Who are Uighur Muslisms?
Uighurs, also spelled as Uyghurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are from the northwest region of China known as Xinjiang, officially known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). While the entire population, which consists of 12 million, is not muslim, the majority are, speaking their own language that is similar to Turkish.
In recent years, after the establishment of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, a large number of Han, ethnically Chinese people, have begun migrating there. This resulted in rising tensions between the ethnic groups, leading to violence protests and other disturbances.
Because of the rising violence, Chinese authorities cracked down on the Uighurs, including shooting, arresting, and sentencing them to jail time if they were suspected of being separatists up until 2017.
What’s Happening in China?
In 2017, the Chinese government began a thorough crackdown on the Uighur Muslims in China, citing a greater need for security. This led to the government setting up cameras, checkpoints, and constant police patrols in areas dominated by the Uighur population. This also led to probably the most controversial act taken by the government, creating “political training centers”, which detained up to one million Uighurs.
Students who would come home to Xinjiang and find their families detained were told that they were being kept in a training school that was set up by the government, followed by them being threatened and told that their behaviour could determine the length of their relatives' stay in these “schools”. When looking at pictures of the camps, with watch towers and barbed wire fences, and hearing from those that were detained saying they were beaten and tortured for their religion, along with women citing that sterilization was forced upon them to suppress the Uighur population, it is obvious that the Chinese government is lying to the public about how these camps truly are.
China claims that the reason behind detaining these people is because of the extremist views that the Uighurs hold, claiming they are a threat to security. The Communist Party in China rejected the criticism of the camps, describing them as job-training centers that use mild methods to fight against Islamic extremism. When confronted about the forced sterilization, the Communist Party claimed that it was not forced and the declining population was instead due to the fact that their teachings have opened the Uighur women’s mind to feminism. Even with all of the evidence stacked against them, the Chinese government continues to defend themselves against the criticism aimed at them for this genocide.
What can We do?
There are some things that people can do to help Uighur muslims in China. Sharing the information about them to friends and family and on social media is a small way one can spread the word about the terrible violence that these people are facing in China right now. Another more direct way one can help is donating. While no aid can enter China, we can donate in order to aid Uighur refugees who have escaped to Turkey. These donations can help to provide food, housing, and education for this community in Turkey:
One Nation UK: Help the Uyghur
For More Information:
Who are the Uighurs and why is the US accusing China of genocide?
Uighur | History, Language, & Facts
‘Absolutely No Mercy’: Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of
What is happening with the Uighurs in China?
The Chinese government is trying to rebrand forced sterilization as feminism | Arwa Mahdawi
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