Uyghur News Recap: Nov. 18–Dec. 2, 2022

Here’s a summary of recent Uyghur-related news from around the world:

Uyghurs in exile struggle to keep culture alive

National Geographic documents how Uyghurs living in exile in Turkey, Japan and other countries strive to hold on to their language, culture and Uyghur identity.

EU set to renew sanctions on Chinese officials accused of rights abuses in Xinjiang

The European Union will likely extend sanctions placed in 2019 on four Chinese officials accused of “serious human rights violations” in Xinjiang, the South China Morning Post reports, citing multiple diplomats familiar with the situation.

UN committee urges China to free people arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination also demands that Beijing immediately investigate allegations of human rights violations in Xinjiang, which include those of torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearances and deaths in custody.

Uyghur activists call Australia to recognize abuses in Xinjiang as genocide

A delegation of Uyghur activists and survivors of internment camps in Xinjiang urged Australian officials to recognize the human rights abuses as genocide and sanction those Chinese officials accused of such violations in the region.

Report: Pension funds in West passively funding ‘crimes against humanity’ in Xinjiang

The U.K.-based research institute Hong Kong Watch and the Helena Kennedy Center for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University released a report that found that pension funds in the U.S., U.K. and Canada have passively invested in companies linked to human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

News in brief

Heyrinsahan Abdurahman, a 48-year-old Uyghur mother, and four of her seven children died in an apartment building fire in Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang, last week. Her nephew, 27-year-old Abdulhafiz Muhammadimin, blames China’s “zero-COVID” policy.

Quote of note:

“There is a police station 100 meters from the house. There is a fire station within a kilometer. There is a large hospital less than 2 kilometers away. Due to their [China’s] failed zero-COVID policy and deliberate failure to save lives, my aunt and her four children died.”

— Abdulhafiz Muhammadimin, nephew of Heyrinsahan Abdurahman, who died in an Urumqi fire

VOA

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