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:
Thousands of ‘Terrorism Suspects’ on ‘Shanghai List’ Include Uyghur Children, Elderly
A recently leaked Chinese government document provides new insight into how China characterizes extremist threats. More than three quarters of the names on the list of some 10,000 “suspected terrorists” are ethnic Uyghurs, while the document includes hundreds of minors and the elderly, providing rare insight into how Beijing characterizes threats it has used to lock up more than a million people.
The Chief Witness: Escape from China’s modern-day concentration camps
“I will never forget the camp. I cannot forget the eyes of the prisoners, expecting me to do something for them. They are innocent. I have to tell their story, to tell about the darkness they are in. It is so easy to suffocate us with the demons of powerlessness, shame, and guilt. But we aren't the ones who should feel ashamed.”
Why African countries back China on human rights
African countries are not among those calling out China for its treatment of the mostly Muslim Uyghur population in the north-western region of Xinjiang. In fact some African diplomats recently attended an event in Beijing and lauded China's policy in the region.
From Xinjiang to Mississippi: Terror Capitalism, Labour and Surveillance
This essay by ethnographic researcher Darren Byler explores the political and economic forces at work in the checkpoints, camps, and factories of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
UK MPs declare China is committing genocide against Uyghurs in Xinjiang
British MPs voted to declare that China is committing genocide against the Uyghur people in Xinjiang province. The motion passed on Thursday does not compel the government to act but is likely to mark a further decline in relations with China.
“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.
Zara, Uniqlo, Pick Profit Over Human Rights, Fuel Uyghur Forced Labor
Uyghur forced labor remains one of today’s largest humanitarian crises, and the fashion industry is intricately tied to its horrors. The Xinjiang province provides around 85% of Chinese cotton. China, in turn, accounts for nearly 22% of the world’s cotton supply. It’s an undeniably huge global player — both in terms of supply and demand.
Olympic committee gave uniform contract to Chinese company with Xinjiang ties
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave a uniform contract for the Tokyo 2021 Summer Olympics and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics to a Chinese textiles company that has an affiliated factory in Xinjiang and that openly advertises its use of Xinjiang cotton.
Surviving the Crackdown in Xinjiang
As mass detentions and surveillance dominate the lives of China’s Uyghurs and Kazakhs, a woman struggles to free herself.
The cost of speaking up against China
Women who made allegations last month of rape and sexual abuse in Chinese detention camps have been harassed and smeared in the weeks since. Rights groups say the attacks are typical of an aggressive campaign by China to silence those who speak up.
Inditex accused of turning a blind eye amid rising tensions in China boycott crisis
Spanish apparel giant Inditex finds itself torn, like the rest of the international companies present in China, between the interests of Beijing and the interests of a number of Western powers in the Xinjiang cotton crisis.
Burberry becomes first luxury brand to suffer Chinese backlash over Xinjiang
Burberry has lost a Chinese brand ambassador and its hallmark tartan design was scrubbed from a popular video game, becoming the first luxury brand assailed by the Chinese backlash to Western accusations of abuses in Xinjiang.
How brands are responding to China’s Xinjiang boycotts: deleting past statements or all-out flip-flops
Some of the world’s largest apparel companies are facing an unprecedented reckoning in China as state media outlets and social media campaigns call for consumer boycotts in protest of the brands previously saying they were concerned about reports that China uses forced labor to produce cotton in its Xinjiang province. Now, some companies are deleting those statements or telling different stories about their products depending on whether the audience is Western or Chinese.
Under pressure in China, Zara deleted a statement about Xinjiang
Until yesterday, Zara’s parent company, Inditex, had a statement on its website stating the company’s zero-tolerance policy for forced labor and that it did not have relationships with any factories in Xinjiang. It has since been removed.
Airbnb asked to drop Olympic ties over China rights issues
Airbnb Inc. is being asked to drop its sponsorship connections to next year’s Beijing’s Winter Olympics by a coalition of 150 human-rights campaigners. The coalition is headed by groups that oppose rights violations in China including the detention of Muslim Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region.
EU imposes sanctions on four Chinese officials
The European Union Monday approved sanctions against four Chinese officials involved in running internment camps for hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs in the region of Xinjiang. The list conspicuously avoided targeting the top Communist Party boss in Xinjiang, Chen Quanguo, who was hit by U.S. measures last year.
China: Hearts and Lives Broken – The nightmare of Uyghur families separated by repression
Testimonies of Uyghur parents studying or making a living abroad prior to China’s crackdown on Xinjiang barely scratch the surface of the experiences of Uyghur families yearning for reunification with their children trapped in China.
Dismaying Uyghurs, Legislatures of Australia and Turkey Reject Motions on China Genocide Label
Lawmakers in Australia rejected a motion on Monday to recognize human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as genocide, disappointing hopes by Uyghurs and other XUAR natives that the country would follow similar designations by the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands. The decision followed a similar move by Turkish lawmakers last week in Ankara.
The Uyghur Genocide: An Examination of China’s Breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention
This report is the first independent expert application of the 1948 Genocide Convention to the ongoing treatment of the Uyghurs in China. It was undertaken in response to emerging accounts of serious and systematic atrocities in Xinjiang province, particularly directed against the Uyghurs, an ethnic minority, to ascertain whether the People’s Republic of China is in breach of the Genocide Convention.
The Human Rights Situation of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China
This report from the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs outlines the repression of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang and considers Canada’s international obligations under the Genocide Convention.