Silk Road Peace Project

Russel Moore interviews Uyghur attorney Nury Turkel about his new book, "No Escape: The True Story of China's Genocide of the Uyghur People"
Click on the above the link to listen to an excellent podcast interview of noted attorney and foreign policy expert Nury Turkel. This is an excellent resource to quickly get up to speed on the current human rights crisis in the Uyghur region.

Experts denounce trips to Xinjiang as ‘genocide tourism’
On Jan. 23, 2024 the UN is scheduled to review China's human rights record. This happens every 4.5 years. During 2023, in a blatant attempt to burnish its image ahead of this review, China invited nearly 400 delegations and groups consisting of more than 4,300 people from various countries and international organizations to visit the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. These visits were highly orchestrated propaganda tours where visitors were restricted from talking directly with locals or from seeing prisons or foced labor sites.
China's "rebranding" of the Uyghur region
CBS News was invited to join one of the Chinese government's recent propaganda tours. The resulting news piece is an excellent window into the current situation. While extreme human rights abuses continue, the government has gone to great lengths to project an elaborate facade to the outside world. Thankfully, CBS was savvy enough to note some of these contradictions in their reporting.
More than two dozen bodies of Uyghur
inmates released from detention ahead of Ramadan
Even as it has become harder to obtain information about the current incarceration status of Uyghurs by the government, a recent article by Radio Free Asia serves as a reminder that the situation remains critical. Not only are there many still incarcerated, but neglect of medical conditions has resulted in actual deaths. The timing of the bodies being released, right before Ramadan, is a further insult. Also, there appears to be a high number of elderly people being held.

An update on the current status of re-education camps versus formal prisons
Journalists from Sky News in the UK managed to conduct an "on-the-ground" visit to some decommissioned re-education camps within the Uyghur region. They were also able to determine that this change should not be seen as "back to normal," because many new permanent high security prisons have been constructed in their place in remoter areas in order to evade detection.

An eyewitness account
On April 9, 2023 the Washington Post published an interview of Gulbahar Haitiwaji who endured more then 2 years of brainwashing and abuse in the sprawling "re-education" camps. She was also one of the key witnesses at the Select Committee hearing (see below). Her testimony is an important reminder of the personal toll.

The US House Select Committee on the CCP holds special hearing on the Uyghur genocide
On March 23, 2023 the newly established House Select Committee held an unprecedented hearing on the current status of the Uyghur genocide. The breadth and the depth of the hearing was unprecedented. For anyone wanting to "catch up" on the latest developments, this hearing is a "must see." You can watch the whole thing using the link above (starting at the 8 min. mark).

Uyghurs can now search for loved ones and friends in the largest police database yet.
A massive database of leaked Chinese police files is now online and searchable. The disappearance of Uyghurs (and other Turkic peoples) in China has been likened to a "black hole of fear." Shining a light into that "blackhole" is bringing both a measure of releif and new trauma.

Multiple protests erupt, linked to tragic apartment fire in Uyghur homeland
All across China, protests have unexpectedly erupted in response to covid restrictions. One of the triggers for the protests was a tragic fire in the Uyghur homeland where (officially) more than 10 died. Unofficial accounts say more than 40 died.

The latest tool of repression: Covid control
Across the whole country of China, very strict covid rules continue to disrupt daily life for millions. However, in Xinjiang, the Uyghur homeland, these controls have been taken to new levels. A number have even died because they were locked in their homes— denied access to food and medicine. There is also satellite and video evidence of massive hastily-built "quarentine centers" with reports of unsanitary and chaotic conditions. The above Radio Free Asia article contains several "citizen journalist" videos worth viewing.

Newsflash: UN human rights report finally released
The long-overdue U.N. report on the human rights crisis in NW China was released on Aug. 31, 2022 at 11.47 p.m., minutes before Michelle Bachelet ended her term as high commissioner for human rights. Bachelet has been heavily criticized for giving in to pressure from China by delaying its release. However, the 48-page report was surprisingly candid in its bleak assesment: “The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups, pursuant to law and policy, in context of restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.” Download the original report here.

Largest data leak yet.
A huge trove of data, including thousands of photos, has been verified and published. This is, by far, the largest data dump since the crisis began about 5 years ago.

Here's a "no-brainer" for sanctions. If there is one tech company in the world that epitomizes "1984-like" surveillance, it would Hikvision. Its technology is directly used to create the "open air" prison that Uyghurs face today. Hikvision's products are also being exported all over the world for the same purpose. Great article explaining what needs to be done.

More sinister than we thought. Here is a great article describing Dr. Darren Byler's recent book, "Terror Capitalism." The wider implications of the high-tech repression of Uyghurs is far more insidious and lucrative than previously understood.

Recently, a very brave Chinese "citizen journalist" managed to travel to NW China and capture footage of 20 concentration camps. It's incredibly important for a Chinese citizen to bring this kind of exposure. Here is a quick summary of what he found.

Finally, for the first time, we now have testimony from a perpatrator — a former police officer who served as a guard in the concentration camps. Here is a CNN interview.

New research by Dr. Adrian Zenz reveals the CCP's systematic strategy to "optimize" the Uyghur population. Based on a peer-reviewed analysis of the Chinese government's own academic studies, there can be no remaining doubt about the official intention of destroying the Uyghur ethnic group. The full academic version can be found here.

Meanwhile, at the recent Uyghur Tribunal in London, a Uyghur doctor gave first-hand testimony of what she personally witnessed — focred abortions, sterilizations, and doctor-assisted infantcide. This is the horrifying "on-the-ground" reality of the government's Uyghur population "optimization" policy (see Dr. Zenz's paper above).

At the same tribunal, for the first time, a Han Chinese former prison guard also testified about what he saw take place: "Nothing is off limits." To have one of the perpetators corroborate what victims have been testifying is very powerful.

"Revealed: Massive Chinese Police Database" - Millions of leaked police files from their own computers reveales the true depth and scope of the unprecedented surveliance targeting Uyghurs and other minorities in the region. Also see Dr. Darren Byler's excellent related essay, "Chinese Infrastructures of Population Management on the New Silk Road."

The New Yorker Magazine has just published a stellar article featuring the testimony of a Kazakh woman who spent 1.5 years in the re-education camp system. An incredible "insider pespective" as well as up-to-date big picture context is provided. A must read!

The first independant comprehensive legal analysis of how the 1948 Genocide Convention applies, has just been published (March 9, 2021). This is an historic moment. Very sobering.

A new bill aimed at helping give asylum to Uyghur refugees has just been introduced.

BBC has just reported the most detailed victims' testimonies, so far, concerning systematic rape in the camps. Truly horrifying.

The crisis has entered a whole new phase with the formal announcement by the US government that what is happening is now recognized as "genocide."

Download the latest (Dec. 2020) findings from the Center for Global Policy (Dr. Zenz) on forced Uyghur labor in cotton production.

STERILIZATIONS, IUDS, AND MANDATORY BIRTH CONTROL: THE CCP’S CAMPAIGN TO SUPPRESS UYGHUR BIRTHRATES IN XINJIANG (June 2020, Dr. Zenz)

A rabbi speaks out.

PBS report on Uyghur forced labor (Excellent content, Dec. 3, 2020)

"What you need to know about China's campaign against Uighur Muslims" - outstanding overview resource by Georgtown University Bridge

The Xiniang Data Project - a compilation of "rigorous, empirical research on the human rights situation for Uyghurs and other non-Han nationalities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in western China." Covers the camps, forced labor, surveillance, child separation, etc. This site was launched by the Australian Strategic Policy Institue (ASPI)

Detention Facilities in Xinjiang: There Are More, not Less - nighttime satellite imaging proves that the CCP is lying

Best articles over the last two years:

NY Times Editorial - Leaked Files (Nov., 2019 - Dr. Zenz)

Forced Assilmilation - NY Times (July, 2019 - Dr. Zenz)

Jewish World Watch - Uyghur Info Page

Council on Foregin Relations - Recent Backgrounder

BBC Overview of the situation

RFA Special Report

Targeting Uyghur Intellectuals

Break Their Roots: Evidence for China’s Parent-Child Separation Campaign in Xinjiang (July, 2019 - Dr. Zenz)