Residents say they have little recourse amid China\u2019s clampdown in the region.<\/p>\n
2015-06-09<\/p>\n
Local authorities in northwestern China\u2019s troubled Xinjiang region have ordered ethnic minority Uyghur farmers to take part in a forced labor scheme to prevent their involvement in \u201cillegal activities\u201d and promote stability in the area, according to officials and residents.<\/p>\n
All men and women between the ages of 18 and 65 in Aksu (in Chinese, Akesu) prefecture\u2019s Toqsu (Xinhe) county, have been required to take part in \u201chashar,\u201d or forced labor, since January, county officials recently confirmed to RFA\u2019s Uyghur Service.<\/p>\n
\u201cHashar is not actually a response to the needs of production\u2014it\u2019s simply for the needs of stability,\u201d said Yasin Raxman, security chief of Chilan village in Toqsu\u2019s Yultuzbagh township.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is to prevent people from \u2018talking nonsense,\u2019 \u2018gathering in a disorderly manner\u2019 and \u2018attending illegal activities,\u2019 either intentionally or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raxman said officials never speak openly with county residents about the campaign\u2019s real goal, \u201cbut the farmers know that is why they have to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cExcept for some troublemakers, most of the farmers agree with hashar because it is helpful for the environment of the village and increases production,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost importantly, hashar is much better than work in a labor camp, because everyone returns to their homes each day and can live with their family. It may be a little tough and boring for the young guys, but their parents are happy it because it is easier than looking for their sons at the police station.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mostly Muslim Uyghurs have complained about pervasive ethnic discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression by Beijing under its series of \u201cstrike hard\u201d campaigns in Xinjiang in the name of fighting separatism, religious extremism and terrorism.<\/p>\n
But experts outside China say Beijing has exaggerated the threat from Uyghur “separatists” and that draconian domestic policies are responsible for an upsurge in violence that has left hundreds dead since 2012.<\/p>\n
Stiff rules<\/strong><\/p>\n China\u2019s ruling Communist Party banned hashar in Xinjiang decades ago, but sources say the practice continues in some parts of the region under a different name and had been implemented in Toqsu as \u201cdolqun,\u201d or \u201cwave,\u201d hashar by authorities\u2014suggesting it was a sweeping trend to benefit the region.<\/p>\n Raxman said hashar must be performed for at least three hours in the morning, five days a week\u2014after which farmers may work on their fields.<\/p>\n In special seasonal circumstances, he said, the work period can be extended to between four and six hours a day, and only pregnant women and those suffering from serious illnesses are exempt.<\/p>\n The penalty for missing hashar is 100 yuan (U.S. $16) per day, and those who fail to show up to work are subject to a police investigation and detention of 15-30 days.<\/p>\n \u201cSo far, I haven\u2019t collected any money from those who have been absent, I simply gave them extra work to make up for it,\u201d Raxman said.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one has been sent to jail or to the detention center from my village\u2014as has happened in other villages\u2014because I have tried to implement hashar as smoothly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Raxman said residents are being required to repair streets, dig ditches, level out land, and prune trees lining the roads, and that the hashar would continue until \u201cwhenever the higher-level authorities tell us to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n He was unable to say whether the forced labor campaign was being implemented in other counties in Aksu.<\/p>\n Banned practice<\/strong><\/p>\n Residents of Toqsu county told RFA that Uyghurs were unhappy with the new policy, but had little recourse.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of our farmers, especially those of the older generation, lack a basic knowledge of human rights and don\u2019t even know their rights as citizens according to the constitution, which is why they are silent about campaigns such as dolqun hashar,\u201d said a retired Toqsu government employee.<\/p>\n \u201cHashar has a long history in our region, which is why it is considered normal by the older generation, but the new generation of farmers knows it is unacceptable,\u201d he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, with the current situation in the region\u2014especially since the beginning of the \u2018strike hard campaign\u2019\u2014it is impossible for them to refuse any orders from the authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n Authorities rolled out the strike hard campaign following a deadly suicide bombing in May 2014 in the regional capital Urumqi, which they blamed on Uyghur separatists.<\/p>\n The campaign has included police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people.<\/p>\n Controlling the people<\/strong><\/p>\n A teacher from Toqsu, who also declined to provide her name, said that while Uyghur residents of the county appear to agree with the hashar policy, \u201cit\u2019s not the truth of the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLocal officials don\u2019t report the truth to the higher levels of government, and the higher authorities don\u2019t want to hear the truth anyway\u2014that is why oppression and violent incidents continue,\u201d the teacher said.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody who follows the political trends and ethnic tension in the region knows why the people are being forced into labor, even when it is illegal \u2026 The government wants to control every minute and movement of the Uyghur people\u2014it is central to the strike hard campaign,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut while it may serve as a temporary solution to reduce violent incidents, I don\u2019t believe that peace and stability can be achieved in this way. And I think the authorities will deeply regret enforcing this collective punishment on the people.\u201d<\/p>\n Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA\u2019s Uyghur Service. Translated by Shohret Hoshur. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Residents say they have little recourse amid China\u2019s clampdown in the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-1865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1865"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=1865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}