PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
17 December 2010
Contact:
Tara Setmayer
Communications Director
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
Washington, DC, USA
Tel.: +1 202-225-2415

Washington, DC –December 19^th, 2010 marks the one year anniversary of Cambodia’s forcible return of 20 Uyghur asylum seekers to China. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) has expressed concern that the Chinese government still has not disclosed the returnees’whereabouts and legal statuses or information about their well-being.

“The plight of the Uyghurs is evidence of the brutish force of the Chinese dictatorship,” said Rohrabacher. “ I call on the Chinese government to immediately reveal these missing Uyghurs’ whereabouts and to unconditionally release them. The Chinese government has not produced any evidence that they have perpetrated any crimes recognized under international law or China’s domestic law.  We should know what has happened to them.”

On December 19, 2009, the Cambodian government, in stark violation of international law, forcibly returned 20 Uyghurs before the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)  determined their refugee status and after pressure applied by China to repatriate them.  The Cambodian government returned them despite intervention from UNHCR and knowing full well that in China, the Uyghurs would be tortured and persecuted on grounds set forth in the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol to the Refugee Convention, of which Cambodia is a party.  Two days later, China’s Vice President Xi Jinping signed an agreement to provide a reported US$1.2 billion in aid to Cambodia.

In response, Congressman Rohrabacher, along with Congressman William Delahunt (D-MA), introduced H.R. 5349, the Cambodian Trade Action of 2010 in May 2010.  This bill – currently before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Committee on Ways and Means – would prohibit any forgiveness of debt currently owed by Cambodia to the United States and would ensure no textiles or apparel produced in Cambodia would be given duty free treatment within the United States.

Since the Chinese authorities detained the 20 Uyghurs on December 19, 2009, their whereabouts have been unknown.  The Chinese authorities arbitrarily alleged they were “criminals” and claimed many were wanted for their participation in the ethnic unrest in July 2009 in Urumchi (the regional capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China) and other incidents.  The authorities have yet to produce evidence to substantiate these allegations.  In June 2010, after the group had already been “disappeared” for six months, the Chinese authorities claimed three members of the group were suspected of “terrorist” activity without any evidence to support the claim.

“The Chinese authorities routinely make unsubstantiated allegations against Uyghurs of crimes and violent activities,” said Rohrabacher.  “They also routinely equate Uyghurs’ peaceful political, religious and cultural activities with the ‘three evil forces’ – terrorism, religious extremism, and separatism. Their plight symbolizes the Chinese government’s disdain for individual freedoms and basic human rights.”

The Chinese government has also subjected many other Uyghurs, particularly young men and boys, to “enforced disappearances” since the July 2009 incidents.  In October 2009, Human Rights Watch released a report entitled, “China:  ‘We Are Afraid to Even Look for Them’:  Enforced Disappearances in the Wake of Xinjiang’s Protests”, documenting the enforced disappearances of more than forty Uyghur men and boys in the aftermath of the July 2009 protests.  The report indicated that the number of enforced disappearances was likely much higher than they were able to document.

Originally published at:

http://rohrabacher.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=217908