Rt Hon. Emily Thornberry on Uyghur Muslims in China

Rt. Hon. Emily Thornberry MP

Uighur Muslims in China

Dr. Mozammel Haque

I have been writing on Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang and I have attended many seminars and conferences in London on Uyghur Muslims. Leaders and shadow ministers of the Labour Party have expressed their concerns. In one of the conferences Rt. Hon. Emily Thornberry, Shadow Foreign Secretary, MP gave a lecture on the situation of Uyghur Muslims. I reported that and sent her a copy.

In reply to that, Rt. Hon. Thornberry, MP sent me the following letter. She said in her letter, “I have been completely appalled by the treatment of Uighur Muslims in China. It is chilling to read the reports of the persecution that is taking place and I agree with you entirely that the international community must come together to tell the Chinese authorities that it needs to stop.”

She also said, “We must support the calls from the UN for the Chinese authorities to shut down the so-called ‘re-education camps’ and our government needs to continue to use other inter-governmental forums to apply pressure on the Chinese to ensure that the religious, ethnic and cultural rights.”

“In the UK, I want to see the Home Office expediting asylum applications from Uighur Muslims and making sure that we do not deport any Uighur asylum seekers back to China. We also need to be urging any private companies operating in Xianjiang province to end any business operations that could be contributing to human rights abuses, said Shadow Foreign MP for Islington South and Finsbury.

She mentioned, “At this stage the government should be considering imposing individual sanctions on some of the individuals at the centre of this issue, such as State Secretary Chen. They also need to be looking serious at implementing further controls on the export of surveillance equipment to the Chinese authorities if there is a risk of it being used to monitor and oppress Uighur Muslims.”

As I mentioned earlier I have covered many events on Uyghur Muslims. Followings are some of the excerpts from those reports on Uyghur Muslims.

The Uyghur Situation in Xinjiang:

A Form of “Cultural Genocide”

“We must talk about the crisis Xinjiang in terms of possible “crimes against humanity” and – if not genocide, certainly a form of “cultural genocide.” It involves the elimination of culture, and a campaign of ‘Sinicisation’.” said Benedict Rogers, a member of the advisory board of the International Coalition to End Organ Trafficking in China (ETAC), and a trustee of the Phan Foundation and the Chin Human Rights Foundation, at an event “Understanding the Uyghur Situation in Xinjiang” at the Houses of Parliament.

Henry Jackson Society organised the event “Understanding the Uyghur Situation in Xinjiang” on 10^th of January 2019, at the Houses of Parliament. Lord Hannay of Chiswick hosted as well as chaired the discussion in which Benedict Rogers, Rossie Blau, Dr. Enver Tohti and Rahima Mahmut discussed the Uyghur situation in Xinjiang.

The President of the World Uyghur Congress, Mr. Dolkun Isa along with his delegation visited the Islamic Cultural Centre, London on Monday, the 21^st of January, 2019 and met Dr. Ahmad al-Dubayan, the Director General of the London Central Mosque Trusts and the Islamic Cultural Centre and his staff at the Board Room of the Centre. Dr. al-Dubayan introduced the Islamic Cultural Centre and gave a brief history, background of the foundation of the Centre as well as the activities of the Mosque and the Centre.

World Uyghur Congress President

Dolkun Isa

The President of the World Uyghur Congress Dolkun Isa introduced the situation of Uyghur in Eastern Turkestan. He said, “Xinjiang is autonomous, China does not call Eastern Turkestan. China calls Xinjiang; it is a Chinese name. Xin is new and jiang is border territory. It is a new territory for China. The territorial size is 1.6 million square kilometres (640,000 square miles); it is five times larger than Germany; may be, five or six times larger than the United Kingdom. Most of the places are mountain; only 4.6 per cent inhabitable; 94 per cent is mountainous; but it is rich territory; it is rich in resources, uranium, gold. This is the main reason for the Chinese government. Though the territory is rich, but we the Turkestani people are very poor, because we cannot use all the natural resources; never been benefitted by the Uyghur people. It is used by the Chinese government.”

Dolkun Isa, the President of the World Uyghur Congress, started. “Tragedy has brought the Uyghur and Rohingya people together today. Uyghurs and the Rohingyas have been attacked, assaulted, disappeared and forced to leave their lands. Millions of innocent people are suffering greatly at the hands of Chinese and Myanmar governments,” Isa said.

WUC President also mentioned, “Today millions of Uyghurs are arbitrarily detained in concentration camps by the Chinese authorities. All families are suffering being tortured and dying in the camps. Those of us living outside East Turkestan are deeply saddened and sorrowed by our inability to save them. We are in the 21^st century; communication is no issue at all today. It is a big and serious issue for Uyghurs to forget their family members.”

I am fortunate enough on Monday, the 11^th of February 2019 that I attended the Lords’ Chamber as guest of Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham and listened to the debates, Lord Ahmed asked the question on Uyghur Muslims Community in China. Followings are the question and reply on Uyghur Muslims in China at the House of Lords chamber on 11 February, 2019.

Closure of these concentration camps

And access for UN representatives

Lord Ahmed (Non-Afl) said, “I thank the Minister for his reply. As he has already confirmed, according to media and social media reports, concentration camps, mass surveillance, forced disappearances, torture and the banning of religious practices are all happening there. Will the Minister join me in condemning these gross violations of human rights by the Chinese authorities, and will he demand the closure of these concentration camps and access for UN representatives to confirm that the detainees have been released and the camps have been closed down?”

We are working on this, including with

the UN – replied Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon replied: “The noble Lord rightly raises important issues and concerns. Reports have also indicated that even basic expressions of religious symbolism, such as the growing of a beard or the wearing of a headscarf, are used as indicators to target particular communities. I assure the noble Lord that we are working on this, including with the UN, which he mentioned. We have clearly asked the Chinese authorities to implement the full recommendations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and we have reminded them both bilaterally—as the Foreign Secretary did last year in his meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister—and in the Human Rights Council that our concerns about the camps and the reports from our diplomats in Beijing require action. On human rights more generally, I assure the noble Lord that I am specifically looking at the next meeting of the Human Rights Council in March to see how we cannot just lobby on this issue but build stronger alliances.

China’s Ethnic Cleansing of Uyghurs –

From Oppression To Genocide

“Uyghurs are helpless and on the edge of disappearing from this world. Humanity is crying out every minute in the hearts of Uyghurs. The world must save the Uyghurs before it is too late. Money cannot buy love of humanity! Uyghurs need your support!” said Aziz Isa Elkun, Secretary of Uyghur PEN Centre while presenting a paper at the Conference on China’s Brute Crackdown on Uyghur Muslims, organised by the Cordoba Foundation, London, on 15 February 2019 at the London Muslim Centre, London.