In 2014 the Benenson Society first campaigned for the Uyghur minority in China as we raised the case of a journalist, Hairat Niyaz, who was speaking up for his people. He was sentenced to 15 years in gaol.
In recent months rumours have circulated of mass detentions in China of the Uyghur people on a scale hard to imagine. These rumours appear to be confirmed by both UN agencies and Government authorities such as the US. It appears that in the villages of Southern Xinjiang, about 660,000 rural residents of ethnic Uyghur background may have been taken away from their homes and detained in re-education camps, while another up to 1.3 million may have been forced to attend mandatory day or evening re-education sessions in locations in their villages or town centers, amounting to a total of about 2 million South Xinjiang villagers in these two types of “re-education” programs. The total number for Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR or Xinjiang) as a whole, including other ethnic minorities and city residents, is certainly higher. Both types of re-education programs are run outside China’s judicial system.
Rumours have circulated of mass detentions in China of the Uyghur people Government officials and police in Xinjiang have ordered and carried out detentions and restrictions of liberty without a trial or any judicial review by a judge or court. Both types of camps typically set no clear length of time for the incarceration or mandatory attendance. In operating these “re-education” camps, authorities have extrajudicially detained and deprived the liberty of huge numbers of citizens, especially Uyghurs, in some cases, indefinitely, and committed enforced disappearances, torture, and other human rights abuses.
The Chinese government’s purposes for rounding up a massive number of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, most of whom practice Islam, in the two types of re-education camps are ostentatiously to force them to renounce their religion, pledge “loyalty” to the Chinese government/Chinese Communist Party, and inform on others for any suspected “terrorist, separatist, or extremist” acts or views as defined by the Chinese government.
Please appeal to the Chairman or the Ambassador:
| Chen Quanguo Chairman, XUAR Government Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu Renmin Zhengfu, 2 Zhongshanlu, Wulumuqishi, 830041 Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu People’s Republic of China Email: [email protected] |
Ambassador Chinese Embassy 2300 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 |
Dear (Chairman, Ambassador)
As a member of the Benenson Society may I respectfully raise of the concern of people around the world in connection with the rights of the Uyghur people, and more especially the mass detentions in re-education camps of hundreds of thousands of this minority group I note that among them are family members of prominent Uyghur rights activist Rebiya Kadeer.
I note too, the comments of members of the United States Senate from both political parties that “at a time when the Chinese government is seeking to expand its influence through the Belt and Road Initiative, the last thing China’s leaders want is international condemnation of their poor and abusive treatment of ethnic and religious minorities”.
Freedom of expression and freedom of religion are two basic human rights. We urge China to cease this extraordinary action against the Uyghur people.
Yours sincerely,