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The Persecution of the Uighur People in Central and East Asia ​ Student Officer: Theodoros Iakovou ​ Position: Deputy Chair ​

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The Persecution of the Uighur People in Central and East Asia ​ Student Officer: Theodoros Iakovou ​ Position: Deputy Chair ​ Committee: Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Committee ​ Issue: The persecution of the Uighur people in Central and East Asia ​ Student Officer: Theodoros Iakovou ​ Position: Deputy Chair ​ PERSONAL INTRODUCTION Dear Delegates, My name is Theodoros Iakovou, and I will be serving as the deputy chair in the Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Committee in the upcoming CS MUN conference. This will be my first chairing experience, and I am looking forward to discussing this year's topics with all of you in person. I currently am an IB1 student at Pierce IB and I consider international political affairs to be a favorite topic of mine. The persecution of the Uighur people is a topic of utmost’s importance; involving violations of human rights, political oppression and the persecution of minorities. The Uighur are a Turkic group that had emigrated to northwestern China in the 9th century and, during the 20th century made several attempts to gain independence from Beijing. However, the Chinese government understands the importance of the area where the vast majority of Uighurs resides and is willing to do everything possible to maintain control of the region. If you happen to have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected]. ​ Kind regards, Theodore Iakovou Definition of Key Terms Ethnic Cleansing Ethnic Cleansing is defined as ‘the attempt to create ethnically homogeneous geographic areas through the deportation or forcible displacement ​ ​ ​ ​ 1 of persons belonging to particular ethnic groups . Throughout history, ethnic cleansing has usually taken the form of genocide (genocide being how the cleansing took place), sometimes accompanied with the removal of cultural elements of this group (such as monuments or places of worship). Autonomous region An autonomous region is ‘a section of a nation that has a degree of independence in 2 several issues .These regions have the ability to make their own decisions on some matters, thanks to specific reasons, such as distance from the mainland of a country or the existence of large populations of a minority. Examples of autonomous regions are Hong Kong, Macau and the Åland Islands. Turkic peoples Turkic peoples are defined as ‘any of various peoples whose members speak 3 languages belonging to the Turkic subfamily of the Altaic family of languages’ . With the ​ ​ ​ exception of some who live in the Volga region and the European part of Turkey, they reside mainly in Asia. The main link between Turkic peoples, aside from history and language, is Islam (except some who are not Muslim). The Uighur classify as Turkic. 1 Andreopoulos, George J. “Ethnic Cleansing.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 28 Dec. 2018, ​ www.britannica.com/topic/ethnic-cleansing. 2 Kiprop, Joseph. “What Is an Autonomous Region?” WorldAtlas, 10 Sept. 2018, ​ www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-an-autonomous-region.html. 3 Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Turkic Peoples.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 17 ​ Dec. 2018, www.britannica.com/topic/Turkic-peoples. Assimilation Assimilation is the process during which a cultural minority adopts the traits of a dominant culture to become almost indistinguishable from the cultural majority. The minority is, however, very difficult to be totally absorbed by the dominant culture. The assimilation efforts made by European colonial empires in their colonies in Asia or the Americas are accurate historical examples of (forced) assimilation. Sinicize 4 To Sinicize is defined as: “to modify by Chinese influence” . Sinicization, thus is when non-Chinese cultures are forced to adopt ethnic Chinese (Han) ways of life. Xinjiang province The Xinjiang region is located in the northwestern region of China, has a population of 21 million people and is considered to be the largest administrative division of the country. It consists of multiple ethnic groups such as Han, Hui, Kazakh, Uyghur and Mongols. 5 Xinjiang is considered to be a ‘provincial-level autonomous region’ and is separated into 13 6 7 ‘prefecture-level divisions’ . Its full name is ‘Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang’ . 4 “Sinicize.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sinicize. ​ 5 Misachi, John. “Autonomous Regions of China.” WorldAtlas, 22 June 2017, ​ www.worldatlas.com/articles/autonomous-regions-of-china.html. 6 Misachi, John. “Autonomous Regions of China.” WorldAtlas, 22 June 2017, ​ www.worldatlas.com/articles/autonomous-regions-of-china.html. 7 Hsieh, Chiao-Min, and Victor C. Falkenheim. “Xinjiang.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 9 Aug. ​ 2018, www.britannica.com/place/Xinjiang. Figure 1-Xiniiang’s location in China Han The Han (or else ethnic Chinese) is the largest ethnic group in China, taking up a total of 90% 8 9 of the Chinese population . They count 20% of the global population , but the vast majority of them live in China. Their history dates back to 206 BC when the Han dynasty took over the area of modern China, and great breakthroughs in culture and science followed. The dynasty ended 400 years later, but still, the terminology is used till today. Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward was a policy implemented by Mao in the late 50s (1958-1960) which intended to transform the Chinese society from an agrarian one to a more industrialized, modern one, in 5 years. The results were, however, catastrophic. 8 Wee, Rolando Y. “Who Are The Han Chinese People?” WorldAtlas, 11 Apr. 2016, ​ www.worldatlas.com/articles/who-are-the-han-chinese-people.html. 9 Wee, Rolando Y. “Who Are The Han Chinese People?” WorldAtlas, 11 Apr. 2016, ​ www.worldatlas.com/articles/who-are-the-han-chinese-people.html. Figure 2-Total Fertility loss in China, during and after the 5-year-plan The “Strike Hard” Campaign The “Strike Hard” or “Yanda” is a campaign organized by the Chinese authorities to tackle terrorism and crime, which has been separated in 4 rounds (1983, 1996, 2001 and 2010). According to the Chinese Ministry of public security, the campaign’s goal is ‘targeting extreme violent crime, gun and gang crime, telecom fraud, human trafficking, robbery, 10 prostitution, gambling and drugs’ . The campaign is usually criticized as a means to oppress minorities, especially by western media. Belt and road initiative The Belt and Road initiative is a plan proposed by China in 2013, whose goal is to 11 “improve connectivity and cooperation on a transcontinental scale” . According to the World Bank, the BRI will cost and approximate 575 Billion USD. It has the potential of reducing travel times in commerce corridors by 12%, increase trade by 9,7%, profits by 3,4% and lift 7,6 million people from poverty. 10 “'Strike Hard' Campaign Targets Violent Crimes.” 'Strike Hard' Campaign Targets Violent Crimes - China.org.cn, ​ www.china.org.cn/china/2010-06/15/content_20267402.htm. 11 “Belt and Road Initiative.” World Bank, www.worldbank.org/en/topic/regional-integration/brief/belt-and-road-initiative.​ 12 Figure 3-Illustration of the BRI according to the World bank TOPIC INTRODUCTION Since the beginning of the 20th century, the Turkic group has made multiple attempts to gain independence from Beijing, some of which were partially successful but did not provide them with long-term independence. The Chinese government, having understood that the Uighurs will continue to make efforts to gain self-determination, took multiple initiatives to continue having control over the Xinjiang province. One of the measures taken to keep the area under Chinese control was the transfer of ethnic Chinese (Han) in the region, making the Uighur a minority. As time progressed, the Han rose to the higher levels of the social pyramid while the Uighur remained in menial positions. Measures such as the above gave Beijing more control over the province but also generated public unrest in the Uighur populations, which led to mass protests (that sometimes turned violent). The Muslim minority grew increasingly dissatisfied with their situation as the Chinese government took multiple steps towards the industrialization of the country, measures that hit hard on all lower-class households, such as the Great Leap Forward. Not only were they, from their own perspective, the lowest possible in the social pyramid, but they were also terribly treated from their own government. The result was an incredibly frustrated public that wanted independence more than ever, resorting to multiple means to achieve it, mainly violent (especially since 2008). 12 “Belt and Road Initiative.” World Bank, www.worldbank.org/en/topic/regional-integration/brief/belt-and-road-initiative.​ Beijing is aware of the importance of the Xinjiang province, which is the largest in the country, with vast natural resources and an advantageous strategic position. The Xinjiang province is of utmost’s importance for the successful completion of the Belt and Road initiative, a global commerce plan. It could be safe to assume that the Chinese government simply cannot afford to lose control over the province. The Chinese government now considers the Uighur people a threat to national security, and thus employs some unorthodox methods to protect the region from terrorist activity. As a result, a large group of Uighurs is in custody in the present in multiple concentration camps. Some who have managed to escape have spoken out against the oppression and have described the living conditions inside the camps. “We have a saying in 13 Hotan: If you go into a concentration camp in Luopu, you never come out” The Chinese government denies any such action even if multiple news networks have published reports proving the opposite. Applying the “Strike hard campaign”, against terrorism, the Chinese security services have been vibrant in Xinjiang, policing the streets, setting roadblocks. 14 10.000.000 Uighur people reside currently in the northwestern part of China. 15 Figure 4-Photograph showing workers walking near a possible detention center in Xinjiang, Sep 4, 2018 13 Kuo, Lily.
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