Nothing has changed for the Uyghurs!
Despite the inhumane practices at Chinese prisons being known,
countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan and Uzbekistan do not
hesitate to deport Uyghurs...
President of the World Uyghur Congress Rebiya Kadeer was in Paris for
the pre-preparations of the world Uyghur women conference which will be
organized at the end of April. The conference seeks not only to discuss
the problems faced by the Uyghur women and children scattered
throughout various countries in the world, but to also bring together
women from other ethnic groups who live, and face exclusion, in China.
It is expected that 130 to 180 participants from nearly 100 countries
will join the conference. Rather than being mostly political, it is
expressed that the conference will focus on efforts regarding the rights
of women and children. However, the organizers are not without concern
that the conference might be canceled prior to the Netherlands’ visit to
China in the spring.
As President of the World Uyghur Congress, Rebiya Kadeer is the voice
of Uyghur people in the outside world. In the article she wrote in the
Washington Post last year, she expressed hope for the government change
that would take place in China, and indicated that she believed that the
severe conditions to which Uyghurs living in East Turkestan are exposed
would be eased. However she states that “since the election of Xi
Jinping, over the last three months three Uyghurs have been sentenced to
death, so he cannot trust him. She adds: "The Uyghurs are not permitted
to request a passport. Even if they had done nothing prior to the
Chinese New Year, the homes of Uyghur families have been searched." She
explains that the information from East Turkestan does not reflect the
reality and that pressures on Xinjiang have intensified (Le Monde).
Passport and visa problems are among the problems well known to
Rebiya Kadeer. Many countries, especially the Republic of China,
consider her a "persona non grata." What is happening in East Turkistan
forces Uyghurs to migrate primarily to neighboring states. The passages
which cannot be obtained through legal ways are sought within the
framework of rights "provided by international law." But it is hard to
say that this too occurs smoothly.
The economic and diplomatic balance in the region is not in favor of
the Uyghurs. The policies adopted by the members of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization in which economic cooperation with China takes
place also include the joint fight against terrorism as among the forms
of cooperation. Within this framework of cooperation, groups which China
considers as terrorists cannot easily apply for asylum in Central Asian
Republics. Furthermore, according to the US-China balance in Asia,
countries trying to establish good relations with China do not hesitate
to deport Uyghurs who seek asylum by ignoring the protection obligations
prescribed by international law.
In order to prevent Uyghurs from seeking asylum following the 2009
uprisings in Urumqi, China apply intense pressure on regional countries.
By labeling Uyghurs as "terrorist, radical Islamists and separatists,"
China requests help from other countries in the region, especially under
the framework of a joint struggle against terrorism. These pressures
are not limited to only the countries in the region. Pressure is also
applied to countries with economic cooperation through indirect
pressure.
In early 2012, six Uyghurs were tried to enter Malaysia with fake
passports and seek asylum were secretly deported to China in a
helter-skelter manner during the last days of December. With the
emergence of this humanitarian scandal at the beginning of February,
Malaysia became the target of international organizations. The
deportation of these arrested Uyghurs despite it being known that they
were in contact with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
and that the Commissioner was in contact with Malaysia for their
“asylum” to be granted was considered as a clear violation of
international law by the UNHCR whose headquarters are in Geneva. What
happened in Malaysia was neither the first nor will it be the last.
Prior to this, 11 Uyghur asylum seekers had been deported to China in
2011.
Like Malaysia, other countries in the region, such as Malaysia,
Thailand, Laos, Pakistan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and
Kazakhstan do not hesitate to send Uyghurs back to China. The World
Uyghur Congress has called for the international community to condemn
countries for sending Uyghurs back to China knowing the inhumane
practices in Chinese prisons.
Even though the Chinese government indicated that things had calmed
following the events in Urumqi in 2009 and there had been positive
developments, things are not as they seem. As the conversion movement
launched by the Chinese government in various cities, such as Kashgar,
is deleting the traces of Uyghur civilization, it is desired that the
local culture will be assimilated into the dominant Han culture. In the
light of recent events, can we suppose that the administration which
does not hesitate to arrest the deported Uyghurs who sought asylum
treats the Uyghurs living in East Turkestan with compassion?
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