NEWS

China Extends Crackdown on Minority Languages
On August 6, the RFA reported that starting from the fall semester of 2021, Chinese kindergartens in ethnic minority and rural areas that aren’t already using Mandarin for childcare activities must begin to do so, displacing languages like Mongolian, Tibetan, and Uyghur.

By ousting such languages, the Chinese government is acting against the UNESCO upcoming decade of Indigenous languages program, commences in 2022 and focuses among other things on indigenous language rights. In the meantime, the repression of Uyghur intellectuals, including linguists, continues. This week, RFA reported that Nabijan Habibullah,  professor of linguistics, is confirmed to be sentenced for 15 years and Gheyratjan Osman, an academic and long-time expert in classic Uyghur literature, is serving a prison sentence of 10 years.

An International Public Hearing on East Turkistan in Taiwan
On July 30th, World Uyghur Congress’ President, Dolkun Isa, participated in the first international public hearing on the Uyghur crisis in Taiwan. Joined by MPs from other countries, NGO representatives, journalists, as well as Uyghur camp survivors, Mr. Isa delivered a statement at the hearing, which was set up by the Taiwan Parliamentary Human Rights Commission and the Taiwan Parliamentary Group for Uyghurs. The organizers urged their government to “stand out, condemn human rights persecution, and support Uyghurs and survivors.”

Mr. Isa continues to be heard by lawmakers worldwide. On August 10th, Mr. Isa met with Czech Senator Pavel Pavel, chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security, as well as officials from the US Embassy in Prague.

Goods Made with Uyghur Forced Labour Continue to End Up on International Markets
On August 10, BuzzFeed News covered a new report by C4ADS, entitled Long Shadows: How the Global Economy Supports Oppression in Xinjiang. The report analyses how Chinese goods that are connected to Uyghur Forced Labour still end up on the US Market, despite their Chinese exporters being blacklisted by the US Government. Despite such sanctions, the report found that subsidiaries of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) retain access to international markets.

Complicity of Pakistan and Afghanistan in China’s Transnational Repression of Uyghurs
On August 11, the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) and the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs released a new report documenting the complicity of Pakistan and Afghanistan in China’s transnational repression of Uyghurs. The report, “Nets Cast from the Earth to the Sky”: China’s Hunt for Pakistan’s Uyghurs, describes how China’s different methods of repression of Uyghurs in Pakistan and Afghanistan violate international human rights and legal norms. The report identified 21 cases of detention and deportation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with an upper estimate of 90 reported incidents lacking full biographical records.

Pressure Mounts on Sponsors to Boycott Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games
As the Tokyo Olympics have come to an end, the attention of the international public and community is now directed at the upcoming Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Similarly, human rights activists are gearing up to put pressure on the companies that have taken high-profile sponsorship roles in the upcoming 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. In an interview with Voice of America, WUC’s EU Policy Coordinator, Koen Stoop, spoke about the WUC’s (joint) campaigns to target the sponsors of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Mr. Stoop indicated that while the best outcome would be for sponsors to withdraw completely from their association with the Beijing Games, other steps are possible to draw attention to the Uyghur genocide.