{"id":1621,"date":"2015-02-02T23:03:33","date_gmt":"2015-02-02T23:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iuhrdf.org\/en\/2015\/02\/02\/policing-uyghur-womens-religious-expression\/"},"modified":"2015-02-02T23:03:33","modified_gmt":"2015-02-02T23:03:33","slug":"policing-uyghur-womens-religious-expression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/policing-uyghur-womens-religious-expression\/","title":{"rendered":"Policing Uyghur Women\u2019s Religious Expression"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, a ban on publicly wearing burqas, full-face veils and full-body coverings passed in Urumchi, the capital of the Uyghur region in China.<\/p>\n

Greg Fay
2015-02-02<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, a ban on publicly wearing burqas<\/em>, full-face veils and full-body coverings passed in Urumchi, the capital of the Uyghur region in China. Whereas 75% of Urumchi\u2019s residents are ethnically Han, the legislation affects the city\u2019s Muslim residents, notably Uyghurs, the city\u2019s next largest ethnic group.<\/p>\n

It is not the first time the Chinese state has targeted the practice. In August 2013, a Uyghur woman lost her housing<\/a> in Urumchi for wearing a veil. Elsewhere in the region, veils have been targeted: last summer, Karamay passed a ban on head covers<\/a>, beards and other Islamic symbols on buses. In April, Shayar County<\/a> listed \u201cbizarre dress\u201d and beards on a list of behaviors to report to police; traditional Uyghur wedding celebrations were also included. In a 2013 report<\/a> on religious restrictions, the DC-based Uyghur Human Rights Project documented a pattern of control over this personal aspect of Uyghur lives since 2008, with signage forbidding veils in hospitals, libraries and other public buildings. UHRP identified a coordinated campaign to control Uyghur religion and redefine traditional practice as \u201cextremist\u201d and illegal.<\/div>\n
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The law also occurs in a broader context of concern that China violates Uyghur women\u2019s rights. Nearly 10 years ago, authorities instituted a program to transfer young women to work in factories in eastern China, and overseas activists expressed concerns of forced consent<\/a>. Last year, China announced plans to jumpstart the labor transfer program<\/a>, transferring 5,000 new workers in the next three years. Another concern for Uyghur women is forced abortion<\/a>, as is forced prostitution, an issue explored in depth in a 2012 paper<\/a> by Kara Abramson.<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Wearing veils and burqas<\/em> is not without controversy, and Islamic scholars dispute scriptural support for the practice. Debate ensued when France banned the burqa<\/em> in 2011; Muslim women spoke out on both sides of the issue, and last year<\/a> the European Court of Human Rights ruled against a Muslim woman who challenged the law. Just last week a controversy erupted when Michelle Obama chose not to cover her hair in Saudi Arabia; on MSNBC<\/a>, Linda Sarsour, a US-based community leader, said that as a feminist Muslim, she respects the First Lady\u2019s decision and values the freedom in the US to choose to cover her own hair for religious observation. In these cases, a public outcry and conversation has been essential to navigating this complicated issue. But in China this type of discussion is illegal. Free speech advocates are imprisoned<\/a>. Religious figures like Abdukiram Abduweli<\/a> who do not register with a state agency and recite government-approved sermons are also imprisoned.<\/div>\n
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When China passed this law, it did not quote Uyghurs, or feminist Muslim scholars; instead it cited a crackdown on religious extremism<\/a>. The law was generated by the Standing Committee of the local legislature and approved by the Autonomous People\u2019s Congress, predominately atheist institutions. To be a Communist Party member and a Uyghur, religious belief is forbidden and it is illegal to even enter a mosque. Underrepresentation of both women and Uyghurs in Chinese politics is well documented.<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
The issue of Uyghur veils is also intertwined with brutal policing. Radio Free Asia has documented numerous instances when police have lifted a woman\u2019s veil and shot those who protested. In Maralbeshi county<\/a> in April 2013, 21 people were killed in clashes after people gathered to protest a community watch group which entered a resident\u2019s home and removed her veil. In Konasheher county<\/a> in June 2014, five Uyghurs including one police officer were killed in a conflict sparked when local officials lifted a woman\u2019s veil during a house check in her village. The same cause led to a prior incident in the same county<\/a> just months earlier resulting in 16 deaths. In Henan Province\u2019s Zhenping county<\/a> in November 2012, nearly 1,000 people protested after police lifted a Uyghur girl\u2019s veil, and 50 were injured.<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
The ban on head-covering in Urumchi underscores China\u2019s hard handed approach to Uyghur religious practice, and the degree to which Uyghurs, and Uyghur women in particular, are removed from the decision-making process that affects their daily lives.<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Greg Fay is the Project Manager of the Washington, DC-based Uyghur Human Rights Project, an NGO that researches and documents human rights abuses against Uyghurs. He conducted research in Urumchi on a Fulbright Fellowship in 2007-2008, and after that he worked in New York for China Labor Watch, then the Committee to Protect Journalists.<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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