Now more than 3 million Uyghurs are detained in concentration camps because of their ethnic identity. Millions more are literal slaves in factories across China. Yes, the Chinese regime has once again normalized and glorified slavery in the modern age …. A special report by Rushan Abbas, Founder and Executive Director of Campaign for Uyghurs
My people, the Uyghurs, have lived in Central Asia for over 2000 years. Since the Chinese Communist government’s occupation in 1949, the government has relentlessly destroyed Uyghur culture and religion.
Now more than three million Uyghurs are detained in concentration camps because of their ethnic identity. Millions more are literal slaves in factories across China. Yes, the Chinese regime has once again normalized and glorified slavery in the modern age. Much of the world’s cotton comes with a cost much higher than what the literal price might indicate. Because much of the world’s cotton comes complicit with active genocide. It is hard to see beauty when the strands that make up the picture come from the blood, sweat, tears, and death of the Uyghur people.
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September this year marks two years of my sister, Dr. Gulshan Abbas’s abduction by the Chinese government. She was taken because of my activism here in America. It pains me to even think that a medical doctor is held in a labor facility forced to make these products for these globally renowned companies. This just begs the question: who is the buyer of my sister’s slave labour?
Every time I look at one of these complicit brands, and each time I see their logo, I am stabbed in the heart as I wonder if my sister, a retired medical doctor who was thrown into the camps, was forced to make these products. My sister was taken 2 years ago this week. Since then I have had no word of why she was detained, where she is being held, or her condition. She is in China’s concentration camps, and quite likely being forced to make your clothing. Just two months ago, the U.S. Customs and Border Control seized thirteen tons of human hair that had been produced from Uyghur slaves. Thirteen tons…how many lives does this represent? Is this my sister’s hair?
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Should China be rewarded with hosting the 2022 Winter Olympic Games while committing genocide racial motivations? The US government and civil society must let companies know that backing the 2022 Olympics is more than being a bystander to China’s genocide, its supporting it. This should lead some global companies to retreat from sponsoring Beijing 2022. The dignity of the international community and the principles of the IOC are being tested. While undermining the rule of law and international norms, China is the last country in the world fit to carry on the Olympic legacy and host the international games.
The IOC must acknowledge that moving forward with Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is complicit with genocide. The IOC claims it received assurances from Chinese government authorities “that the principles of the Olympic Charter will be respected in the context of the Games”. Should we believe the killer’s testimony in spite of the evidence against him? Sadly, we are going to see a repeat of the 1936 Munich Olympics when Adolf Hitler announced the opening of the Olympic games while running a holocaust if there is not tangible action to stop it. Chinese officials carry out genocide while they hide their money in overseas investments. Uyghurs should not merely become human collateral for short-term politics and economic benefits for some countries!
During this pandemic that was brought to the world by the totalitarian Chinese regime, China’s actions to deny, keep quiet, misinform, punish whistleblowers, and create a security crackdown, are what made this virus from Wuhan a global pandemic today. This has resulted in increased attention on China and their actions to conceal, deceive, and bribe in order to avoid any responsibility, however, requests for transparency have been continually met with threats and so-called wolf diplomacy approaches from China. At present, China is testing medications and vaccines on Uyghurs in East Turkistan and they are being used as guinea pigs to test treatments.
And now, Disney released its live-action version of Mulan. The beloved Disney movie first hired Chinese actress Liu Yifei, who made comments in August of last year supporting Hong Kong’s police amid criticism of their use of force against pro-democracy demonstrators. And recently, it came as a massive shock when the end credits of the film include a thank you to the Turpan Public Security Bureau (PSB), the entity that is directly responsible for the mass detention of Uyghurs in concentration camps, as well as numerous other genocidal crimes. They also thank the publicity departments of Turpan and “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region”, which are the committees responsible for producing state propaganda about the Uyghurs. In other words, those responsible for disguising the PRC’s genocidal crimes. This is blatantly normalizing genocide.
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Halal organ transplants advertised from a Chinese hospital in Arabic come from my people! During the first coronavirus outbreak, Chinese hospitals advertised performing double-lung transplants. In airports in China there are special lanes opened through airport security for organ transport. While the world has essentially ignored for years the reports that prisoners of conscience such as Falun Gong and others were used to harvest organs from, the implementation of mass mandatory DNA testing for all Uyghurs in East Turkistan adds another disturbing layer to our nightmare.
China is concurrently waging its unrelenting war on religion, silencing the call to prayer, and in East Turkistan, forbidding Uyghurs from fasting during Ramadan, outlawing Muslim names for children, and even forcing Uyghurs to drink alcohol and eat pork to pass a test confirming they are not religious. They are even rewriting the Bible and the Holy Qur’an.
Our religion is being stigmatized and our ethnicity is being demonized. China outlawed all normal religious practices as “illegal religious activities”. The Mosques have been turned into karaoke bars and restaurants. The CCP has sent party cadres to live with families and “supervise” them under the euphemistically descriptive term, “double relative program”. For many of these women whose husbands are in the camps, the cadre may even sleep in their bed. This leaves them subject to sexual abuse. Many are forced into marriages with Han Chinese men. This is nothing short of government-sponsored mass rape. And most appalling of all, women are forcibly having contraceptive devices inserted, receive forced abortions, and are being forcibly sterilized. This is genocide. Where is the feminist outcry over these women’s rights?
500,000 Uyghur children have also become the main target of China’s policy of assimilation and social engineering. The Chinese government is eradicating Uyghur ethnic identity by targeting the younger generation. While parents are in the camps, Uyghur children are taken away, held hostage in Chinese government-run orphanages. They are indoctrinated, forced to abandon their Uyghur identity and swear loyalty to the CCP, and must recognize Xi Jinping as God. They are separated from their parents, and for many who may be granted brief visits, the young children do not recognize them.
More leaked documents show that children have even been asked to inform on others for religious behaviour or may even denounce them. From these atrocities to the mere separation itself, it is clear that the effects on young, developing minds are catastrophic, and the Chinese government’s willingness to do this is evil. There are three sets of leaked documents which are hard evidence of China’s crimes.
As China continues to threaten countries all around the world while they spread propaganda, bully, and manipulate, while changing the rule of law, the western democracies must hold China accountable.
Chinese authorities have made it blatantly clear to the world that they do not have a moral bottom line. Religious groups are targeted because they offer a moral alternative to the worship of the CCP, and thus are considered a threat. A country which believes that imprisoning 3 million people and forcing millions more to live in a dystopian hell is acceptable policy cannot be trusted by anyone. Look at what just happened in Hong Kong and recently what they did to India. We especially need the voices of those living in free societies to end complicity in these crimes against humanity not only to save the rest of the Uyghurs, but we are warning you to help yourself and save your society, save your country from this evil regime’s incursion.
Just look at our people and what they are facing today and imagine your future if you don’t take action. I am reminding you today that we, as responsible global citizens, should act upon our humanity to hold this evil government to account. I ask that India take its rightful place as a true leader by leading the charge against the demonic murderers who are running the Chinese regime. Truth and justice must prevail. We all have seen history play out. Our action to prevent “never again” is already late, what holds the international community back from preventing this massive genocide?
