Modern Day Holocaust: China and the Genocide of the Uyghur Muslims

By Rohaib Latif

China’s Uyghur Genocide Atrocities

China has committed various atrocities against the Uyghur Muslim population in the name of preventing terrorism.[1] In 2018, the United Nations human rights panel received credible reports that over a million Uyghur Muslims are being held in massive internment camps “shrouded in secrecy.”[2] Gay McDougall, a member of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, estimated that nearly 2 million Uyghur Muslim minorities have been forced into political camps for indoctrination solely based on their ethno-religious identity.[3] The Chinese government claims that these camps are for voluntary re-education purposes to counter extremism.[4] The media is almost completely banned from entering Xinjiang, where the concentration camps are located, so receiving firsthand accounts of the torture in these facilities is difficult.[5] Satellite imagery from 2018 shows at least forty-four high security buildings that have been built in recent years.[6]

Aside from the torture, “teachers have been drafted in to ‘re-educate’ the detainees.” Activists describe that this process is designed to “strip the [Uyghurs] and other minorities of their culture, language and religion, and indoctrinate them into mainstream Chinese culture.”[7] Qelbinur Sedik, a Uyghur woman, was a Chinese language teacher brought into the camps and coerced into giving lessons.[8] Sedik also testified that she had heard stories and rumors of rape in the camps, which she later confirmed with a camp policewoman.[9] Sedik worked at this camp for six months where she recalled her students entering into the classroom wearing chains on their feet and hands.[10] In those six months, she got to know her ninety-seven students by the number printed on their shirts and everyday there were fewer than the day before; “Every day, my students were less numerous. At first, they were in good health. I have seen them wither away. Some couldn’t even walk anymore.”[11]

Uyghur women in the camps have also been subjected to forced birth control measures.[12] In July 2017, China altered its family planning policy, which no longer allowed ethnic minorities to have more children than other residents.[13] Uyghur women endure regular pregnancy check-ups, are forced to implant uterine devices, and are subjected to sterilizations and abortions.[14] By forcing sterilizations and abortions, the Chinese government is violating a number of international human rights treaties including, the UDHR, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Rome Statute.[15] Ironically, China also violates its very own Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which calls for “the international community to enforce women’s reproductive rights as a means of economic and social empowerment by providing appropriate counselling and access to information, privacy, and informed consent.”[16] Sedik, the Chinese language teacher, testified in an interview that she was also forcibly implanted with an IUD and later sterilized.[17] Leaked government documents have bluntly stated that any birth control violations are punishable “by extrajudicial internment in training camps.”[18]

International Response

Human rights organizations, countries, and major corporations, have responded in some manner to China’s treatment of the Uyghur Muslims and other minority groups in the Xinjian region.[19] Twenty-two countries, part of the United Nation’s human rights body, have called on China to allow the United Nations and other human rights groups, “meaningful access” to the Xinjiang region.[20] In a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the states told China to “uphold its own laws and international obligations, and stop arbitrary incarceration of Uighurs and other Muslim and minority communities, and permit freedom of religion.”[21] In March 2019, at the Universal Periodic Review, which is the regular review of the rights record of every UN member state, China attempted to suppress and intimidate countries from taking action.[22] However, despite China’s attempts, a number of government agencies, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, and various other groups, have all drawn their attention to China’s human rights violations.[23] Exiled Uyghurs urged the International Criminal Court to investigate China for genocide and crimes against humanity.[24] This was the first-ever attempt to hold China accountable through international law and China continues to reject the evidence of their repression of minorities in Xinjiang.[25] Unfortunately, the International Criminal Court “decided not to pursue an investigation into China’s mass detention of Muslims.”[26] The prosecutors in The Hague stated that they would not investigate the allegations because “the alleged crimes took place in China, which is not a party to the court.”[27]

Major companies have also responded to China’s repression of minorities, but not all in an expected manner.[28] Apple, Nike, and Coca-Cola are lobbying the U.S. Congress to weaken a bill called the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.[29] The bill’s purpose would be to prohibit broad categories of some goods that were made by the persecuted Muslim minorities.[30] “Lobbyists have fought to water down some of its provisions, arguing that while they strongly condemn forced labor and current atrocities in Xinjiang, the act’s ambitious requirements could wreak havoc on supply chains that are deeply embedded in China.”[31] Conversely, fashion brand H&M, ended a relation with a cotton supplier in China after  “overwhelming and credible evidence” of forced labor.[32] Another incident occurred when Twitter locked China’s United States embassy account when they posted a tweet that referred to Uyghur women as “baby-making machines.”[33] The specific post read, “Study shows that in the process of eradicating extremism, the minds of Uygur women in Xinjiang were emancipated and gender equality and reproductive health were promoted, making them no longer baby-making machines.”[34] Despite international backlash, the genocide and repression of the Uyghur Muslims and other minorities continues.[35]

[1] Stephanie Nebehay, U.N. Says It Has Credible Reports That China Holds Million Uighurs In Secret Camps, Reuters (Aug. 10, 2018, 11:14 AM), https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-rights-un/u-n-says-it-has-credible-reports-that-china-holds-million-uighurs-in-secret-camps-idUSKBN1KV1SU.

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Data Leak Reveals How China 'Brainwashes' Uighurs In Prison Camps, BBC News (Nov. 24, 2019), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-50511063.

[5] Roland Hughes, China Uighurs: All You Need to Know on Muslim ‘Crackdown’, BBC (Nov. 8, 2018), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-45474279#:~:text=In%20August%202018%2C%20a%20UN,but%20China%20denies%20the%20allegations.

[6] Id.

[7] Matthew Hill, David Campanale & Joel Gunter, 'Their Goal Is To Destroy Everyone': Uighur Camp Detainees Allege Systematic Rape, BBC News (Feb. 2, 2021), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55794071.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] Qelbinur Sidik – A Twisted Life, Dutch Uyghur Human Rights Foundation (Aug. 18, 2020), https://www.duhrf.org/project/qelbinur-sidik-a-twisted-life/.

[11] Id.

[12] Mohd Ayan, China’s Forced Sterilisation On The Uyghur Women: A Gross Violation of Human Rights, The London School of Economics and Political Science (Oct. 13, 2020), https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/socialpolicy/2020/10/13/chinas-forced-sterilisation-on-the-uyghur-women-a-gross-violation-of-human-rights/.

[13] Mohd Ayan, China’s Forced Sterilisation On The Uyghur Women: A Gross Violation of Human Rights, The London School of Economics and Political Science (Oct. 13, 2020), https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/socialpolicy/2020/10/13/chinas-forced-sterilisation-on-the-uyghur-women-a-gross-violation-of-human-rights/; Joseph Hincks, China's Restive Xinjiang Province Changes Family Planning Rules to 'Promote Ethnic Equality', Time (Aug. 1, 2017, 5:42 AM), https://time.com/4881898/china-xinjiang-uighur-children/.

[14] Ayan, supra note 13.

[15] Id.

[16] Id.

[17] Qelbinur Sidik – A Twisted Life, supra note 10.

[18] Adrian Zenz, Sterilizations,Iuds, And Mandatory Birth Control: The Ccp’s Campaign To Suppress Uyghur Birthrates In Xinjiang, The Jamestown Foundation (July, 21, 2020), https://jamestown.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Zenz-Internment-Sterilizations-and-IUDs-UPDATED-July-21-Rev2.pdf?x14264.

[19] Louis Charbonneau, China Again in UN Hotseat Over Xinjiang Abuses, Human Rights Watch (Mar. 6, 2020, 12:36 PM), https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/06/china-again-un-hotseat-over-xinjiang-abuses#; Ana Swanson, Nike and Coca-Cola Lobby Against Xinjiang Forced Labor Bill, The New York Times (Jan. 20, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/29/business/economy/nike-coca-cola-xinjiang-forced-labor-bill.html; Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020, S. 3744, 116th Congress. (2019-2020); Sarah Al-Arshani, Twitter Locked The Account of China's US Embassy Over a Post That Called Uighur Women 'Baby-Making Machines', Business Insider India (Jan. 21, 2021), https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/twitter-locked-the-account-of-chinas-us-embassy-over-a-post-that-called-uighur-women-baby-making-machines/articleshow/80385439.cms; Sophie Richardson, Unprecedented UN Critique of China’s Xinjiang Policies, Human Rights Watch (Nov. 14, 2019), https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/11/14/unprecedented-un-critique-chinas-xinjiang-policies.

[20] UN: Unprecedented Joint Call for China to End Xinjiang Abuses, Human Rights Watch (July 10, 2019), https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/10/un-unprecedented-joint-call-china-end-xinjiang-abuses; Nick Cumming-Bruce, China Rebuked by 22 Nations Over Xinjiang Repression, The New York Times (July 10, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/10/world/asia/china-xinjiang-rights.html.

[21] Nick Cumming-Bruce, China Rebuked by 22 Nations Over Xinjiang Repression, The New York Times (July 10, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/1 0/world/asia/china-xinjiang-rights.html.

[22] UN: China Responds to Rights Review with Threats, Human Rights Watch (Apr. 1, 2019), https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/04/01/un-china-responds-rights-review-threats; UN: Unprecedented Joint Call for China to End Xinjiang Abuses, Human Rights Watch (July 10, 2019), https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/10/un-unprecedented-joint-call-china-end-xinjiang-abuses.

[23] UN: China Responds to Rights Review with Threats, Human Rights Watch (Apr. 1, 2019), https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/04/01/un-china-responds-rights-review-threats.

[24] Marlise Simons, Uighur Exiles Push for Court Case Accusing China of Genocide, The New York Times (July 6, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/world/asia/china-xinjiang-uighur-court.html.

[25] Javier C. Hernández, I.C.C. Won’t Investigate China’s Detention of Muslims, The New York Times (Jan. 20, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/world/asia/icc-china-uighur-muslim.html.

[26] Id.

[27] Id.

[28] Ana Swanson, Nike and Coca-Cola Lobby Against Xinjiang Forced Labor Bill, The New York Times (Jan. 20, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/29/business/economy/nike-coca-cola-xinjiang-forced-labor-bill.html.

[29] Id.

[30] Id.

[31] Id.

[32] Rosie Frost, H&M Cuts Ties with Supplier After Accusations of Uyghur Forced Labour, Euronews (Aug. 9, 2020), https://www.euronews.com/living/2020/09/18/h-m-cuts-ties-with-supplier-after-accusations-of-uyghur-forced-labour.

[33] Sarah Al-Arshani, Twitter Locked the Account Of China's US Embassy Over A Post That Called Uighur Women 'Baby-Making Machines', Business Insider India (Jan. 21, 2021), https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/twitter-locked-the-account-of-chinas-us-embassy-over-a-post-that-called-uighur-women-baby-making-machines/articleshow/80385439.cms.

[34] Id.

[35] James Landale, Uighurs: 'Credible case' China carrying out genocide, BBC (Feb. 8, 2021), https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55973215.