Posted: 06 July
2009
The ethnic identity of
Uighurs in western China is being systematically eroded. Government policies,
including those that limit use of the Uighur language, severe restrictions on
freedom of religion, and a sustained influx of Han Chinese migrants into the
region, are destroying customs and, together with employment discrimination,
fuelling discontent and ethnic tensions. The government has mounted an
aggressive campaign that has led to the arrest and arbitrary detention of
thousands of Uighurs on charges of 'terrorism, separatism and religious
extremism' for peacefully exercising their human rights.
Uighurs are a
Turkic speaking, mainly Sunni Islamic ethnic group with a long history at the
heart of central Asia. In China, they are concentrated in the western region of
the country, an area historically claimed by competing empires, warlords and
ethnic groups. In 1949, the region was integrated into the People's Republic of
China. In 1955, the People's Republic of China established the Xinjiang Uighur
Autonomous Region (XUAR), in recognition of the Uighurs' predominance in the
region, a status which according to the Chinese Constitution entitles ethnic
minorities to organs of self-government in order to exercise
autonomy.
According to the latest Chinese census in 2000, there are more
than 18 million people living in the XUAR, of whom 47 per cent are Uighurs, 40
per cent are Han Chinese and 12 per cent are other ethnic groups, including
Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs, Tatars, Uzbeks and Tajiks. The Han Chinese population has
increased significantly from an estimated 6 per cent in 1949 due to central
government policies that include providing financial incentives to Han Chinese
who migrate to the region.
Fuel For Discontent - discrimination and forced
labour
The Chinese state has failed to protect Uighurs from employment
discrimination which has resulted in extremely high rates of unemployment among
Uighurs in the XUAR and fuelled discontent. Many Uighurs report seeing 'Uighurs
need not apply' signs posted by employers at job fairs demonstrating the state's
inaction in enforcing anti-discrimination laws. Even university graduates who
speak fluent Chinese have difficulty finding employment.
The XUAR is the
only area of China where the general population (non-prisoners) is
systematically subject to a government policy of forced labour. Under a system
referred to as 'hashar', farming families are fined if they fail to send a
family member, sometimes several times each year, to labour on agricultural,
infrastructural and other public works for up to two to three weeks at a time.
The individuals are given no compensation for their labour, no room or board,
and are expected to pay their own transportation costs. Many describe sleeping
out in the open and eating nothing but instant noodles for days while doing hard
labour. Families that do not have an able-bodied young man to send are
not
exempt - men and women as old as 70, and children as young as 12, are
reported by Uighurs to have participated.
The systematic erosion of
Uighur ethnic identity by the Chinese authorities is characterised by repression
and human rights abuses. The Chinese authorities must immediately reverse
policies that limit use of the Uighur language and severely restrict freedom of
religion and Uighurs' ability to enjoy and replicate their culture.
Repression In The Name Of The 'War On
Terror'
The post-Mao era in the 1980s brought liberalising policies
throughout China that allowed citizens greater freedom, including freedom of
religion and expression, and strengthened legal protections, policies which
extended to the XUAR. However, in the mid to late 1990s, Uighurs in the region
experienced a sharp reversal in policy,as the authorities embarked on an
aggressive campaign against the 'three evils': 'terrorism, separatism and
religious extremism'. As a result, increased numbers of Uighurs have been
subjected to arbitrary arrests, unfair trials and torture, and their economic,
social and cultural rights have been slowly eroded. This has worsened since the
attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001 as the authorities cast Uighur
discontent within the framework of international terrorism, claims that many
academics and other observers consider unsubstantiated.
In 2008, the
authorities used a series of violent incidents, allegedly carried out by Uighur
separatist groups, as a pretext for launching a sweeping crackdown on the Uighur
population in the XUAR. According to official media, almost 1,300 people were
arrested during 2008 on state security charges that included terrorism,
separatism and religious extremism, and 1,154 were formally charged and faced
trials or administrative punishments. On 14 August, Wang Lequan, Communist Party
Secretary of the XUAR, announced a 'life and death' struggle against Uighur
'separatism'.
Linguistic And Cultural
Identity At Risk
Language
The Chinese authorities continue to
pursue a language policy that purports to make the school system in the XUAR
'bilingual' but which is in fact making Chinese the sole language of
instruction. The policy began in the 1990s with the elimination of Uighur as a
medium of instruction at the university level. Today, at Xinjiang University,
only Uighur poetry courses are taught in Uighur.
In 2006, the authorities
initiated policy measures that are making Chinese the primary medium of
instruction at the pre-school level. Contradicting the spirit of true
'bilingualism', Uighur children and teachers from a town in southern XUAR
reported that they would be fined if they said one word
in Uighur while on
school premises.
Uighurs are acutely aware of the dramatic impact this
policy has had on the ability of Uighur youth to speak their own language and
the consequent impact on their cultural and ethnic identity. According to one
young Uighur man in his 20s:
'If the children don't learn
the language [Uighur] they won't know the culture, they won't know the religion
then they won't be Uighur. They'll have become Chinese. They [the Chinese
authorities] are destroying us through language...'
The UN Committee on
the Rights of the Child has called on China to 'ensure that all teaching and
learning materials for the primary and secondary level are also available in
ethnic minority languages and with culturally sensitive content.'
Religion
The authorities maintain tight
control over mosques and religious clergy, intervening in the appointment of
local imams, stationing police within and outside mosques, and closely
monitoring all religious activities. Government employees in the XUAR, including
teachers, police officers, state enterprise workers and civil servants risk
losing their jobs if they engage in religious activity. The Chinese authorities
have also put many obstacles in the way of Uighurs attempting to make the
pilgrimage to Mecca, known as the Hajj, which is a requirement for all
practising Muslims. Children under the age of 18 are not allowed to enter
mosques or to receive any sort of religious education. Many young Uighurs are
afraid that if they do enter a mosque, or are found to be praying at home, they
will be expelled from school.
Many also report that it is only on
Fridays, the most important prayer day of the week for Muslims, that schools
force students to stay at school for lunch in order to prevent them from going
home to pray.
Case
studies
Nurmuhemmet Yasin,
a 32-year-old Uighur writer and poet, is serving a 10-year prison sentence for
writing the short story 'Wild Pigeon'. The Chinese authorities consider the
story a veiled indictment of its rule in the XUAR. 'Wild Pigeon', or 'Yawa
Kepter' in the Uighur language, is the first-person narrative
of a trapped
young pigeon - the son of a pigeon king - that commits suicide in captivity. He
kills himself rather than sacrifice his freedom. 'Now, finally, I can die
freely. I feel as if my soul is on fire - soaring and free.'
Ablikim Abdiriyim, the son of human rights
activist and former prisoner of conscience Rebiya Kadeer, is serving a nine-year
sentence for 'separatism' in the XUAR No. 4 Prison. Despite reports that he was
originally detained for alleged financial irregularities in his business,
official Chinese media stated that Ablikim confessed during his trial in January
2007 to having 'spread secessionist articles over the internet, turned the
public against the Chinese government and written articles which distorted
China's human rights and ethnic policies.' There are strong suggestions his
confession wasextracted through torture.
Amnesty International considers
both Nurmuhemmet Yasin and Ablikim Abdiriyim prisoners of conscience and calls
for their immediate and unconditional release.
Laws And Standards Violated
As a state party
to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, China is
obligated to guarantee the rights of everyone to take part in cultural life and
to take steps including those necessary for the conservation, development and
diffusion of culture to achieve the full realization of this right. China is
also a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR), which guarantees the right to freedom of expression and freedom to hold
and manifest religious beliefs. Article 27 of the ICCPR states that ethnic,
religious or linguistic minorities shall not be denied the right, in community
with the other members of their own group, to enjoy their own culture, to
practice their
own religion, or to use their own language.
Chinese
domestic law, including its Constitution, and the 1984 Regional Ethnic Autonomy
Law (REAL), also gives ethnic minorities the right to protect, preserve and
promote their culture. The REAL states that '(s)chools (classes) and other
educational organisations recruiting mostly ethnic minority students
should,
whenever possible, use textbooks in their own languages and use these
languages as the medium of instruction.' Article 4 of the Chinese Constitution
states that 'Regional autonomy is practised in areas where people of minority
ethnic groups live in compact communities... All ethnic groups have the
freedom
to use and develop their own spoken and written languages and to
preserve or reform their own ways and customs.'
Recommendations to the Chinese
government
-Immediately and unconditionally release all those detained
solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of
religion, or in other ways for peacefully exercising their human
rights.
-Respect and protect the right of Uighurs to enjoy their own culture,
to practise their religion, and to use their own language.
-Immediately
abolish the practice of 'hashar', a form of forced labour.
-Make a clear
distinction between activities that involve the peaceful exercise of civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights and those that would be
internationally recognised as criminal acts.