTIONS ON MUSLIM COMMUNITIES AND MUSLIM MINORITIES IN THE NON-OIC MEMBER STATES ADOPTED BY THE 46TH SESSION OF THE COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS". Organization of Islamic Cooperation. 2 March 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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