Zoom meeting on the Uyghur campaign

Well attended meeting added useful insights into the campaign

August 2026

Several new topics and concerns emerged from this well attended Zoom meeting including from four Uyghurs living in the West. It is worth reflecting on the wider issues that the repression of minorities in China – of which the Uyghur people are just one – and that is the extent of the barbarity being perpetrated by the Chinese state and the CCP. This is a highly organised and well planned series of actions against an entire community of people which is unparalleled in the modern era. It is being committed by a state which was closely involved in the preparation and signing of the Universal Declaration after the War. China is also on the Security Council of the United Nations a position and status which is entirely undeserved.

The numbers are massive with 1.8 million taken away from their homes to be ‘re-educated’ but a further half million have been sentenced and forced to work in China itself.

We were introduced to the observable fact that there is little press or media interest in the fate of these people. Indeed, one can mention the campaign and the plight of the Uyghurs usually to receive blank looks. Awareness is low. The reasons are not hard to find: it is a long way away and the Chinese have banned almost all journalists from entering the region. So what extra did we learn this evening?

First from a Uyghur woman living in the US whose father is in prison for life for speaking out. He has not been heard from since 2017. She does not know whether he is alive and a request for ‘proof of life’ has not been answered. It is hard to imagine an action so cruel as this.

Another Uyghur who is living in the UK has witnessed the pain in her parent’s lives as they have lost contact with their culture. Contact is banned and contacts from overseas can result in punishment for those receiving them in Xinjiang. She is often asked about Uyghur culture but in fact seldom knows how to reply since all contact is lost. Another spoke of his brother in gaol for his journalism and he believes his conditions have got harsher.

Organ harvesting

The most chilling of the comments however concerns organ harvesting. Visitors might want to read the Hansard debate on this topic ten years ago which discussed this disgusting activity or a more recent UN report. The focus at the time was the Falun Gong but it has spread to Tibetans, Mongolians and now the Uyghur. The harvesting of organs is on a massive scale. According to the allegations received, the most common organs removed from the prisoners are reportedly hearts, kidneys, livers, corneas and, less commonly, parts of livers. They are extracted from prisoners often without anaesthetic. The role of a British university in the trade has been recently revealed.

Transnational repression

Other speakers told of Chinese transnational repression. Nobody in the Chinese diaspora is safe from the activities of the Chinese state which expends enormous efforts to silence critics overseas. This is why plans to build the massive embassy in London is so dangerous. Not only will it enhance and facilitate Chinese espionage activities but it will also help in their attempts to intimidate, threaten or coerce those who criticise China. That this embassy is even being considered is extremely unwise.

There was brief mention of the reach of our posts into China with views from over 50 cities and from Hong Kong.

The CCP and its leader Xi Jinping seems almost paranoid. The state has the most extensive video surveillance system in the world. Media and the internet are closely controlled. It is hellbent on extinguishing any non-Chinese culture such as the Uyghurs, having done the same in Tibet and Mongolia. Freedoms in Hong Kong were quickly extinguished.

But we hear little of this in the UK. Politicians are largely mute. The Chinese are sensitive to direct or forthright criticism and so western politicians express their disquiet in private (they claim). But do they? There is next to no media interest or reporting. Issues in which Beijing diverges from the norms of the current system, such as human rights, it seeks to undermine those values and create alternative institutions and models. China works with other authoritarian powers such as Russia to create standards that reflect their interests for example internet governance.

The campaign continues …

Podcast Episode: Xinjiang Forced Labour Campaign

Pip: A local Amnesty group in Salisbury posts about Uyghur rights — and suddenly cities across China are reading. That is either heartening or a sign that someone in Beijing is taking notes.

Mara: This episode covers Salisbury Amnesty’s recent posts on the Uyghur campaign, from the surprising reach of their online presence to the forced labour hidden inside your high street wardrobe. Let’s start with the campaign itself and what those viewing figures actually revealed.

Uyghur Campaign Reaches Across the Firewall

Pip: The Salisbury group ran a daily posting campaign on Uyghur rights — and the audience that showed up was not quite the one anyone expected.

Mara: The campaign newsletter reported figures that stopped people mid-scroll. Here is what it said: “Around 70% were from China and Hong Kong SAR, a figure we have never seen before. Usually, views from China seldom reach double figures.”

Pip: So a small Wiltshire group is somehow punching through one of the most sophisticated censorship systems on earth. That is the real story here — not the post count, but who is reading.

Mara: The breakdown gets more specific. Fifty-six cities across China are represented in the data, with 31 views from Beijing and 15 from Shanghai. The newsletter notes that “views from nine cities in China even exceeded the views of people from Salisbury.”

Pip: Which suggests ordinary people actively routing around the Great Firewall to find this material — not just state monitors checking in.

Mara: Facebook told a different story. The same posts drew only around twenty views each there, with almost no engagement from the eighteen-to-twenty-four age group. The campaign also secured a letter in the Salisbury Journal, which the newsletter describes as a paper that does not usually publish material on topics outside the local area.

Pip: Harder to get into than Beijing, apparently.

Mara: The Uyghur Crisis Response Team acknowledged the group’s posts on Bluesky, which rounds out a campaign the newsletter calls “altogether a satisfactory response.” And the month was not yet over when those figures were filed. That reach into China sets up the harder question — what exactly are people in Xinjiang living under?

Forced Labour in the Clothes on Your Back

Pip: The post titled “Slavery was abolished in 1807 — Not in Xinjiang” opens with a blunt premise: the system did not end, it just became harder to see on a label.

Mara: The post draws on Sheffield Hallam University research, which states that “previous research has provided significant evidence indicating that these programmes are indeed tantamount to forced labour, human trafficking, and modern slavery and that this system of repression is particularly deployed in the cotton and textile industries.”

Pip: Xinjiang produces around eighty percent of China’s cotton — which is roughly twenty percent of global supply. The brands that pledged to cut ties in 2020 did not necessarily solve anything.

Mara: That is the mechanism the post calls “cotton laundering.” Once raw cotton becomes yarn or fabric and passes through a third country like Bangladesh or Vietnam, its origin becomes nearly impossible to trace. Even the “Better Cotton” label offers no guarantee — the post notes it “can be mixed or blended with what they call conventional cotton very early on in the supply chain.”

Pip: So the ethical label is doing the laundering for them. Efficient.

Mara: The post names M&S specifically, via an RTÉ investigation, as a retailer featured in footage about vague labelling practices. The campaign asks readers to write directly to retailers — a sample letter is included — asking what safeguards they have in place to verify their cotton’s origin.

Mara: The post closes with a line worth sitting with: “The products of this obnoxious and cruel system are sitting on the clothing racks of our major high street retailers and hence in your wardrobes. Truly we are all involved.”

Pip: And that is the thread connecting both posts — the question of who is paying attention, and whether attention is enough.

Pip: A record month of hits from inside China, and forced labour woven into everyday retail. The local and the global keep colliding.

Mara: They do. Next time, we will see where that thread leads.

August 18, 2026 0

Slavery was abolished in 1807* – Not in Xinjiang

Slavery and forced labour is alive and well in Xinjiang. Major retailers complicit. Welcome to ‘cotton laundering’

August 2026

Many people believe that slavery ended sometime in the 19th Century and many – certainly older people reading this – think that Britain led the way. Slavery continued for many years afterwards. The reality is that slavery is alive and well and that you are wearing the products of this vile system while sat reading this. You may feel that you have purchased your cotton garments from a respectable high street retailer so this surely cannot be the case. If you watch the video in the RTE programme [link below], they will explain how retailers such as M&S who feature strongly in the film, are evading controls with vague labelling.

The story of cotton

Around 80% of cotton production in China comes from Xinjiang, using forced labour from the Uyghur which represents 20% of the global cotton production. Following an uproar and call to action in 2020 that called on numerous fashion brands (such as Nike, Adidas, Zara, H&M, Amazon, etc) to sever ties with Uyghur forced labour, many of these brands decided apparently to stop sourcing cotton from Xinjiang. If we were to ask these brands today about their commitment to Uyghur rights, they would answer that Uyghur forced labour has been cut from their supply chain. (Photo is one of the major companies involved in China).

However, the reality is not that simple. Cotton production has not reduced in the region since 2020; instead, Chinese manufacturers have resorted to “cotton laundering”. Once the cotton has been transformed into yarn or fabric, the cotton enters the supply chain through third countries such as Bangladesh or Vietnam. This results in cotton that is extremely difficult to trace.

Cotton laundering

Some brands may claim that having the label ‘Better Cotton’ to claim that their supply chains are ethical. However as investigated by RTÉ, it appears that “the Better Cotton can be mixed or blended with what they call conventional cotton very early on in the supply chain, and that includes cotton from the Uyghur region“. The RTE film (5 mins) can be viewed here.

Although companies have acted on demands to stop using suppliers that rely on Uyghur forced labour, it can be easy to imagine that cotton harvested in Xinjiang finds its way to those factories through cotton laundering. That is why we are asking you today to write a question to a company that produces apparel which contains cotton to ask them what processes and safeguards are in place to ensure forced labour is not present in their supply chains.

Research published by Sheffield Hallam University shows in detail how the system works and contains much evidence. They say that previous research has provided significant evidence indicating that these programmes are indeed tantamount to forced labour, human trafficking, and modern slavery and that this system of repression is particularly deployed in the cotton and textile industries, which for China are centred in the Uyghur Region. Reports have shown that much of the region’s cotton is hand-picked by people who are forced to do so, that textile factories in the Uyghur Region employ forced labour, and that minority citizens of the region have been “transferred” thousands of miles into the interior of China to work in factories for major textile and apparel exporters.

The notion of slavery today is universally condemned. Britain was heavily involved in the trade for nearly two centuries transporting well over 3 million in the triangular trade. Many are often surprised to discover that the slave owners (not the slaves) were compensated and the debt was only paid off in 2015.

As we have noted before, although Xinjiang seems a long way off and few will have been there, the products of this obnoxious and cruel system are sitting on the clothing racks of our major high street retailers and hence in your wardrobes. Truly we are all involved.

[*Quite when slavery ended is difficult to be precise. Many ships simply reflagged to avoid patrols. Slavery persisted for decades in the Caribbean and America. Slaves were still transferred between countries. A separate act was later passed to end the practice in India. Freed slaves simply became indentured.]

Letter

This is a sample letter to a retailer or manufacturer to model yours on. It is likely you will receive a standard reply but it will register with the retailer that they are being watched and if not careful, they could receive reputational damage:

Dear xx,
I am writing to express my concern as to the possibility that your cotton products contain cotton produced in Xinjiang using Uyghur forced labour.
One tactic used by Chinese manufacturers to sell cotton produced by forced labour and internal displacement of Uyghur population is “cotton laundering”. These companies will transform cotton into yarn or fabric and then introduce them to global chains through third countries such as Bangladesh or Vietnam. As a result, the origin of the cotton is extremely difficult to trace.
In addition, the label “Better Cotton” does not prevent products from containing cotton produced through forced labour. The Better Cotton Initiative does not have a traceability protocol and enable mixed or blended cotton with ethically sourced material. Cotton from the Uyghur region may very well be present in those mixes or blends.
As a concerned consumer, I would like to ask you: what protocols and safeguards do you have in place to absolutely ensure that none of the cotton present in your garments is a result of Uyghur forced labour? How do you verify that the cotton used in your garment does not come from Xinjiang?
Thank you in advance for your reply.
Yours sincerely,

We have drawn from material produced by RTE (Ireland), Sheffield Hallam University, Statista and from the Uyghur Solidarity Team with thanks.

August 17, 2026 0

Uyghur campaign progress

Local group features in today’s action

August 2026

We are pleased to report that the activities of the Salisbury group feature in part of today’s (16th August) action by the campaign team. We have put up a post on most days of the campaign using material provided by the team and we have a letter published in the local paper.

What has been remarkable however, is the numbers viewing the posts from China itself. China rarely appears in our viewing figures, we suspect because our posts are blocked. We reported the latest figures – accessed yesterday (15th August) – i.e. half way through the month and these are reproduced in the newsletter:

“The Salisbury group has experienced considerable interest in the Uyghur campaign on its website with a record number of views from China itself. The numbers are high for the site and the month looks as though it is heading for a record number of hits likely to exceed 3,000 for the first time led by the Uyghur campaign although there is other material posted.

“No less than 88% of the hits were posts on the campaign partly because we have posted something on almost every day. Around 70% were from China and Hong Kong SAR a figure we have never seen before. Usually, views from China seldom reach double figures. And it is not just China as a country, further analysis reveals it is cities all over China which are viewing. There were 88 from Hong Kong, 31 from Beijing and 15 from Shanghai. A total of 56 cities throughout China are represented.

“One might expect the CCP to monitor posts about their country but the fact that views are coming from all over suggests that ordinary people may be evading the tight controls over access to foreign sites such as ours. Views from nine cities in China even exceeded the views of people from Salisbury. The group also managed to get a letter published in the Salisbury Journal which sees itself as very much a local paper and does not usually publish material on topics outside the area.

“Sadly, this interest was not reflected on Salisbury Amnesty’s Facebook page with only twenty or so views for each of the posts. Almost none were in the 18-24 age group. We are pleased to note the Uyghur Crisis Response Team thanked us for our posts on Bluesky @ucrt.bsky.social.

“Altogether a satisfactory response and we are of course not at the end of the month. The group is proud to have played a small part in this campaign. Salisbury group’s website: https://salisburyai.com and Bluesky: @salisburyai.bsky.social. We no longer post on X.”

The campaign continues …

Image: Observe Algerie

August 16, 2026 1

Uyghur solidarity – a love story

A love story illustrates the tragedy of the Uyghur people

August 2026

This is a love story which appeared in today’s Guardian (5th August) which highlights the effects on innocent lives arising from the repression and cultural genocide being committed in Xinjiang by the Chinese. The relationship blossomed around a discovered novel entitled Leyighan Bulaq (The Muddy Spring) written by the Uyghur novelist Jalalidin Băhram. It is a book about the brutalities of the Cultural Revolution.

The boy who uncovered the book wanted to share it with a female friend which in a Moslem environment was difficult to do. He smuggled a copy of the book to her. He left to study abroad. She was unable to sit a university entrance exam as she wore a headscarf. She was unable to obtain a passport either which the Chinese are reluctant to permit Uyghurs to have. She eventually made it out and they married in Istanbul. No family members were present. Messages from abroad can result in punishment which meant they could not convey messages to their families back home including the sad death of their 2 year old daughter.

The story illustrates very well the effects on ordinary lives by the campaign of repression. How people cannot leave the area, how messages from abroad can result in punishment. How indignities are heaped on the people for wearing a scarf. Unspoken in the story is the use of CCTV cameras which control lives not just in Xinjiang but throughout China. They make ordinary contact and movement almost impossible.

A message …

“To all Amnesty activists and supporters,

Thank you for standing with the Uyghur people at a time when our language, culture, faith, and very identity are under systematic attack. The recent testimony of former Chinese police officer Zhang Yabo has once again confirmed what Uyghurs have long tried to tell the world: in today’s Uyghur homeland, almost anyone can become a target — writers, poets, musicians, artists, intellectuals, religious figures, and ordinary people simply trying to preserve who they are. Songs are banned, the Uyghur language is criminalised, faith is weaponised against believers, and even memory itself is treated as a threat.

Beyond the camps and prisons, the repression follows Uyghurs across borders through intimidation, surveillance, disinformation, and relentless transnational repression designed to silence us and isolate us from the world. Many Uyghurs are afraid even to speak publicly, fearing consequences for loved ones back home.

That is why your solidarity matters so deeply. Every voice raised, every campaign organised, every act of compassion tells Uyghurs that we have not been abandoned or forgotten. In the face of fear and erasure, solidarity becomes a form of protection, dignity, and hope.

Please continue to stand with us, support the work of Stop Uyghur Genocide, and help amplify Uyghur voices by following and sharing our work on social media. Your support truly makes a difference.

With heartfelt gratitude,

Rahima Mahmut
Executive Director
Stop Uyghur Genocide”

Responses

We are delighted to report that the response to our earlier posts on the Uyghur Solidarity Month have been good. Our post made top ranking on Startpage’s search engine today. Most pleasing is the number of views from China and Hong Kong which together were second and third in the rankings. Amnesty is banned in China so this is encouraging.

Listen to our podcast!

Uyghur solidarity month

Bringing the plight of Uyghurs to a wider audience

August 2026

We noted in our last post on the Uyghurs that their plight had slipped out of the news in the last year or so. With war in Iran and the closure of the Straight of Hormuz, and continuing conflict in the Middle East including Gaza, giving attention to a far off land where contact with its people is almost impossible is not altogether surprising.

But we need to do our best to bring people’s attention to what is going on there. We should always remember desperate governments do desperate things. The UK is up against it politically and economically. This leads it to pursue arrangements with overseas powers with highly dubious human rights records such as Saudi and UAE, to promote arms sales with almost any country while claiming to have a ‘robust policy’ not to, supporting Israel overtly and covertly despite its destruction of Gaza and mounting violence in the West Bank. Economic needs trump concerns about human rights. Jobs in the UK count for more than rights half way across the world.

Write a letter

We are asking that people write to their local newspaper to highlight the dreadful way the Chinese are treating these people. The campaign organisers have provided a sample letter which unfortunately exceeds the word limit of local papers. We have amended the letter which could be the basis of your own contribution:

I want to draw the attention to people in Salisbury of the dire human rights situation facing the Uyghur people in Xinxiang province, China.

the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded there were credible allegations that the Chinese government had carried out arbitrary detention, torture, forced labour, family separation, and severe restrictions on religious and cultural freedoms on a vast scale on the Uyghur people. They stated that these violations may constitute crimes against humanity. In 2021, the independent Uyghur Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice KC in London, concluded that the Chinese government had committed genocide against the Uyghurs through measures intended to prevent births, and had also committed crimes against humanity.

Despite these findings, the suffering of the Uyghur people continues while the world looks away. More than a million Uyghurs are reported to have been detained, and countless families have been torn apart. Survivors have described detention camps, torture, rape, forced labour, coercive birth-control measures, and the removal of children from their families. Behind every statistic are innocent individuals whose lives have been destroyed for ever.

This month, Amnesty International’s Uyghur Solidarity Month is trying to raise awareness of the continuing crisis but also to celebrate the rich culture, language, and heritage now under such severe threat.

Whether one views this issue through the lens of international law, freedom of religion, cultural preservation, or basic human dignity, the plight of the Uyghur people deserves continued public attention and informed discussion. Uyghur Solidarity Month reminds us that protecting a people’s culture is inseparable from protecting their human rights.

Public awareness alone will not end this crisis, but silence only makes it easier to ignore. We all have a responsibility to ensure that the voices of the Uyghur people continue to be heard.

[NAME]

Provide name and address.

You might be tempted to think that what has this to do with me? It’s sad that a people are being persecuted in a far off land but there are so many other problems nearer to hand, why there? But you are involved. You will have in your wardrobe, or be wearing, many items made of cotton. It is highly likely that some of them have been made with cotton from this region using virtual slave labour – the Uyghurs. A quarter of cotton comes from there. You may have bought these garments from a well known and reputable store in the high street or online. Despite their fine words and protestations about the integrity of their supply chains, they still use this cotton. So you are wearing the evidence. You are involved.

Please write.

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August 4, 2026 0

Uyghur Solidarity Month: A Call to Action

Oppression of the Uyghurs continues

August 2026

The oppression and cultural genocide of the Uyghurs continues and has largely dropped out of the news. Such news as there is concerns the desire for China to establish the largest embassy in London and possibly Europe which is still being considered. The fears, the very real fears, is that it will become an espionage hub and also enable the Chinese Communist Party to expand its intimidation of Chines ‘dissidents’ i.e. anyone who disagrees with the CCP. It will be an interesting test of the government’s wil to see if it agrees with this proposal.

Amnesty has declared this month to be Uyghur Solidarity Month and you can sign up using this link. The treatment of Uyghurs and Kazakhs is deplorable and consists of arbitrary detention, torture, forced cultural intimidation and persecution based on religion and ethnicity. Children are separated from their parents. Around 1 million individuals are involved. There is evidence of forced labour that Uyghurs are used to pick cotton which finds its way into clothes sold in high street stores in the UK. No journalists or foreign observers are allowed into the region.

It represents the largest campaign of cultural genocide in the modern era.

One beacon of light is the Kashgar Times which tries to bring news from the area. We include an extract from them below.

“Kashgar Times is an independent news media outlet dedicated to reporting on the Uyghur people and the injustices they face under the oppressive regime of the People’s Republic of China. Kashgar Times was founded on April 30, 2025, by prominent Uyghur advocate Arslan Hidayat and seasoned journalist Nuriman Abdureshid. The outlet aims to serve as a vital source of accurate, on-the-ground news from East Turkistan, also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

“The Uyghur people have long suffered under systemic oppression. They face cultural erasure and widespread human rights violations—amounting to genocide—by the Chinese government. Yet, despite the urgency of these issues, getting unfiltered news from this region is increasingly difficult. China’s strict censorship and crackdown on free journalism have silenced many voices.

“At Kashgar Times, our mission is to break through that silence. We aim to bridge the information gap. We provide a platform where Uyghur voices can be heard, and their stories told—free from propaganda.

“Kashgar Times fills an urgent gap in today’s media landscape. Our founders bring with them a wealth of experience and passion. Arslan has tirelessly advocated for Uyghur rights on international platforms. Nuriman has sharpened her journalistic skills while reporting for the Uyghur Service at Radio Free Asia. Together, they embody the spirit of resilience and commitment that Kashgar Times stands for.

“At Kashgar Times, we are dedicated to upholding the highest journalistic standards. We aim to present stories that highlight the struggles and triumphs of the Uyghur community, offering insights that are often overlooked or misrepresented in mainstream narratives and especially on Chinese state-run media. By sharing first hand accounts, investigative reports, and expert analyses, we hope to shed light on the reality of life in Chinese-occupied East Turkistan, pushing back against the extensive campaign of disinformation funded by the Chinese Communist Party.

“As a Uyghur-run media outlet, we are committed to reporting on Uyghurs, by Uyghurs, for a global audience. We believe in the power of storytelling to awaken empathy and understanding—allowing the world to grasp the gravity of the situation faced by the Uyghur people.

“We invite you to support our mission by subscribing to Kashgar Times. Your contributions will enable us to continue our crucial work and help us expand our reach and resources. Together, we can create a robust platform that not only informs readers but also amplifies the voices of those fighting for justice and preservation of our people.

“For U.S. Donors Zelle to “kashgartimes.news@gmail.com” (if you don’t use Zelle then donate via DonorBox)”

We hope to bring further posts through the month.

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AI used to create title. No AI used otherwise.

August 3, 2026 0

Trade Talks with China: Ethical Dilemmas Ahead

Government has to decide: rights or trade?

June 2025

It is reported today that the government is engaged in a range of talks with Chinese officials to improve trade and political relations. The Chinese Embassy is quoted as saying that relations have ‘positive momentum’. Elsewhere, relations are described as ‘warming’. Of course both countries are suffering from the Trump tariff war and so a degree of mutual comfort is to be expected.

The fact remains that human rights in China are dire across a very wide spectrum, almost too long to describe in fact. They include no freedom of expression; atrocious and genocidal behaviour towards the Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples; Human Rights defenders who face long prison terms and torture; continuing repression in Tibet; the crackdown in Hong Kong and the execution of large numbers of its citizens – possibly equal to all the rest of the world put together. It is also aggressively pursuing overseas Chinese who criticise the country and persecutes any of their family members in China. Restrictions are getting steadily worse over time.

Azeem Ibrahim, speaking at the Humanist Convention this month, described the multi-pronged approach

adopted by the Chinese. It was a talk about the rising threat of autocracies which included Russia and Turkey. He pointed out that the country leads the world in surveillance and it has a massive programme using facial recognition technology. It is also working hard to gain access and control to international agencies in the UN for example. The Warsaw Institute describes how they use their commercial power and investments to shut down any Security Council criticisms of their human rights infringements. His basic message was that China in particular has an organised and well-funded programme to attack western values by any and all means available. He added that the West has been complacent in thinking that western values are a settled state of affairs.

So where does that leave the Labour government? It is reported to be softening its position now it is in government. Nine individuals have travel restrictions placed on them including 5 Conservatives: Ian Duncan Smith being one and Tom Tugendhat another. All because they criticised the treatment of Uyghurs. These restrictions might be lifted. The concern is that the government is desperate to achieve growth and seems willing to abandon all principles to achieve it although a trade deal is not on the cards. This site is concerned with human rights but the wider issue is western governments – like the UK – who seem very slow to wake up to the organised threat posed by autocracies like China who are determined to pursue their view of the world by all means possible.

Sources include: Human Rights Watch, Amnesty, Guardian, US Department of State, New China Human Rights.

June 16, 2025 0

Genocide in China

Report finds that China’s treatment of the Uyghurs is genocide

The word ‘genocide’ has entered the language and we use it today to describe attacks by governments on entire communities usually for reasons of race or religion. It is sometimes surprising to some to discover that it is in fact quite a new word invented in 1944 by Rafael Lemkin. He used it to describe the Nazi’s programme of seeking to exterminate the Jews. Further background to the tussles to get the word accepted is described in Phillippe Sands’ book East West Street (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2016). The victors after the war were keen to set up a system to try and prevent those terrible events from happening again including the Genocide Convention of 1948 agreed only four years after Lemkin first coined the word.

Genocide has not disappeared in the world today and the worst example currently is the programme being carried out by the Chinese against the Uyghur people. A report has recently been published which – although having no official standing – has looked thoroughly into the treatment of the Uyghurs and concludes that ‘efforts to prevent births amounted to genocidal intent.’ Uyghur women are having their wombs removed and babies are often killed after being born.

The Chinese treatment of the has been horrific and that it should be taking place in the modern age is deeply depressing. China can use its veto power to prevent action by the International Criminal Court. In addition to the suppression of births the report describes ‘unconscionable crimes’ against the Uyghur people. These include physical violence, sexual abuse including penetration by electric shock rods or iron bars, holding people up to their necks in cold water for prolonged periods of time and the use of heavy shackles sometimes for months at a time. Face recognition technology is used on an extensive scale making communities effectively open prisons.

As many as a million are in held re-education establishments where they are forced to learn Chinese. If caught speaking their own language they are severely beaten. Hundreds of thousands of Uyghur children have been removed from their families and placed in Han speaking homes. Mosques have been destroyed and graves bulldozed. Travel to the region is tightly restricted.

It is a catalogue of depravity of truly shocking extent. The Chinese deny any of this is taking place but the weight of evidence is too great to dismiss. The scale and extent of the persecution must have received authority at the highest level. Although, unlike the Nazis, there is no programme of mass killing, the programme does represent a deliberate programme to eliminate the culture, history and language of these people.

The UK government has so far declined to call the programme genocide.

December 11, 2021 0

China’s oppression of Uighurs spreads overseas

China reported to be using its financial muscle to secure the arrest of ex-patriot Uighurs in foreign countries

This is an extract from the Uyghur* Human Rights Project. China is much in the news recently and the arrest of journalists and the closure of a popular newspaper in Hong Kong has featured strongly in the west. The systematic repression of Uighurs continues unabated however, both within the country and as this report discusses, overseas.

The report is the product of an effort to understand the means by which China targets Uighurs beyond its borders to silence dissent. In partnership with the Uyghur Human Rights Project, the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs gathered cases of China’s transnational repression of Uyghurs from public sources, including government documents, human rights reports, and reporting by credible news agencies to establish a detailed analysis of how the scale and scope of China’s global repression are expanding.

Since 1997, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has engaged in an unprecedented scale of transnational repression that has reached 28 countries worldwide. The China’s Transnational Repression of Uyghurs Dataset examines 1,546 cases of detention and deportation from 1997 until March 2021 and offers critical insight into the scope and evolution of the Chinese government’s efforts to control and repress Uyghurs across sovereign boundaries. Our data finds instances of at least 28 countries across the world complicit in China’s harassment and intimidation of Uyghurs, most notably in much of the Middle East and North Africa with 647 cases, and in South Asia with 665 cases. The dataset contains 1,151 cases of Uyghurs being detained in their host country and 395 cases of Uyghurs being deported, extradited, or rendered back to China.

China’s transnational repression of Uyghurs has been consistently on the rise and has accelerated dramatically with the onset of its system of mass surveillance in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) from 2017, showing a correlation between repression at home and abroad. In the first stage of China’s evolving system of transnational repression, from 1997 to 2007, a total of 89 Uyghurs from 9 countries, mostly in South and Central Asia, were detained or sent to China. In the second phase (2008–2013), 130 individuals from 15 countries were repressed. In the ongoing third phase (2014 to the end of our data collection in March 2021), a total of 1,327 individuals were detained or rendered from 20 countries. Unreported cases would likely raise these figures substantially, with our database presenting just the tip of the iceberg due to our reliance on publicly reported instances of repression.

International organizations and host governments, particularly those with close political and economic ties to the PRC, can often be complicit in China’s use of transnational repression against Uyghurs, many of whom have sought refuge abroad. China’s transnational repression exists as part of a wider trend of global authoritarianism that threatens to erode democratic norms worldwide. Stopping China’s transnational repression is a moral imperative and crucial to maintaining state sovereignty and the integrity of international organizations like Interpol and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

States that host Uyghur diaspora communities can take concrete steps to combat China’s transnational repression and protect Uyghurs and other vulnerable populations. Governments can refuse to extradite Uyghurs, increase refugee and emigration quotas, and restrict networks of enablers, including tech companies, as well as diaspora groups and organizations acting as fronts for the Chinese government.

This report describes transnational repression and the key actors and methods used by the Chinese government. It then traces the evolution of China’s campaign of repression, showing how that campaign has shifted in emphasis from Central and South Asia, to Southeast Asia, to the Middle East, following the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative. The full report can be read by following the link above.

*There are different spellings

June 25, 2021 2

Tag: 中國