Here's a summary of Uyghur-related news around the world from the past week:
Online Tool Helps Exiled Uyghurs Discover Fate of Loved Ones in China
Exiled Uyghurs have learned the fate of their family members and neighbors through the Xinjiang Police Files Person Search Tool, unveiled February 9 by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit. The tool enables people to search more than 700,000 personal records of Uyghurs and Kazakhs in the Chinese region of Xinjiang.
Advocacy Group Wants End to 'Meaningless' Talks with China
Human Rights Watch's EU director, Philippe Dam, has called for the European Union to halt its "meaningless" rights talks with China and instead focus on securing U.N. action and holding China accountable for international crimes committed against the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang.
The statement came after Uyghur advocacy groups called for U.N. action following the recent review of Beijing's rights record by the U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, during which China's treatment of Uyghurs was questioned. China continues to deny the allegations despite serious concerns raised by U.N. experts.
Uyghur Man's Dream of Becoming a Teacher Shattered by Earthquake
Abdulla Wali Alim, 24, a Uyghur man who left Xinjiang to seek a better life in Turkey, had his hope of becoming a teacher shattered in the rubble of an apartment building that collapsed during the February 6 earthquake. Abdulla had aced a civil service exam and was waiting for a job assignment. His father, who died in an internment camp in Xinjiang in 2016, had sent Abdulla and his brothers away from Xinjiang in 2013, sensing that they had little future at home. Abdulla died from injuries sustained in the earthquake.
Xinjiang Governor Cancels EU, UK Visit Amid Backlash
Erkin Tuniyaz, the governor of China's Xinjiang region, has canceled his planned visit to the U.K. following backlash from officials and activists over his responsibility for the treatment of Uyghurs in the region. The U.K. Foreign Office had intended to urge China to alter its human rights approach in Xinjiang during the meeting with Tuniyaz, but the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China initiated a campaign opposing his visit. Tuniyaz had previously canceled a visit to France and Belgium for scheduling reasons.
US-Vietnam Trade Talks Exclude Discussion of Xinjiang Ban
U.S. and Vietnamese trade representatives recently met to discuss the U.S.-Vietnam Trade and Investment Framework Agreement and agreed to a TIFA meeting in 2023. However, they did not discuss the U.S. ban on products that use raw materials from China's Xinjiang region, which has raised concerns that Vietnamese exports to the U.S. could be blocked.
News in brief
The Uyghur Human Rights Project has accused UNESCO of sanitizing China's persecution of Uyghurs and the destruction of their cultural heritage in the country. A recently released report by UHRP contends that UNESCO fails to acknowledge China's actions toward the Uyghurs, including the destruction of built heritage and the criminalization of cultural practices.
The report examines five aspects of Uyghur heritage and details how China has used them for economic profit and government control. The Chinese government has repeatedly denied the allegations and says their measures are for countering extremism, terrorism and separatism.
Quote of note
"As acknowledged by the International Criminal Court, acts of dispossession and destruction of cultural heritage are often the precursor to acts of genocide. Attacks on cultural heritage, from sacred architecture to community practices and customs, are inseparable from direct physical attacks on human beings. They are a form of cultural warfare aimed at the elimination of a people and their identity."
— Rachel Harris, professor of Uyghur culture at the University of London and co-author of The Complicity of Heritage: Cultural Heritage and Genocide in the Uyghur Region, in a statement released with the report.
