Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) documents the Chinese state\u2019s top-down destruction of Uyghur communities in Kashgar and throughout East Turkestan, in a targeted and highly politicized push that Chinese officials have accelerated in the wake of turbulent unrest in the region in 2009.<\/p>\n
For immediate release
April 2, 2012, 10:45 am EST
Contact: Uyghur American Association +1 (202) 478 1920<\/p>\n
A new 89-page report by the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) documents the Chinese state\u2019s top-down destruction of Uyghur communities in Kashgar and throughout East Turkestan, in a targeted and highly politicized push that Chinese officials have accelerated in the wake of turbulent unrest in the region in 2009. Living on the Margins: The Chinese State\u2019s Demolition of Uyghur Communities reveals how the destruction of Uyghur neighborhoods has resulted in the loss of both physical structures, including Uyghur homes, shops and religious sites, and patterns of traditional Uyghur life that cannot be replicated in the new, heavily-monitored Chinese-style apartment blocks where many have been forcibly relocated.<\/p>\n
This report does not discount the importance of providing modern structural amenities to Uyghurs. However, it asserts a failure on the part of Chinese authorities to engage in meaningful consultation with Uyghurs regarding how they wish to transform their own communities. The report details the international and domestic legal instruments to which the Chinese government is bound that are designed to protect residents from forcible eviction from their homes and ensure that indigenous populations, such as the Uyghurs, have the right to develop according to their own principles. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe demolitions carried out by the Chinese government represent a loss of Uyghur culture and heritage, and the disappearance of living Uyghur communities,\u201d said UHRP director Alim Seytoff. \u201cThey also represent a loss to world culture and heritage. Once demolished, these unique communities are lost to the world forever.\u201d <\/p>\n
The campaigns underway to tear down Uyghur neighborhoods in East Turkestan and replace them with spaces resonant of eastern China, which Chinese leaders have labeled as development, have been implemented by Chinese officials alongside assimilative programs that remove Uyghurs\u2019 rights to speak and use their own language, practice their own religious beliefs, and express themselves through art, literature and the media. State repression of these aspects of Uyghurs\u2019 unique culture epitomize Chinese officials\u2019 attempts to weaken Uyghurs\u2019 connections with their traditional customs. Chinese leaders\u2019 success at assimilating Uyghurs into a Han Chinese physical and social structure has come from a lack of consultation with Uyghurs themselves as to how they would like development to proceed. Without the consent of Uyghurs to demolition and resettlement projects, the legitimacy of stated aims to create \u201cpeace and prosperity\u201d through the projects is called into question.<\/p>\n
Uyghurs view Kashgar, a center of Silk Road activity memorialized in Marco Polo\u2019s travels, as the spiritual heart of their culture, a cradle of Uyghur civilization that is fundamental to their Uyghur identity. Once seen as one of the best-preserved traditional Islamic cities in the world, Kashgar\u2019s Old City is undergoing a transformation that represents an irreplaceable loss of heritage to Uyghurs and to the international community. Without any role in the decision-making process, many Uyghurs view the transformation of Kashgar and its re-creation as a Chinese city as the latest official step in removing Uyghurs\u2019 identity and integrating the region into China. Uyghurs perceive the demolitions as changing the landscape of East Turkestan from what has been a Uyghur-dominated style for thousands of years into a \u201cmodern\u201d Chinese style indistinguishable from the rest of China.<\/p>\n
In their rush to modernization, Chinese leaders have shown similar disregard to the structures embodying Chinese heritage throughout the People\u2019s Republic of China, and to the discontent expressed by Chinese residents regarding their destruction. However, the official disregard of the value of Kashgar and other historically Uyghur areas is accompanied by ethnic and political dimensions unique to the demolitions taking place there. This report builds a case that \u201cdevelopment\u201d projects in East Turkestan\u2019s Uyghur neighborhoods entail the physical destruction of Uyghur cities and towns; and equal the comprehensive assimilation of Uyghur people into the fabric of broader Chinese society and culture. The report asserts that the scope and centrally-directed nature of the projects across the region illustrates the highly politicized character of this assimilative process.<\/p>\n
Based on the findings of this report, UHRP provides a number of recommendations for the Chinese government, concerned governments, and multilateral institutions. These include recommendations to:<\/p>\n
Cease immediately all demolitions of Uyghur neighborhoods across East Turkestan until a transparent process of genuine consultation has been undertaken with residents;
Ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and abide by Article 17, which \u201cprotect[s] against \u2018arbitrary or unlawful interference\u2019 with one\u2019s home\u201d; Article 25, which protects the right to participation in public life either \u201cdirectly or through freely chosen representatives; and Article 27, which mandates effective [UHRP italics] participation by indigenous people and the sustainability of the indigenous economy\u201d;
Meet signed and ratified obligations contained in the World Heritage Convention and end false assertions of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) support for the demolition project in Kashgar;
Raise the demolitions at bilateral human rights dialogues with the People\u2019s Republic of China in such a way that does not devalue egregious human rights abuses in the face of \u2018economic realities\u2019, making clear that respect for human rights and robust economies are part of the same process;
Condemn the use of UNESCO\u2019s name to approve the demolition of Kashgar Old City and demand open reporting by Chinese media of the demolitions that permits a considered evaluation of its merit; and
Send observers to East Turkestan with unfettered access to Uyghur communities to impartially oversee that all international and domestic legal protections have been utilized in demolition projects across the region.
UHRP hopes the report and its recommendations will serve as an informative and useful resource to concerned governments and institutions. <\/p>\n
The report, Living on the Margins: The Chinese State\u2019s Demolition of Uyghur Communities, can be downloaded at http:\/\/docs.uyghuramerican.org\/3-30-Living-on-the-Margins.pdf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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