Since the 1990s, millions of Han Chinese have been resettled in Xinjiang under the “Big Development of the Northwest Plan.” The CCP has detained millions of Uyghurs in “reeducation” camps, forcibly placing Han Chinese monitors in Uyghur homes to suppress independence movements. Officials justify these policies as “counterterrorism” measures.

In 1997, protests erupted after China banned Uyghur traditional celebrations, leading to a CCP crackdown that killed over 200 people and resulted in mass arrests. Tensions escalated in the 2009 Urumqi riots, ethnic clashes that left 200 dead.

Xinjiang is heavily surveilled, with widespread biometric data collection and AI-driven monitoring. “Convenience police stations” enforce CCP control, particularly targeting Uyghurs at checkpoints. Advanced Surveillance technologies, including AI monitoring and biometric data collection, track and control Uyghurs’ movements.

Since 2017, 800,000 to 2 million Uyghurs have been detained in mass detention centers where they undergo forced CCP indoctrination, physical abuse, sexual violence, and cultural erasure. The Uyghur language is banned in these “reeducation camps.”  During indoctrination, detainees are coerced into abandoning Islam. The CCP has demolished many Uyghur mosques, severely restricting Uyghur religious freedom.

The Chinese government continues its campaign of Mass Detention in Reeducation Camps, where Uyghur Muslims face Forced Assimilation and Cultural Genocide through CCP indoctrination and Uyghur language bans.

After “reeducation,” Uyghurs are subjected to forced labor in cotton fields and factories, amounting to slavery. Forced Labor in Han Chinese or CCP owned factories is Chinese state policy. Global scrutiny of supply chains linked to Xinjiang factories resulted in Volkswagen’s exit from Urumqi.

Family planning policies restrict Uyghur births, violating Article 2(d) of the Genocide Convention. Researcher Adrian Zenz found that Uyghur population growth dropped 84% from 2015 to 2018. Forced Sterilization, forced abortions, and restrictive birth control policies suppress Uyghur population growth. They violate Article 2(d) of the Genocide Convention. This persecution is also a Crime against Humanity.

Uyghur children are removed from their homes and placed in Mandarin-only schools. Removal of children is genocide, violating Article 2(e) of the Genocide Convention.

Genocide Watch considers the CCP’s repression of freedom of movement and religion, and its Orwellian surveillance of Uyghurs as Stage 3: Discrimination. The CCP’s torture and imprisonment of Uyghurs into “re-education camps” is Stage 8: Persecution. Mass rape of women inside and outside these camps and CCP removal of Uyghur children is Stage 9: Extermination, violation of the Genocide Convention. The CCP’s denial of its acts of genocide are Stage 10: Denial. The Uyghur genocide is aided and abetted by “genocide scholar” deniers like William Schabas and Jeffrey Sachs. 

Genocide Watch recommends:

• The US and other members of the UN should prohibit imports of goods produced by Uyghur forced labor.

• The US and other members of the UN should implement stricter supply chain tracking to ensure companies do not source materials from Uyghur forced labor.

• UN members should ensure that Uyghurs have access to humanitarian protection claims.

• UN members should provide support for Uyghur communities abroad, Uyghur refugees, and asylum seekers, including legal aid and resettlement programs.

• The US should forbid investments in Chinese companies that exploit Uyghur forced labor.

• The US and EU should bar exports of technology (AI, facial recognition) used in the Uyghur genocide.

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