WASHINGTON D.C. – Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) is alarmed by the recent statement from Chen Wenqing, Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, who declared that the Chinese government’s counterterrorism policies in East Turkistan must be “normalized.” This declaration underscores a commitment to the current genocidal policies that are being carried out against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples.
From Wednesday, May 22nd to Sunday, May 26th, Chen visited East Turkistan and ordered local officials to prioritize “maintaining social stability” and “accurately prevent and crack down on violent terrorist crimes.” The Chinese government has consistently exploited the pretext of counterterrorism to justify genocidal policies against the Uyghur population, resulting in mass detentions, cultural suppression, forced labor, forced abortions and sterilizations, forced organ harvesting, and other widespread human rights abuses. Islamic practices, including praying and reading the Quran, are monitored and labeled as “extremism.”
The stated intention to further “normalize” counterterrorism efforts suggests ongoing and possibly increased surveillance, restrictions, and arbitrary detentions of Uyghurs.
In response to this recent update, Rushan Abbas, Founder and Executive Director of CFU, stated: “Chen Wenqing’s statement is a blatant admission that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intends to perpetuate a permanent campaign of genocide against the Uyghurs. Instead of addressing international scrutiny, they are doubling down on their efforts. The international community must see through the CCP’s propaganda and euphemisms, which justify their horrific crimes as ‘counterterrorism measures.’ Governments and global institutions need to rise up and impose meaningful consequences for this barbarism, or the nightmare that the Uyghurs are enduring will continue.”
CFU calls upon international entities, governments, corporations, and NGOs to recognize the continued atrocities in the Uyghur region and take action to hold the CCP accountable for its crimes.
