Human Rights, Freedom and Solidarity
ABC News. 19 April 2021
Below is an article published by ABC News. Photo:Grace Tobin.
Melbourne woman Mehray Mezensof has been married for five years, but her husband has been absent for most of that time.
Instead, he has been in and out of detention centres and concentration camps multiple times in China’s far north-western region of Xinjiang.
Ms Mezensof has never spoken publicly before, fearing it would make an already perilous situation more dangerous for her husband Mirzat Taher.
Read moreHuman Rights Watch. 19 April 2021
Below is an article published by Human Rights Watch. Photo:Thomas Peter/Reuters.
The Chinese government is committing crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in the northwest region of Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Chinese leadership is responsible for widespread and systematic policies of mass detention, torture, and cultural persecution, among other offenses. Coordinated international action is needed to sanction those responsible, advance accountability, and press the Chinese government to reverse course.
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.
Read moreNouse. 15 April 2021
Below is an article published by Nouse. Photo:Leif Harboe.
In an age of fast fashion and even faster news, staying ‘woke’ presents itself as an exhausting task. A topic that isn’t just another uninformed marketing faux pas, the issue of forced labour in Xinjiang involves one million people and demands everyone’s attention.
Read moreThe Washington Post. 12 April 2021
Below is an article published by The Washington Post. Photo:Emrah Gurel/AP.
The Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of the Uyghur people will go down in history as one of the worst human rights tragedies of our time — not just for the abject horror of targeting a population of 11 million for genocide, but also for the advanced technologies that enabled it.
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Financial Times. 12 April 2021
Below is an article published by Financial Times. Photo:Sedat Suna/EPA/Shutterstock.
Ankara has summoned China’s ambassador over a tweet that targeted Turkish politicians critical of the treatment of the country’s Uyghur minority, in a rare show of displeasure with Beijing. The Chinese embassy said it had “a right to respond” after Meral Aksener, chair of the centre-right Good party, and Mansur Yavas, mayor of Ankara, wrote tweets commemorating a 1990 Uyghur uprising in the Chinese region of Xinjiang. A tweet from the embassy’s official account, tagging the Turkish politicians, said it “opposes and violently condemns any sort of challenge to Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity by any person or power”.
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Human Rights Watch. 8 April 2021
Below is an article published by Human Rights Watch. Photo:AP.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is hoping the Chinese government will grant UN experts unrestricted access to detention centers in Xinjiang where over a million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims have faced torture and myriad other human rights abuses. But he should make clear to Beijing that an investigation can take place with or without access.
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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”.
Read morePosted on April 22, 2021, in Campaigns Human Rights Issues London Office News Our Work Press Release WHAT’S NEW
Press Release – For Immediate Release
22 April 2021
The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) applauds the unanimous passing of the genocide motion in the British House of Commons today. By voting in favour of the motion, British MPs have taken a strong position that underscores that the UK cannot sit in silence whilst national parliaments around the world are debating this exact question.
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