All Reading
This section contains a curated list of useful articles, investigations, books and other reading materials. The list is updated on a weekly basis and suggestions for additions are welcome.
Starting Points:
China: Hundreds of Uyghur Village Names Change
Chinese authorities in Xinjiang have been systematically changing hundreds of village names with religious, historical, or cultural meaning for Uyghurs into names reflecting recent Chinese Communist Party ideology.
BMW China parts probe expanded by US Senate panel
The head of the US Senate Finance Committee has expanded an investigation of BMW after the car maker was found to have imported vehicles to America that contained banned Chinese parts.
Uyghur Stories: How Yalkun Uluyol Lost His Father—and Thirty Family Members
In the absence of police reports or court hearings, he only discovered his father’s fate - 16 years in jail - after two years of searching.
Uyghur refugees in Pakistan face deportation in April
The 18 families don’t have legal residence and face restrictions in jobs and education – and now fear being sent back to China.
Learning From the Deportation and Imprisonment of Uyghur Imam
Eighteen years ago, Canadian citizen, imam, and Uyghur human rights activist Huseyin Celil was deported from Uzbekistan to China, where he received a life sentence for his support of Uyghur rights.
Uyghur publisher jailed for books on Uyghur independence, identity
Believed detained for publishing books about Uyghur cultural identity, Erkin Emet was sentenced to prison in 2018; his whereabouts and the length of his sentence is unknown.
Experts: China is sequencing Uyghur DNA for organ harvesting
Experts informed a U.S. committee that Chinese authorities are gathering genetic data from Uyghurs for a forced organ transplant program aimed at Muslim medical tourists from Gulf states.
Uyghur migrants see no release after a decade in Bangkok cells
After fleeing China’s persecution and entering Thailand 10 years ago, more than 40 Uyghurs remain incarcerated indefinitely in overcrowded detention centers for illegal entry.
UN rights chief calls on China to protect human rights in Tibet and Xinjiang
Activists criticized his comments as weak and not backed up by action.
Turkish media reveal identities of alleged spies for China
The suspects are accused of spying on prominent Uyghurs and Uyghur associations in Turkey and passing the information to Chinese intelligence officers.
Uyghur imam, 96, dies in prison
Sentenced to nine years in prison in 2017, the religious leader died in prison, and authorities did not turn his body over to his family, his granddaughter told Radio Free Asia.
Turkey arrests Chinese nationals suspected of surveilling Uyghurs
Authorities in Turkey have arrested six people believed to be spying on members of the Uyghur community in Istanbul for Chinese intelligence, according to media reports.
Uyghur Policy Act passes US House
The legislation would require the State Department to offer Uyghur language classes to diplomats, and place Uyghur speakers in all consulates in China.
Asleep at the Wheel - Car Companies’ Complicity in Forced Labour in China
In this report, Human Rights Watch outlines how global carmakers are failing to minimize the risk of Uyghur forced labor being used in their aluminum supply chains.
Academic paper based on Uyghur genetic data retracted over ethical concerns
Concerns have been raised that academic publishers may not be doing enough to vet the ethical standards of research they publish, after a paper based on genetic data from China’s Uyghur population was retracted.
‘He disappeared for a year’: The survivors of China’s prison camps in Xinjiang – in pictures
In this photo gallery, some of those freed from re-education camps in Xinjiang - Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other minorities - talk about trying to rebuild their lives in neighbouring Kazakhstan.
At least 20% of NHS suppliers at ‘high risk’ of modern slavery use, review says
Over a fifth of NHS suppliers providing items including surgical instruments, gloves, gowns and face masks are at “high risk” of using modern slavery, according to a government review.
China silencing critics in US, Congress told
Chinese critics of Beijing living in America are surveilled, intimidated and harassed by U.S.-based agents of the Chinese Communist Party if they speak out, activists told Congress.
Xinjiang is ‘one of the most heavily policed regions in the world’: study
A new report from the Uyghur Human Rights Project points out that there are twice as many Armed Police mobile attachments in Xinjiang than in Beijing, despite having only a fraction of the capital’s population.
Policing East Turkistan: Mapping Police and Security Forces in the Uyghur Region
This report explores the institutions of policing in Xinjiang, helping to build a fuller picture of the systematic and Party-state-sponsored human rights atrocities perpetrated against Uyghurs and other Turkic people.