Human Rights, Freedom and Solidarity
China’s government has destroyed much of Kashgar’s Old City in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) precisely because of its cultural significance for Uyghurs, according to a new report, which called the campaign key to understanding how Beijing seeks to control the ethnic group.
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BBC. 23 April 2021
Below is an article published by BBC. Photo:PA Media.
More than a million people are estimated to have been detained at camps in the region of Xinjiang.
The motion approved by MPs does not compel the UK to take action, but is a sign of growing discontent towards the Chinese government in Parliament.
In response, China said the UK should “immediately right its wrong moves”.
Read moreForeign Policy. 15 April 2021
Below is an article published by Foreign Policy. Photo:OZAN KOSE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES.
On his way out of office on Jan. 19, then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a determination that China “has committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.” Nobody in the U.S. policy community seriously disputes that atrocities are occurring in Xinjiang—but some analysts have zoomed in on the term “genocide.” Sometimes it seems to be a way of trying to force policies back toward the failed engagement of the past rather than confronting what’s happening in China and rethinking policy accordingly.
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Middle East Monitor. 12 April 2021
Below is an article published by The Middle East Monitor. Photo:ZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images.
It is a fact that rape and sexual abuse have been used as weapons of war throughout history. The lack of security leaves women and girls, in particular, more vulnerable than usual to violence. For a long time, this was just accepted as inevitable in conflicts, and few efforts were made to prosecute perpetrators of mass rapes and sexual violence. We saw this in Bosnia in the 1990s where, for example, the UNHCR reported that 50,000 women were raped by Bosnian Serbs as a war tactic.
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The Guardian. 23 April 2021
Below is an article published by The Guardian. Photo:Guy Bell/Rex/Shutterstock.
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. In response, Beijing’s embassy in the UK accused the MPs of having “cooked up” the motion “with a view to discrediting and attacking China”.
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