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PRESS RELEASE: WUC Demands Answers from the Chinese Government on the Countless Cases of Enforced Disappearance of Uyghurs

PRESS RELEASE: WUC Demands Answers from the Chinese Government on the Countless Cases of Enforced Disappearance of Uyghurs

Press Release – For immediate release
30 August 2018
Contact: World Uyghur Congress
 www.uyghurcongress.org
0049 (0) 89 5432 1999 or [email protected]

Today, the 30th of August, marks the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. On this day, we remember the countless Uyghurs and all those around the world who have been forcibly disappeared. This day is an important occasion to keep the victims of enforced disappearance in our collective memory and to continue to seek justice and accountability on their behalf.

Enforced disappearances are an egregious violation of fundamental human rights and have been labeled as a crime against humanity. It is deeply connected with other serious human rights violations, as those who have disappeared may be subjected to arbitrary detention, torture and summary execution. What makes enforced disappearances particularly contemptable, however, is the uncertainty and lack of information surrounding it. The individual subjected to enforced disappearance is not the only victim, as their families and loved ones are deprived of any resolution about their fate or whereabouts. Victims and their families are denied accountability and justice.

Sadly, this is a pain that the Uyghur people are all too familiar, especially since the Chinese government has tried to cut off all communication between Uyghurs in East Turkistan and the diaspora community and has effectively disappeared over 1 million Uyghurs into political indoctrination camps.

In April and May of 2017, Uyghurs living outside China starting losing contact with family members still living in the Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. This continued throughout the year as more Uyghurs lost all contact with family members. It soon became apparent that Uyghurs were being rounded up by Chinese police and placed into large scale internment camps where they are subjected to political indoctrination, torture and miserable conditions. Now, almost every family in the Uyghur diaspora has a missing relative or loved one.

Those detained in the camps have effectively disappeared, as they are not allowed any contact with anyone outside the camps and have no access to judicial or legal remedies. They were not provided with a warrant or given a trial before their forced detention. No formal charges have been levied against any of them and they are being held for unspecified periods of time. The camps therefore constitute one of the largest cases of state-orchestrated enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention in modern human history. The Chinese government has refused to even acknowledge the existence of the camps, making it nearly impossible for Uyghurs living outside East Turkistan to know if their detained friends and family members are ok or even where they are. This has deeply impacted the Uyghur community, who are desperate for news of their loved ones and are frustrated by their inability to save them.

The World Uyghur Congress would also like to express its deep concern for the many disappearances of Uyghur refugees and asylum seekers who have been forcibly returned to China. It has been a repeated and continuous practice by Chinese authorities to silence those who sought to flee oppression to seek a better life. In the past 15 years alone, over 300 Uyghurs have been forcibly returned from 16 different countries and have disappeared on their return. Just this year in April 2018, a young 22-year-old Uyghur asylum seeker was mistakenly returned to China and has not been heard from since. Attempts from his lawyer and the German government have proved unsuccessful.

These issues have been raised in an official letter of General Allegation from the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to the Chinese government. The letter raised the issue of the noticeable trend of Uyghur disappearances, especially in the political indoctrination camps and urged China to reveal the fate and whereabouts of all those who have disappeared. This is an important first step, but more still needs to be done to ensure justice and accountability for all Uyghurs who are victims of enforced disappearance.

It is unconscionable that enforced disappearance still exists as a tool of control and repression in modern day China. It is unjustifiable that Chinese authorities have been able to use it such a massive and coordinated scale against the Uyghur people, with minimal pushback from the international community thus far.

We call on the Chinese government to break the cycle of silence and impunity on these cases. Uyghur families are suffering greatly, not knowing what has become of their loved ones. At the bare minimum, the families of the victims deserve to know their fate and whereabouts.

We therefore call on the Chinese government to:

  1. Acknowledge the existence of the political indoctrination camps and immediately release all those who have been forcibly disappeared or arbitrarily detained.
  2. Immediately refrain from engaging in reprisals against the families of Uyghur activists, journalists and members of the Uyghur diaspora community.
  3. Reveal the names, location and current status of all those who have effectively disappeared into the political indoctrination camps.
  4. Reestablish communication channels between the Uyghurs in East Turkistan and the Uyghur diaspora community.
  5. Immediately cease the practice forcibly disappearing of political dissidents and asylum seekers, which contravenes international law and basic human dignity.
  6. Allow independent investigators into East Turkistan to launch an independent and transparent investigation into cases of enforced disappearance to provide answers for the families of victims and bring those responsible for their disappearance to justice.
  7. Provide reparation and redress to all those effected by the practice of enforced disappearance.
  8. Immediately cease the harassment and punishment of the families of victims of enforced disappearance who are seeking information on the fate and whereabouts of the victims.
  9. Sign and ratify the UN International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
  10. End the defacto legalized practice of involuntary or enforced disappearance in China by repealing “residential surveillance at a designated location” specified in Article 73 of China’s Criminal Procedure Law.