Authorities made no moves in 2016 to lift restrictions on fundamental human rights and end pervasive ethnic and religious discrimination in Xinjiang, home to 10 million predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and an increasing number of Han Chinese migrants. <\/p>\n
JANUARY 12, 2017<\/p>\n
Xinjiang<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Authorities made no moves in 2016 to lift restrictions on fundamental human rights and end pervasive ethnic and religious discrimination in Xinjiang, home to 10 million predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and an increasing number of Han Chinese migrants. Opposition to central and local government policies has been expressed in peaceful protests but also through bombings and other violent attacks. The Chinese government claims that it faces terrorism in the region and conducts counterterror operations there. However, details about protests, violence, and terrorism, and counterterrorism operations are scant, with few independent sources of information there.<\/p>\n In June, Ili police announced that applicants for passports must supply a DNA sample, fingerprints, a voice recording, and a \u201cthree-dimensional image,\u201d according to media reports. The requirement adds to already stringent restrictions on foreign travel for Xinjiang residents. Local government authorities again banned civil servants, students, and teachers from fasting and instructed restaurants to stay open during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan.<\/p>\n In August, Xinjiang authorities issued a new directive to implement China\u2019s abusive Counterterror Law, which came into effect in January 2016. In June, a group of 10 Uighur students in Guangzhou No. 75 Middle School were reportedly arrested for terrorism, but little other information was available about the case at time of writing.<\/p>\n Uighur economist Ilham Tohti is serving a life sentence on baseless charges of separatism for having peacefully criticized the government\u2019s Xinjiang policies. In October, he was awarded the prestigious Martin Ennals human rights award.<\/p>\n Tibet<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Tibetans continue to face routine denial of basic freedoms of speech, assembly, and movement. In 2016 authorities prioritized rights-abusing \u201canti-splittism\u201d and \u201cstability maintenance\u201d campaigns despite the absence of tangible threats, and forbade almost all residents of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) from foreign travel.<\/p>\n In August, Wu Yingjie, an ethnic Chinese Communist Party cadre, was appointed to succeed Chen Quanguo as TAR party secretary and is expected to continue Chen\u2019s policies of heavy-handed governance and social control. The 13th Five Year Plan began in 2016, and the TAR set ambitious goals for massive infrastructure construction and urban development; Tibetan areas of Qinghai and Sichuan provinces are also slated for greater resource extraction. Many reported public protests were against rural land grabs, including one in Gansu which security forces suppressed in May.<\/p>\n Continuing restrictions on religious freedom include a program of demolitions and evictions at Larung Gar monastic complex in Serta county, Sichuan, which will see the world\u2019s largest Tibetan Buddhist community shrink from its 2016 population of at least 10,000 to no more than 5,000 by September 2017. The Tibetan writers Shokjang and Lomik were given three and seven-and-a-half year sentences, respectively, and Lu Konchok Gyatso and Tashi Wangchuk remained in custody at time of writing, one for planning to publish a book and the other for speaking to the New York Times<\/em> about the loss of Tibetan language teaching.<\/p>\n At time of writing, two more Tibetans had self-immolated in 2016, both in Sichuan. At least four Tibetans were believed to have died in custody, including Kandze nun Yeshe Lhakdron, who has not been seen since her arrest in 2008.<\/p>\n