Shopping. Uighur, Chinese (Pinyin) Weiwu’er, also spelled Uygur or Uyghur, a Turkic-speaking people of interior Asia. These detentions lasted for months or even years. The Uighur are an ethnic minority group of Muslims living in China’s north-west region of Xinjiang. T he Biden administration slapped sanctions on China in March for its crimes against humanity and genocide for holding millions of Muslim-minority Uighurs in detention centers in Xinjiang. Under Chinese law, Uighurs and other minority nationalities enjoy autonomy within the country’s political system. China has dismissed claims it is trying to reduce the Uighur population through mass sterilisations as "baseless", and says allegations of forced labour are "completely fabricated". Earlier, leaked documents known as the China Cables made clear that the camps were intended to be run as high security prisons, with strict discipline and punishments. China has 55 “ethnic minorities” – groups with backgrounds different from the Han. How US can help China's Uighurs, who suffer disappearances, forced abortions, other atrocities Uighurs are allegedly being subjected to brutal and coercive family planning policies Those who do manage to move to China's major cities eke out a desperate living as migrant workers, often viewed with distrust and suspicion by the larger Chinese population. When asked about what potential trade repercussions naming China’s treatment of the Uighurs a genocide would inflict on Canada, O’Toole said that shouldn’t be the focus. Many former detainees were transferred to work in newly constructed factories, prompting concerns about forced labor that led to U.S. sanctions. UK accuses China of 'gross' abuses against Uighurs, China 'using birth control' to suppress Uighurs, China detains one million Uighurs, UN told, France calls on US to drop vaccine export bans. Xinjiang’s Muslim minorities … There are around 11 million Uighurs in Xinjiang. Surviving China’s Uighur camps. But in practice, both face major restrictions by the central government. With China’s treatment of the ethnic minority Uighurs coming under growing international condemnation, the embassy on Wednesday hosted a two-hour long “press conference” in … Read about our approach to external linking. Parts of Xinjiang had two brief periods of self-rule as East Turkestan (1933-1934 and 1944-1949) before the region came under Mao Zedong’s Communist rule in 1949, along with the rest of China. After a report by the BBC on the rape and … Xinjiang, officially referred to as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, is a mostly desert region in China’s northwest bordering eight other countries – Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. There are an estimated 11 million Uighurs in the region – almost half of its total population. China’s harsh campaign to forcibly assimilate the Uighurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority group in Xinjiang, has drawn international condemnation, with the U.S. State Department classifying it as “genocide.”. Human rights groups believe China has detained more than a million Uighurs over the past few years in what the state defines as "re-education camps". Many Uighurs are Muslim, and their religious faith has put them at odds with the officially atheistic Chinese Communist Party. Clashes between Uighurs and Han Chinese killed some 200 people, who authorities said were mostly Han. China, in contrast, set up Education and Training Centers aimed at convincing Uighurs not to support extremism. Xinjiang is rich in oil and produces the vast majority of China’s cotton. Uighur activists say years of state-sponsored oppression and discrimination against Uighurs have fueled grass-roots anger against the government. The UK parliament has unanimously declared China to be perpetrating "crimes against humanity and genocide" against Uighur Muslims and ethnic minorities in … China has rounded up a million and imprisoned them in camps. Human rights groups believe China has detained more than a million Uighurs over the past few years in what the state defines as "re-education camps". The Centers are supposed to teach Mandarin and job skills. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Human rights groups believe China has detained more than a million Uighurs over the past few years in what the state defines as "re-education camps". The State Department declared in January that China’s actions against Uighurs should be categorized as “genocide.” The United States also banned imports of goods made in Xinjiang, citing a risk of forced labor in the region. China has said reports it has detained Uighurs are completely untrue. A: The Uighurs are a nomadic, Turkic people native to China’s northwestern Xinjiang region. There are about 12 million Uighurs, mostly Muslim, living in north-western China in the region of Xinjiang, officially known as … The Uyghurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. Uighurs are Muslims who speak their own language. The Uighurs speak their own language, similar to Turkish, and see themselves as culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian nations. Uighurs are a Muslim minority. Uighurs in China: What we know about the alleged concentration camps for Muslims One expert called it ‘slow, painful, creeping genocide’ Caption: Dozens of Chinese … Like Tibet, it is autonomous, meaning - in theory - it has some powers of self-governance. What happens to your body in extreme heat? PHOTO: REUTERS The Uyghurs are recognized by the Chinese government as a regional minority within a multicultural nation. Video, Philippines Covid surge throws country into disarray, Fears for safety of guard who escaped armed ambush, Big Chinese rocket segment set to fall to Earth, Out in the cold: NYC cancels school snow days, Sturgeon celebrates 'extraordinary' SNP victory, Trump officials obtained reporters' phone data, Zulu royals back new king after family feud, Train services cancelled after cracks found, China has been forcibly mass sterilising Uighur women, China is committing "genocide and crimes against humanity", Uighur camp detainees allege systematic rape, UK accuses China of 'gross' human rights abuses, Pressure and propaganda - the reality of reporting Xinjiang, Searching for truth in China's 're-education' camps, China denies Muslim children separation campaign. In China, those calls have in turn spurred a nationalist fervor, with citizens pledging their own boycotts, punishing the likes of H&M for declining to use their nation's cotton. Holocaust Memorial Museum is “a camp in which people are detained or confined, usually under harsh conditions and without regard to legal norms of arrest and imprisonment that are acceptable in a constitutional democracy.”. Chinese policemen clash with Uighur women in the street in July 2009 in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. China denies such allegations, saying it has been combatting separatism and Islamist militancy in the region. Former detainees reported daily lessons in patriotism and Chinese language, and some said they were tortured by guards. China blamed Uighur separatists and has vowed to eliminate separatist and militant Islamic ideology among the Uighur population. China’s suspicions about the Uighurs could also be because they harbour such a separate culture. Numerous human rights groups accuse the centers of condoning rape , torture, and forced labor . China points to sporadic terrorist attacks in Xinjiang and a Uighur independence movement as justification for the crackdown. The Chinese government has pursued a policy of sinification (making other cultures more “Chinese”), forcing Uighurs to abandon their language for Mandarin and give up other aspects of their culture. The European Parliament condemned China in December for forced labor in Xinjiang. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said China is committing "genocide and crimes against humanity". Ethnic tensions between Uighurs and China’s majority Han people have long simmered in the region, occasionally breaking out into violence. Anti-Han and separatist sentiment rose in Xinjiang from the 1990s, flaring into violence on occasion. China is facing mounting criticism from around the world over its treatment of the mostly Muslim Uighur population in the north-western region of Xinjiang. Who are the Uighurs? Surviving China’s Uighur camps - YouTube. The United States on Saturday condemned China's sanctions against two American religious-rights officials and a Canadian lawmaker in a dispute … NT: Because of this IJOP that has been in the news a lot, Integrated Joint Operations Platform, the Chinese government forced Uighurs to install spying software on … In December 2020 research seen by the BBC showed up to half a million people were being forced to pick cotton. VideoPhilippines Covid surge throws country into disarray, Spy row revs up Russia tensions in heart of Europe, India's Covid crisis delivers a blow to brand Modi, The sheikh, the ransom payments and the bandits, The deadly secret of the superfruit loved in the US. There are about 12 million Uighurs, mostly Muslim, living in north-western China in the region of Xinjiang, officially known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said the treatment of Uighurs amounts to "appalling violations of the most basic human rights". © 2021 BBC. A number of Uighurs continue to hope for political independence one day, a stance that is harshly suppressed by Beijing. China is using its large economic power to discourage American companies like Nike and Coca-Cola from speaking out against their genocide against the Uighurs, Waltz added. Analysts say that the plight of China’s Uighurs poses a problem for Erdogan, who is seeking alternative global partners at a time when relations with the west are deeply strained. Thousands of Uyghur workers in China are being relocated in an effort to assimilate Muslims, documents show . Recent decades saw a mass migration of Han Chinese (China's ethnic majority) to Xinjiang, and the Uighurs feel their culture and livelihoods are under threat. One definition of “concentration camp” from the U.S. China committing genocide against Uighurs, says report China breached ‘each and every’ provision of UN Genocide Convention in treatment of Uighurs, … About 12 million Uighurs live in Xinjiang, with smaller groups in Kazakhstan, Turkey and other countries. Many Uighurs have more in common with people in … The Chinese government’s forced sterilization of Uighurs reflects a knowing effort to control the ethnic group’s future. Watch later. Many Uighurs have more in common with people in the nearby countries than they do with the Hans. A number of former detainees say they were forced to work at a factory as a condition of release. Definitions differ for the emotionally charged term, but the Xinjiang camps have key similarities to the early Nazi concentration camps. While some detainees died in the Xinjiang camps, the official goal was to release them back into society after ideological training. Many Uighurs are Muslim, and their religious faith has put … On Thursday, China’s state broadcast regulator said it would pull BBC News off the air, after Britain stripped a license for Chinese state television and in the wake of China’s objections to BBC reports on abuses against Uighurs. The Uighurs are one of the largest ethnic minority populations in China, with an estimated 11 million Uighurs living in Xinjiang - half the Muslim population in China. Since 2017 when President Xi Jinping issued an order saying all religions in China should be Chinese in orientation, there have been further crackdowns. The video is one of over half a dozen such segments showing Uighurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority in the western region, pleading with relatives abroad to come home and stop speaking out against China and the ruling Communist Party. Why might the Chinese oppress the Uighurs? It is a mostly desert region, producing about a fifth of the world's cotton. The US is among several countries to have accused China of committing genocide and crimes against humanity through its repression of the Uighurs. Their distinctive language and religion segregates them from the rest of the country. But in recent years a massive security crackdown has crushed dissent. Responses from China. In 2009, Xinjiang’s capital city, Urumqi, was wracked by riots, resulting in 197 dead and many more injured. 'Our first day of freedom on American soil' Video, 'Our first day of freedom on American soil', #MeToo Serbia: 'I thought I was the only one' Video, #MeToo Serbia: 'I thought I was the only one', Philippines Covid surge throws country into disarray. Xinjiang, where an estimated 80% of China's Uighurs are said to live, is China's most western province. How US can help China's Uighurs, who suffer disappearances, forced abortions, other atrocities Uighurs are allegedly being subjected to brutal and coercive family planning policies In 2017, Xinjiang began a massive political reeducation program, with more than 1 million Uighurs from all walks of life taken into detention. Share. The region has land borders with Afghanistan, Russia, Pakistan, India, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and China has long prioritized the need for stability on its sometimes fractious periphery. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch parliament on Thursday passed a non-binding motion saying the treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority in China amounts to genocide, the first such move by a … China responded a day later by sanctioning US officials in the outgoing Trump Administration, including Pompeo for their criticisms of China's treatment of the Uighurs. Deadly attack near secondary school in Afghanistan, The Aboriginal boy teaching Australia a lesson, 'Our first day of freedom on American soil' Video'Our first day of freedom on American soil', #MeToo Serbia: 'I thought I was the only one' Video#MeToo Serbia: 'I thought I was the only one', Philippines Covid surge throws country into disarray. A modern browser with Javascript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. Who are the Uighurs? The Uyghurs , alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. T he Biden administration slapped sanctions on China in March for its crimes against humanity and genocide for holding millions of Muslim-minority Uighurs in detention centers in Xinjiang. Read about our approach to external linking. The Chinese government blamed the protests on violent separatist groups, a tactic it would continue to use against the Uighurs and other religious and ethnic minorities across China. At a crowded press event on Friday in Beijing, Chinese officials aired a video of a thin Uighur man with a shaved head, wearing an oversized uniform and speaking directly to the camera. There is evidence new factories have been built within the grounds of the re-education camps. France calls on US to drop vaccine export bans1, Fears for safety of guard who escaped armed ambush2, Big Chinese rocket segment set to fall to Earth3, Out in the cold: NYC cancels school snow days4, Sturgeon celebrates 'extraordinary' SNP victory5, Trump officials obtained reporters' phone data6, Zulu royals back new king after family feud7, Train services cancelled after cracks found8, Deadly attack near secondary school in Afghanistan9, Dozens hurt in Jerusalem mosque clashes10. Chinese government figures put the current Uighur population inside Xinjiang at around 11.7 million. The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. For example, they can enroll in schools taught in their native language and receive preferential treatment in college admissions. Scholars estimate that more than 1 million Uighurs were detained in reeducation camps for periods ranging from weeks to years. In both cases, the detentions were made without formal charges or trials. In 2009 some 200 people died in clashes in Xinjiang, which the Chinese blamed on Uighurs who want their own state. Campaigners say China is trying to eradicate Uighur culture. The international media has struggled to gather information from Xinjiang. WASHINGTON - A charge by the United States China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang amounted to “genocide and crimes against humanity” … Chinese officials on Friday aired a video of a thin Uighur man with a shaved head, wearing an oversized uniform and speaking directly to the camera. Beijing’s focus on stability in Xinjiang is driven by the region’s geopolitical and economic importance. Who are the Uighurs, and what’s happening to them in China. In Virginia, some 7,000 miles from Xinjiang, Murat’s advocacy for her mother’s release has brought her frequent threats and Chinese Communist party-connected telephone calls. The French president spoke out after the US backed a proposal to waive patents on Covid-19 vaccines. They make up less than half of the Xinjiang population. The Xinjiang camps, however, were not death camps — the most notorious type of Nazi concentration camp, where detainees were killed en masse by gassing or other methods. It is also rich in oil and natural gas and because of its proximity to Central Asia and Europe is seen by Beijing as an important trade link. Xinjiang lies in the north-west of China and is the country's biggest region. The reasons for detention could be as minor as wearing a headscarf or long beard, having more than two children or traveling overseas for vacation. The Chinese government disputes the characterization of the facilities as concentration camps, saying they are vocational training centers meant to reform people with extremist tendencies. Uighurs live for the most part in northwestern China, in the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang; a small number live in the Central Asian republics. Info. In the early 20th Century, the Uighurs briefly declared independence, but the region was brought under the complete control of China's new Communist government in 1949. Several countries, including the US, Canada and the Netherlands, have accused China of committing genocide - defined by international convention as the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group". Xinjiang is now covered by a pervasive network of surveillance, including police, checkpoints, and cameras that scan everything from number plates to individual faces. They are recognised as being native to … The Chinese Communist Party, by carrying out its campaign of mass murder against the millions of Uighurs in the Xinjiang area of western China, breached “each and every act prohibited” by … Ethnic Uighurs and activists protest against a visit to Turkey by China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on March 25, 2021. China has long carried out heavy-handed ethnic assimilation of Uighurs, but the policies reached new levels under President Xi Jinping. During the same period, the Xinjiang government rolled out a high-tech surveillance system across the region that tracked Uighurs’ movements through police checkpoints, facial recognition surveillance cameras and house visits by officials. China to pull BBC News off the air, state broadcast regulator says. China has 55 “ethnic minorities” – groups with backgrounds different from the Han. Copy link. The Uighurs, or Uyghurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from central and eastern Asia. The Chinese government officially legalized re-education camps in Xinjiang in October 2018. Starting in 2017, China carried out a sweeping crackdown in its northwest Xinjiang region under the banner of counterterrorism. Chinese researchers have challenged the numbers and conclusions in Mr. Zenz’s report while not disputing that the government wants to bring down the population growth of Uighurs. It insists that Uighur militants are waging a violent campaign for an independent state by plotting bombings, sabotage and civic unrest, but it is accused of exaggerating the threat in order to justify repression of the Uighurs. Uighurs are Muslims who speak their own language. China compels Uighurs to work in shoe factory that supplies Nike. A UN human rights committee in 2018 said it had credible reports the Chinese were holding up to a million people in "counter-extremism centres" in Xinjiang. The Uighurs are a nomadic Turkic people native to China’s northwestern Xinjiang region. Uighurs in Xinjiang are often denied the right to travel outside of China, or even within it. The Chinese government has retaliated against those who've sought to expose abuses against Uighurs. It says the crackdown is necessary to prevent terrorism and root out Islamist extremism and the camps are an effective tool for re-educating inmates in its fight against terrorism. A number of Western governments have denounced China’s policies in Xinjiang, with Britain pressing China in January to allow United Nations rights inspectors to visit the region. At some centers, they also learned vocational skills such as textile-making. They similarly targeted an ethnic minority and political dissidents, with detainees explicitly expected to contribute factory labor.