All Reading
This section contains a curated list of useful articles, investigations, books and other reading materials. The list is updated on a weekly basis and suggestions for additions are welcome.
Starting Points:
China: Hundreds of Uyghur Village Names Change
Chinese authorities in Xinjiang have been systematically changing hundreds of village names with religious, historical, or cultural meaning for Uyghurs into names reflecting recent Chinese Communist Party ideology.
Asleep at the Wheel - Car Companies’ Complicity in Forced Labour in China
In this report, Human Rights Watch outlines how global carmakers are failing to minimize the risk of Uyghur forced labor being used in their aluminum supply chains.
China: Mosques Shuttered, Razed, Altered in Muslim Areas
The Chinese government is significantly reducing the number of mosques in Ningxia and Gansu provinces under its “mosque consolidation” policy, in violation of the right to freedom of religion, Human Rights Watch said today.
China: Unrelenting Crimes Against Humanity Targeting Uyghurs
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s pronouncement that China intends to maintain its counterterrorism policies in Xinjiang indicates continuing crimes against humanity there, Human Rights Watch said today
Xinjiang Official Figures Reveal Higher Prisoner Count
The Chinese government has used its justice system to sentence and imprison an estimated half-million people during the brutal crackdown in Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch said today. Research indicates that the total number of people wrongfully imprisoned is much higher than official figures.
New UN Report Alleges Crimes Against Humanity
A United Nations report says the Chinese government has committed abuses that may amount to crimes against humanity targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic communities in the Xinjiang region, Human Rights Watch said today.
China: US Law Against Uyghur Forced Labor Takes Effect
The United States government should vigorously enforce a new law that aims to prevent imports linked to forced labor by Uyghurs and other persecuted groups in China, Human Rights Watch said today.
UN to Release Much-Anticipated Rights Report on China
Last week the spokesperson for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said it would be only “a matter of a few weeks” until the release of a much-anticipated report showing “patterns” of Chinese government human rights violations against Uyghurs and other Turkic communities in the Xinjiang region.
“Break Their Lineage, Break Their Roots” - China’s Crimes against Humanity
This report outlines the evidence for the conclusion that the Chinese government has committed crimes against humanity against the Turkic Muslim population.
Big Data Program Targets Xinjiang’s Muslims - Leaked List of Over 2,000 Detainees Demonstrates Automated Repression
A big data program for policing in China’s Xinjiang region arbitrarily selects Turkic Muslims for possible detention, Human Rights Watch said today. A leaked list of over 2,000 detainees from Aksu prefecture provided to Human Rights Watch is further evidence of China’s use of technology in its repression of the Muslim population.
China’s Algorithms of Repression: Reverse Engineering a Xinjiang Police Mass Surveillance App
This report provides a detailed description and analysis of a mobile app that police and other officials use to communicate with the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP), one of the main systems Chinese authorities use for mass surveillance in Xinjiang. The findings provide an unprecedented window into how mass surveillance actually works in Xinjiang, because the IJOP system is central to a larger ecosystem of social monitoring and control in the region.
China: How Mass Surveillance Works in Xinjiang
Chinese authorities are using a mobile app to carry out illegal mass surveillance and arbitrary detention of Muslims in China’s western Xinjiang region, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The report presents new evidence about the surveillance state in Xinjiang, where the government has subjected 13 million Turkic Muslims to heightened repression as part of its “Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism.”
China: Children Caught in Xinjiang Crackdown
The Chinese government should release to their families children held in orphanages in Xinjiang because their parents have been arbitrarily detained, Human Rights Watch said today. “China’s authorities are cruelly putting the children of some of Xinjiang’s political detainees in state institutions,” said Sophie Richardson, China director. “This is part of a perverse government program to take Turkic Muslim children from their extended families in the name of children’s material well-being.”
“Eradicating Ideological Viruses” - China’s Campaign of Repression Against Xinjiang’s Muslims
This report presents new evidence of the Chinese government’s mass arbitrary detention, torture, and mistreatment of Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang. Systemic and increasingly pervasive controls on daily life there dramatically scaled up when Chen Quanguo became Xinjiang’s Party Secretary in late 2016.
Visiting Officials Occupy Homes in Muslim Region - ‘Becoming Family’ Campaign Intensifies Repression in Xinjiang
Since 2016, Xinjiang authorities have sent hundreds of thousands of CCP cadres from government agencies, state-owned enterprises, and public institutions to regularly visit and surveil citizens. Every two months, about 110,000 officials visit homes with a view toward “fostering ethnic harmony”. This “Becoming Family” campaign has been greatly expanded in recent months. In December 2017, Xinjiang authorities mobilized more than a million cadres to spend a week living in homes primarily in Xinjiang’s countryside.
China: Big Data Fuels Crackdown in Minority Region - Predictive Policing Program Flags Individuals for Investigations, Detentions
Chinese authorities are building and deploying a predictive policing program based on big data analysis in Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch said today. The program aggregates data about people – often without their knowledge – and flags those it deems potentially threatening to officials. According to interviewees, some of those targeted are detained and sent to extralegal “political education centers” where they are held indefinitely without charge or trial, and can be subject to abuse.
Minority Region Collects DNA from Millions - Private Information Gathered by Police, Under Guise of Public Health Program
Chinese authorities in Xinjiang are collecting DNA samples, fingerprints, iris scans, and blood types of all residents in the region between the age of 12 and 65, Human Rights Watch said today. This campaign significantly expands authorities’ collection of biodata beyond previous government efforts in the region, which only required all passport applicants in Xinjiang to supply biometrics.
China: Voice Biometric Collection Threatens Privacy - Police, AI Giant Collaboration in Legal Gray Area
The Chinese government is collecting “voice pattern” samples of individuals to establish a national voice biometric database, Human Rights Watch said today. Authorities are collaborating with iFlytek, a Chinese company that produces 80 percent of all speech recognition technology in the country, to develop a pilot surveillance system that can automatically identify targeted voices in phone conversations. “The Chinese government has been collecting the voice patterns of tens of thousands of people with little transparency about the program or laws regulating who can be targeted or how that information is going to be used,” said Sophie Richardson, China director. “Authorities can easily misuse that data in a country with a long history of unchecked surveillance and retaliation against critics.”
Free Xinjiang ‘Political Education’ Detainees - Muslim Minorities Held for Months in Unlawful Facilities
The Chinese government should immediately free people held in unlawful “political education” centers in Xinjiang and shut them down, Human Rights Watch said today. Since about April 2017, the authorities have forcibly detained thousands of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities at these centers, where they are subjected to propaganda promoting Chinese identity.
China’s Dystopian Push to Revolutionize Surveillance
As part of a new multimillion-dollar project in Xinjiang, the Chinese government is attempting to “build a fortress city with technologies.” If this sounds Orwellian, that’s because it is. According to the Sina online news portal, the project is supposed to strengthen the authorities’ hands against unexpected social unrest. Using “big data” from various sources, including the railway system and visitors’ systems in private residential compounds, its ultimate aim is to “predict … individuals and vehicles posing heightened risks” to public safety.