As Muslims globally celebrate the holy month of Ramadan with their families, the Uyghur people — many of whom practice Islam — are suffering genocide at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (“Uyghur Region”).
Located in northwest China, the region — also referred to as East Turkestan by locals — is home to several ethnic groups, most notably the Uyghurs. Today, it’s estimated that two million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Turkic-Muslim ethnic groups are arbitrarily detained in China’s mass network of concentration camps, where they are subject to pervasive state surveillance, forced interrogations, political indoctrination, torture, and forced labor. Since January 2021, several democracies — including the United States, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom — have recognized China’s actions as genocide.
On April 3, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) welcomed two courageous camp survivors, Gulbahar Haitiwaji and Qelbinur Sidik, and our friends at the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) — Executive Director Omer Kanat and Director of Global Advocacy Louisa Greve — to our office to learn more about the crisis.
Gulbahar Haitiwaji was living in France when she was lured back to China, enduring 2 years in the camps and half a year under house arrest. She is the author of “How I Survived a Chinese ‘Reeducation’ Camp,” the first memoir by a Uyghur woman about surviving the horrors of the camps. Qelbinur Sidik, an ethnic Uzbek, was a Mandarin language teacher forced to teach at the camps,witnessing countless atrocities.
Since fleeing China, both women have refused to stay silent about what they experienced and witnessed inside the concentration camps. Haitiwaji’s daughter, Gulhamar Haitiwaji, facilitated the meeting’s interpretation, and UHRP provided additional insight throughout the conversation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.