Uyghur

Amid allegations of Uyghur rights abuses, Volkswagen and SAIC will sell their Xinjiang plant and testing tracks in Turpan and Shanghai's Anting to SMVIC

The Chinese government has expanded its campaign of closing mosques to regions other than Xinjiang, where for years it has been blamed for persecuting Muslim minorities, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday. Authorities have closed mosques in the northern Ningxia region as well as Gansu province, which are home to large populations of Hui Muslims, as part of a process known officially as consolidation, according to the report, which draws on public documents, satellite images and witness testimonies. Local authorities also have been removing architectural features of mosques to make them look more Chinese," part of a campaign by the ruling Communist Party to tighten control over religion and reduce the risk of possible challenges to its rule. President Xi Jinping in 2016 called for the Sinicization of religions, initiating a crackdown that has largely concentrated on the western region of Xinjiang, home to more than 11 million Uyghurs and other Muslim ...

A prominent Uyghur scholar specialising in the study of her people's folklore and traditions has been sentenced to life in prison, according to a US-based foundation that works on human rights cases in China. Rahile Dawut was convicted on charges of endangering state security in December 2018 in a secret trial, the San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation said in a statement Thursday. Dawut appealed but her conviction was upheld, the foundation said. The sentencing of Professor Rahile Dawut to life in prison is a cruel tragedy, a great loss for the Uyghur people, and for all who treasure academic freedom, John Kamm, executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation, said in a statement. Dawut was a professor at Xinjiang University and founder of the school's Ethnic Minorities Folklore Research Centre. She disappeared in late 2017 amid a brutal government crackdown aimed at the Uyghurs, a Turkic, predominately Muslim ethnicity native to China's northwest Xinjiang region. For years, her ex

The Human Rights Foundation's Uyghur Forced Labor Checker had been experiencing a spate of unusual activity in recent months

China has come under growing attention in recent years for how it treats both the Buddhist population in Tibet and the Muslim Uyghur community in Xinjiang

The new UN human rights chief said Tuesday that his office has opened "channels of communication" to help follow up on concerns about the rights of minorities in China, including Uyghur Muslims and Tibetans. But this fell short of activists' hopes for a stronger message to Beijing. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Trk, in an address highly anticipated by rights advocates, didn't detail how his office plans to follow up on a critical report on China's western Xinjiang region published in August by his predecessor, Michelle Bachelet. That report cited possible "crimes against humanity" against Uyghurs and others in Xinjiang. Trk noted that the UN rights office "documented grave concerns" like arbitrary detentions and family separations in China, and called for "concrete follow-up." He also voiced concerns about the impact of the national security law in Hong Kong that has suppressed its pro-democracy movement. "Regarding China, we have opened up channels of communication with

Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet to support a motion to make room in its refugee intake for 10,000 Uyghur and other Turkic groups who fled China

Hours after tweeting that Islamabad and Beijing will "work closely on matters of mutual interests including Rights & Freedom of Uyghurs community", Pakistan backtracked saying that their Twitter handle of Pakistan Consulate General Chengdu had been hacked.The tweet referred to Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs being thankful to China for support to flood victims and then mentioned concerns regarding the Uyghur community."MoFA Pakistan is thankful for Chinese aid and support for flood reconstruction. We will work closely on matters of mutual interest including the Rights and Freedom of the Uyghurs community," read the tweet from the official handle of Pakistan Consulate General Chengdu on Friday.The tweet was seen as the first instance of Pakistan coming out in support of Uyghur community, a predominantly Turkic-speaking ethnic group primarily in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang which has faced "serious human rights violations" from Beijing.UN human rights report ...

the Committee urged the State party to immediately cease all intimidation and reprisals against Uyghur and other ethnic Muslim communities, the diaspora and those who speak out in their defence

A Uyghur organization and a human rights group are taking the UK government to court to challenge Britain's failure to block the import of cotton products associated with forced labour and other abuses in China's far western Xinjiang region. Tuesday's hearing at the High Court in London is believed the first time a foreign court hears legal arguments from the Uyghurs over the issue of forced labor in Xinjiang. The region is a major global supplier of cotton, but rights groups have long alleged that the cotton is picked and processed by China's Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in a widespread, state-sanctioned system of forced labour. The case, brought by the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress and the Global Legal Action Network, a nonprofit, is one of several similar legal challenges aimed at putting pressure on the U.K. and European Union governments to follow the lead of the United States, where a law took effect this year to ban all cotton products suspected of being mad

The proposed Forced Labour Products Ban, from the European Commission, covers goods imported from third countries as well as those made within the EU.

The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity, the UN said

China has denounced a long-delayed U.N. report that was released over its protest and that says the government's arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in the western region of Xinjiang may constitute crimes against humanity. Human rights groups and the Japanese government welcomed the report, which had become caught up in a tug-of-war between China and others, who were critical of the delay and lobbying for its release. The assessment released late Wednesday by the U.N. human rights office in Geneva concluded that China has committed serious human rights violations under its anti-terrorism and anti-extremism policies and calls for urgent attention from the U.N., the world community and China itself to address them. The report largely corroborates earlier reporting by researchers, advocacy groups and the news media, while carefully steering away from estimates and other findings that cannot be definitively proven. It adds the weight of the U.N. to the .

United Nations accused China of actions that "may constitute international crimes, in particular, crimes against humanity" in Xinjiang for mass detention of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities

Concerned over Uyghur rights violations and the presence of Chinese-owned surveillance systems at the Department of Defence and police forces that has undermined national security, the British government has replaced security equipment provided by Chinese-owned tech companies at key government offices, media reports said.Other rights groups are campaigning for Hikvision and Dahua to be banned in the UK due to the companies' involvement in the Chinese state's repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China. Hikvision and Dahua cameras are used in concentration camps throughout the Uyghur region, Asian Lite reported.This comes as the British MPs alleged that the Chinese government is persecuting minorities and intruding on governmental departments and research centres worldwide. They also accused China of violating the territorial integrity of neighbouring countries.Among the Chinese companies are Hikvision and Dahua. Offices belonging to the Home Office, Department of Health & Social ...

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, on a visit this week to the Xinjiang region where his govt is widely accused of oppressing predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities, showed no signs of backing off policies

A US law banning imports from China's Xinjiang province took effect on Tuesday, a move aimed at addressing Beijing's use of forced labour among the Uyghur minority

The United States government should vigorously enforce a new law that aims to prevent imports linked to forced labour by Uyghurs and other persecuted groups in China, the Human Rights Watch said

Bachelet made comments in her opening address to the latest session of the UN-backed Human Rights Council, saying that her comments to the session will be last which I brief the 47-member-state body

Human rights campaigners have been accusing the ruling Communist Party of China of committing widespread abuses in Xinjiang in the name of security