Force Change, 30 August 2011
By Allison Tung

Target: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Chinese President Hu Jintao, US President Barack Obama, UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon

Goal: Demand that Asian governments stop returning these refugees to the government they’re fleeing in the first place and stand strong against Chinese bullying.

Uighurs, a predominantly Caucasian Muslim ethnic minority in China’s Xinjiang province, suffer torture, arbitrary detention, and disappearance on a daily basis. Their futile attempts to flee religious and ethnic persecution by the Chinese government usually results in their summary deportation from countries of refuge – right back into the hands of Chinese officials who abuse and dispose of the hapless refugees. Many of these forced returns violate both human rights and due process standards, as bullied Asian governments raid, arrest, and deport many Uighurs who are legally in the countries and married to legal citizens.

Far from the false lure of safe havens, regional governments attract fleeing Uighurs to their borders, then return the refugees at gun-point to Chinese officials or embassies – often blindfolded and handcuffed. Despite Uighurs’ applications for refugee status and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) protection, China has successfully contravened customary international law against refoulement, or forced return. Over the last few years, Malaysian, Thai, Pakistani, Vietnamese, and Cambodian governments have forcibly returned hundreds of thousands of frightened and abused women, children, and infants into the tender care of Chinese officials, all without respecting basic due process rights. The whereabouts and well-being of the deported Uighur refugees are still unknown.

Human Rights Watch refugee policy director Bill Frelick summarizes their dire, friendless straits: “A recent wave of Uighur forced returns shows the bullying hand of China. Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, [Cambodia], and all other countries, particularly in the region, should stand together to resist this pressure.” In the case of Cambodia, a $1.2 billion grant-and-loan deal this the Chinese government was announced subsequent to the Uighurs’ deportation. Human rights should not be for sale—politically or economically. Demand that all nations stop returning these refugees to the government they’re fleeing in the first place, and charge the Chinese government for an account of the disappeared Uighurs. As bystanders, we can speak up for the detained and disappeared Uighurs: stand strong against Chinese bullying.

PETITION LETTER:

Widespread discrimination and violence against Uighurs in China—as well as ongoing political, cultural, and religious repression at the hands of the Chinese state—have sent many terrorized and abused Uighurs scrambling for refugee status in other countries. Ironically, the victims are tarred by the Chinese government as displaying evidence of “terrorism, separatism, or treason” for peaceful activities such as using the Uighur language or attempting to practice their faith, leading to a relentless Chinese witch-hunt of their escaped refugees across Asia. In the Chinese province of Xinjiang, 8 million Uighurs face enforced disappearances, highly politicized trials concluding in the death penalty, and torture while in arbitrary custody.

When they can endure no more, they attempt to flee to fleetingly friendly countries, which summarily return the vulnerable refugees to their former tormentors and captors. Most are never heard from again.

These unconscionable acts of oppression and entrapment—committed by the Chinese state and complicit Asian governments—fly in the face of all human rights accords and conventions. Press China to reverse its predatory policy against the Uighur minority, and hold the Chinese government accountable for the whereabouts and well-being of their disappeared detainees.

We urge all governments to summon their resolve and protect refugees: resettle Uighurs instead of handing beaten women and children to their oppressors.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Appears Here]

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http://forcechange.com/3549/stop-uighurs-forced-return-to-chinese-detention-and-torture/