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:
‘I don’t know if they’re alive’: Uyghurs in Europe fear for families back home
Three individuals share tales of missing relatives amidst protests against China’s persecution of the community.
Amazon is reportedly using Chinese suppliers with ties to forced labor
Amazon is allegedly employing suppliers in China with links to forced labor, according to a report from the Tech Transparency Project (TTP). The report accuses Amazon of continuing to work with these suppliers, despite evidence of their association with Uyghur labor camps.
Uyghurs Stand With Ukrainians
Uyghurs stand with Ukrainians against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on their precious land. We stand with Ukrainians because Uyghurs cherish freedom and understand what it takes to protect it. Uyghurs stand with Ukrainians because our authoritarian oppressor, Xi Jinping, is a key enabler in the tragedy unfolding in eastern Europe. All of us who have our liberty must do better in ending the nightmares of people under assault, wherever they are.
Hundreds of Uyghurs said to be detained in camp in Xinjiang’s Manas county
Nearly 800 Uyghurs are being held in a detention camp in Manas county in northwestern China’s Xinjiang, said an official from the area who previously worked at the facility. The official also said that the Uyghur inmates had been arrested for committing “serious crimes,” such as praying, and that inside the facility they learned “the national language” of Mandarin Chinese.
In Xinjiang, a new normal under a new chief — and also more of the same
Ma Xingrui, the new party secretary of Xinjiang, is tasked with repairing the damage left by his predecessor, Chen Quanguo, who initiated the largest internment of a religious minority since World War II. But he will also need to execute Beijing’s new policy of thwarting what it calls the “two plots.”
We Uyghurs Have No Say: An Imprisoned Writer Speaks
This book presents a collection of imprisoned Uyghur intellectual Ilham Tohti’s words on justice, the history of Xinjiang and the plight of China’s Muslim minorities.
China moves to close down Uyghur cultural, language organizations
The Chinese government’s move to shut down more than 150 Uyghur cultural research and language organizations is another indication of the cultural eradication of the mostly Muslim community, those once involved in the organizations and Uyghur artists said.
UN head reiterates call for China to allow ‘credible’ Xinjiang visit
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday again called on China to allow outside officials to visit Xinjiang to observe how the government is treating Uyghur Muslims there.
China ordered a Uyghur journalist extradited to Xinjiang. His wife has taken to the Istanbul streets to stop it
Every day is a protest for Buzainuer Wubuli, 28, and her three young children. Her husband, Idris Hasan (Yidiresi Aishan), is a journalist, computer engineer and activist. He is one of the thousands of Uyghurs living abroad being sought out by Chinese authorities in an attempt to bring them back to Xinjiang.
Turkey closes Uyghur school in Istanbul after China complains
Authorities in Istanbul closed a Uyghur elementary school there allegedly at the request of the Chinese government officials who worried students were receiving anti-China instruction, the principal and the parents of students said.
China says U.N. rights boss welcome to visit Xinjiang in near future
Wang Yi, China's foreign minister, said on Monday that the U.N. rights chief would be welcome to visit the Xinjiang region in the near future. "We welcome people from all over the world who harbour no bias to come to Xinjiang for exchanges," he said at a speech to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
In Xinjiang’s Tech Incubators, Innovation Is Inseparable from Repression
In 2017, the Urumqi High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, in the capital of Xinjiang, published a catalogue of the “entrepreneurial and innovative” projects underway in its jurisdiction. The Xinjiang University Information Technology Innovation Park Co., Ltd. aimed to improve capacity for “grassroots makerspaces.” Another company was using blockchain “to establish an Asia-Europe big data trading platform.” But the catalogue also heralded innovation of a very different kind.
Another Uyghur torchbearer at 2008 Beijing Olympics said to be detained
A Uyghur who served as a torchbearer in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and was a medical doctor is serving an 18-year jail sentence, caught in a wider crackdown on the ethnic minority group, Uyghurs living in exile and officials in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region said.
(Ab)use of Law. Criminal Proceedings in Xinjiang
This report explains the widespread and systematic deprivation of liberty of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, with forms of detention used as an end in themselves and as means to carry out ‘re-education’, punish and to engender fear.
Activists urge UN rights chief to release delayed report on Xinjiang
Now that the Beijing Winter Olympics is over, U.N. rights chief Michelle Bachelet must release her long-delayed report on alleged violations in China's Xinjiang region against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
Voices From China: What the CCP Doesn’t Want You to Hear
By jailing citizens for their speech, Beijing keeps both other Chinese and the world in the dark about the many differing opinions and perspectives within Chinese society.
China warns Ireland to ‘stop interfering’ as leader of persecuted Uyghurs attends meeting with Irish officials in Dublin
Ireland has been urged to “respect China’s sovereignty” and to “stop interfering in China’s internal affairs” after an Uyghur leader attended a meeting in the Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday. In response, the Chinese Embassy in Dublin said they “strongly condemn the anti-China separatist activities of the so-called ‘World Uyghur Congress’ in Ireland, and firmly oppose Irish government officials’ meeting with Dolkun Isa”.
A Threat to Justice Everywhere - Persecution of Uyghurs demands an international response
Because China is so powerful, the global community’s failure to hold it to account for the atrocities committed against the Uyghurs could have serious repercussions. Thus far, China has waved away criticisms with renewed assertions of absolute state sovereignty within its own borders. But that idea was rejected with the creation of the United Nations, when member states, including China, agreed to relinquish some of that sovereignty in favor of international human rights.
China's Global Dragnet
Since 1997, the Chinese government has engaged in an unprecedented scale of abuse and reprisals – often called “transnational repression” – against Uyghurs living abroad. These are the 440 people in 40 countries known to have faced detention, deportation, and more from 1997 until March 2021.
The Forced Smiles of Beijing’s Olympics
At the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics earlier this month, 20-year-old skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang placed the last torch into the snowflake-shaped cauldron. She later said, “My country gave me such an important task, and I must do it very well, with immense pride and joy in my heart.” Indeed, the task was much more important than it seems. But it was more than likely not a voluntary one.