China has again rejected the conclusion and recommendations made in the UN report on the treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) should see this report as a blow for China, but also as an opportunity to recognize the extent of its crimes and prevent further damage.
The victims of these crimes against humanity are not only the objects but also the subjects and the witnesses to them.
The CCP is trying to defend the Uighur genocide by silencing developing and underdeveloped countries with “visits” and propaganda, while leveraging Western countries’ reliance on trade with China. China overestimates its role as a superpower and underestimates the moral standards of humanity.
Beijing should learn that modern science and technology, which have increased China’s power, are also giving something to humanity — a sense of wealth, honor and justice. The publication of the report, despite China’s unprecedented campaign to block it, is the fruit of this justice in humanity.
The CCP has written that former UN high commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet, who instigated the report, is a passionate admirer of its human rights record.
However, she was unable to stand on China’s side regarding the Uighur issue. This is an extraordinary event — comparable to the alienation of a child from its parents.
The CCP should also note that the effect of its crimes show how terrifying, disgusting and repulsive it is. China should remember that the tragedy described in the report is a minor piece of the entire picture of the Uighur genocide: The total number of deceased and the horrific physical conditions of detainees in the camps has not yet been fully revealed.
We know that the Chinese authorities, by detaining Uighurs in camps and prisons for another five years, want half of them to rot there, while the other half are turned into living corpses deprived of hope and courage. By keeping Uighur families apart for more than a decade, China is trying to deprive more than 5 million children of their national identities.
There are near-daily reports on social media of sick people and dead bodies emerging from the camps, despite China’s strict media restrictions and threats to protect state secrets.
Furthermore, due to the torture and forced labor taking place in the camps, the 3 million people incarcerated are doomed to get sick and eventually die. We can assume that six years of mass incarceration and deprivation of normal life has already cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Uighurs.
Although the true number of victims has not been revealed, it does not mean that the crime has been washed away. The number will rise steadily until all prisoners have been released. This will force China to become more accountable, and make backtracking from its criminal path more difficult.
There is a saying in Uighur: “A return from loss is a profit.”
The sooner the CCP stops the genocide, the better it will be for Uighurs, China and humanity.
The CCP cannot represent the Chinese nation. We authors hope that the conscience of the millions of Chinese immigrants living in East Turkistan are tormented by the tragedies in front of them, that Han cadres and policemen are uneasy being complicit in the genocide, and Chinese teenagers watching the events unfold among their Uighur classmates see that they must eventually foot the bill for this crime.
Crimes against humanity and genocide bring no benefit or peace to anyone.
China should learn from the failure to block publication of reports that propaganda is effective only in China and holds little weight in the international community.
Furthermore, a country that commits crimes against humanity and genocide cannot be a world leader. Humanity is not foolish or ignorant enough to allow this.
The release of the Uighur report is, despite China’s tremendous resistance, an early signal that crimes against humanity will not go unpunished.
We authors call on the Chinese authorities to give up its crude fantasy of protecting “national security” and creating “national unity” by eradicating Uighurs from the face of the earth.
Rebiya Kadeer is former president of the World Uyghur Congress. Kok Bayraq is a Uighur American.
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