China’s Actions Against Uyghurs Declared as Genocide by the U.S.

A few months ago, I wrote an opinion piece on the Uyghurs, a Muslims minority group, and their repression in China. I felt extremely strongly about the United States only intervening on issues that we deemed ‘worthy’ — but human rights, of any kind, should always be deemed ‘worthy.’

If you’re interested, check out my previous post.

This morning, I was thrilled to read that one of the last actions by the Trump administration was declaring that the Chinese government is committing genocide through its tyrannical rule against the Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups. Our government argued that this is demonstrated through their inhuman internment camps where they ‘re-educate’ the Muslim community. This ‘re-education’ is with the intent of eradicating the Uighur culture from China completely. In the internment camps, women are forced into having birth control devices inserted, or being permanently sterilized. Even outside of the internment camps in Xinjiang, young students are forced to discard classes in Uighur and are punished if found attempting to learn and maintain their culture.

You may be wondering, what does the U.S. declaring China’s actions as ‘genocide’ mean?

According to the United Nations, genocide is an act committed “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group…”.

This term was first utilized in 1944 when describing the horrific actions from the Nazis towards Jewish people during the Holocaust. In 1946, ‘genocide’ was acknowledged as an International crime.

Today, the majority of the world is cognizant of the Holocaust, and we remember survivors, along with those we lost, every year. Internationally, we vow that an event like the Holocaust can never happen again.

Yet, the world seems to be following in the same footsteps we took in 1939.

But…. there is still hope. This declaration of China’s policies in Xinjiang as genocide is currently the strongest public statement made by any country globally. I have faith that other countries and governments will hear about this denunciation, educate themselves on the crimes against humanity that are STILL occurring, and follow suit.

This is far from the end of the fight towards cultural and ethnic equality, but it is a start. With more awareness of the forceful re-education, organ harvesting, compulsory sterilizations, and the hundreds of horrors explained by the few individuals who have escaped the internment camps, I believe that more people will empathize and fight for change.

If you have a few minutes, call your parents, your friends, anyone. Talk to them about what’s happening with the Uyghurs in China. Spread the word — be the change!