Uighur ethnic identity under threat in China
Stop the Massacre on Uygur (Uighur) Turks in China. Stop the ethnic cleansing and oppression on Muslim minorities!
June 17, 2008: "Go China" … Uygur students perform under tight security as the Olympic torch relay passes through Urumqi. The tension in Urumqi did not just erupt in 2009 summer. Xinjiang is home to more than 8 million Uygurs, a Central Asian people who speak a Turkic language. Many Uygurs criticise Chinese control, alleging political and religious oppression and discrimination in employment and education. Chinese authorities have detained thousands of Uygurs and confiscated their passports in 2008. 
A mob of Han Chinese attack a Uighur man in Urumqi city. Dozens of mostly young men, some armed with wooden sticks repeatedly kicked the victim as he lay on the ground. The extent of the man's injuries was unclear.
Uighur women grieve for their men who they claim were taken away by Chinese authorities after Sunday's protest in Urumqi, China, Tuesday, July 7 , 2009.
Several hundred Uighur and Turkish demonstrators denounced the riot in China's Xinjian region that killed over 150 people. Banner reads "China, the assassin of democracy."
Protesters holding flags of Turkey and East Turkestan, a short-lived break-away would-be constitutional republic founded in 1933, march toward the Chinese consulate during a protest against China, in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, July 7, 2009. Several hundred Uighur and Turkish demonstrators denounced the riot in China's Xinjiang region that killed at least 156 people.The ethnic identity of Uighurs in western China is being systematically eroded. Government policies, including those that limit use of the Uighur language, severe restrictions on freedom of religion, and a sustained influx of Han Chinese migrants into the region, are destroying customs and, together with employment discrimination, fuelling discontent and ethnic tensions. The government has mounted an aggressive campaign that has led to the arrest and arbitrary detention of thousands of Uighurs on charges of 'terrorism, separatism and religious extremism' for peacefully exercising their human rights.Uighurs are a Turkic speaking, mainly Sunni Islamic ethnic group with a long history at the heart of central Asia. In China, they are concentrated in the western region of the country, an area historically claimed by competing empires, warlords and ethnic groups. In 1949, the region was integrated into the People's Republic of China. In 1955, the People's Republic of China established the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), in recognition of the Uighurs' predominance in the region, a status which according to the Chinese Constitution entitles ethnic minorities to organs of self-government in order to exercise autonomy.According to the latest Chinese census in 2000, there are more than 18 million people living in the XUAR, of whom 47 per cent are Uighurs, 40 per cent are Han Chinese and 12 per cent are other ethnic groups, including Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs, Tatars, Uzbeks and Tajiks. The Han Chinese population has increased significantly from an estimated 6 per cent in 1949 due to central government policies that include providing financial incentives to Han Chinese who migrate to the region.Fuel For Discontent - discrimination and forced labour.
The Chinese state has failed to protect Uighurs from employment discrimination which has resulted in extremely high rates of unemployment among Uighurs in the XUAR and fuelled discontent. Many Uighurs report seeing 'Uighurs need not apply' signs posted by employers at job fairs demonstrating the state's inaction in enforcing anti-discrimination laws. Even university graduates who speak fluent Chinese have difficulty finding employment.The XUAR is the only area of China where the general population (non-prisoners) is systematically subject to a government policy of forced labour. Under a system referred to as 'hashar', farming families are fined if they fail to send a family member, sometimes several times each year, to labour on agricultural, infrastructural and other public works for up to two to three weeks at a time. The individuals are given no compensation for their labour, no room or board, and are expected to pay their own transportation costs. Many describe sleeping out in the open and eating nothing but instant noodles for days while doing hard labour. Families that do not have an able-bodied young man to send are notexempt - men and women as old as 70, and children as young as 12, are reported by Uighurs to have participated.The systematic erosion of Uighur ethnic identity by the Chinese authorities is characterised by repression and human rights abuses. The Chinese authorities must immediately reverse policies that limit use of the Uighur language and severely restrict freedom of religion and Uighurs' ability to enjoy and replicate their culture.Repression In The Name Of The 'War On Terror'The post-Mao era in the 1980s brought liberalising policies throughout China that allowed citizens greater freedom, including freedom of religion and expression, and strengthened legal protections, policies which extended to the XUAR. However, in the mid to late 1990s, Uighurs in the region experienced a sharp reversal in policy,as the authorities embarked on an aggressive campaign against the 'three evils': 'terrorism, separatism and religious extremism'. As a result, increased numbers of Uighurs have been subjected to arbitrary arrests, unfair trials and torture, and their economic, social and cultural rights have been slowly eroded. This has worsened since the attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001 as the authorities cast Uighur discontent within the framework of internal policies.
Posts
