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Without Land, There Is No Life: Chinese State Suppression of Uyghur Environmental Activism

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Without Land, There Is No Life: Chinese State Suppression of Uyghur Environmental Activism Without land, there is no life: Chinese state suppression of Uyghur environmental activism Table of Contents Summary ..............................................................................................................................2 Cultural Significance of the Environment and Environmentalism ......................................5 Nuclear Testing: Suppression of Uyghur Activism ...........................................................15 Pollution and Ecological Destruction in East Turkestan ...................................................30 Lack of Participation in Decision Making: Development and Displacement ....................45 Legal Instruments...............................................................................................................61 Recommendations ..............................................................................................................66 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................69 Endnotes .............................................................................................................................70 Cover image: Dead toghrak (populus nigra) tree in Niya. Photo courtesy of Flickr 1 Summary The intimate connection between the Uyghur people and the land of East Turkestan is celebrated in songs and poetry written and performed in the Uyghur language. Proverbs in Uyghur convey how the Uyghur culture is tied to reverence of the land and that an individual’s identity is inseparable from the land from which they came. Uyghur religious practice further reflects Uyghurs’ deep connection to the land and a religious impulse toward environmentalism. Given the physical survival and cultural integrity attributed to the land of East Turkestan, Uyghurs have developed sustainable practices in order to live in a fragile environment composed of deserts, oases and mountains. For example, the underground water transportation system of the Turpan area called karez has provided drinking water and water to grow crops for centuries to communities living in an exceptionally arid part of the region. Since the early 1990s, the Chinese government has targeted East Turkestan with a series of economic development initiatives demonstrating a cumulative effort to exploit the region’s strategic location in Central Asia to boost China’s political and economic presence in the wider region. These centrally led campaigns have transformed East Turkestan bringing Chinese migrants and increased economic activity to the region that have had a profound effect on the environment. In addition to economic motives for regional intervention, the Chinese authorities exploited the vast landscape of East Turkestan to conduct nuclear weapons testing from 1964 to 1996. The full consequences of these tests are unknown, but credible evidence suggests a health catastrophe has occurred due to nuclear fallout and polluted land. Without land, there is no life: Chinese state suppression of Uyghur environmental activism reports on three aspects of the environment in East Turkestan that indicate clear violations of the Uyghur people’s democratic rights to voice concerns over environmental degradation and to contribute to the development of sustainable regional policies. The three topics explored are: government policies and their impact on the purity of water, air and land; nuclear testing, the development of other types of weapons and related health issues; and Han Chinese migration to East Turkestan, predominately in the south of the region. Following an examination of these topics, the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) concludes the following concerns with environmentalism in the region: Suppression of the right to protest environmental problems stemming from government actions, particularly the rights to association and assembly. Lack of Uyghur participation in environmental decision-making and a deprivation of knowledge sharing on environmental conditions in East Turkestan. Disregard of Uyghur knowledge on sustainable practices in state economic and agricultural policies. 2 Without land, there is no life: Chinese state suppression of Uyghur environmental activism is divided into five main sections. The first section describes the cultural importance of the environment to Uyghurs through an analysis of Uyghur artistic works and the creation of sustainable practices. The subsequent section considers China’s nuclear weapons testing program. The report looks at the specific details of underground and atmospheric nuclear tests conducted near in the Lop Nur area of East Turkestan. While tests were ongoing, during the 1980s and 1990s Uyghurs publicly protested not only in East Turkestan, but also in eastern China the negative health consequences of detonating nuclear weapons in an area predominately inhabited by Uyghurs. The demonstrations were suppressed and weapons testing continued. The report describes evidence of abnormal levels of cancer among the public close to Lop Nur. Although, the government has offered compensation to veterans of the nuclear weapons testing program, civilians have been exempted from such payments. In the section, UHRP describes ongoing weapons testing in East Turkestan, including subcritical nuclear tests. Section 3 is dedicated to the effects of government policies on water, land and air purity. Although the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) allows research on the drastic environmental degradation in these areas, particularly desertification, reduction of water resources and destruction of natural vegetation, such research is circumscribed from critiquing government policy that has directly led to the problems. Public protest against rampant pollution is strictly prohibited. The section includes how the government has disregarded methods traditionally employed by Uyghurs to balance agricultural activity with physical resources. In particular, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) has been responsible for degradation of water resources through expansions of commercial activity, and especially in its mandate to produce cotton unsustainably an in areas with inadequate water resources. Air quality has seen a sharp decline in East Turkestan through the relocation of polluting industries to the region from eastern China where environmental regulation has become more stringent. Furthermore, the expansion of the energy industry has resulted in both air pollution and further drain on inadequate water resources. The last topic area highlighted is the close relationship between Han Chinese migration and the increasing incidence of rural land grabs from Uyghur farmers. The section asserts the increase of Han settlers to East Turkestan, particularly to the south, has resulted in displacement of Uyghurs through compressive forces driven by competition for land. Uyghurs subjected to land grabs are often left with no recourse for adequate compensation or justice given high levels of collusion between local officials and developers. The compressive forces stimulated by increased numbers of Han Chinese has also been felt in urban areas, such as Kashgar, where the demolition of traditional Uyghur neighborhoods was documented in UHRP’s report Living on the Margins: The Chinese State’s Demolition of Uyghur Communities. In many cases described above Uyghurs were sidelined as participants in the decision making involved in appropriation of either land or houses. Public participation in environmental affairs is an internationally acknowledged right and protected in Chinese law. Participation in the decision making process is understood to be a contributing factor to equitable environmental policies and recognizes the integral role of 3 grassroots communities in solving environmental problems. Public participation provides a means with which individuals and civil society groups hold the state and private enterprise accountable for obligations in regard to sustainable development and ensures transparency in environmental governance. Accurate and complete information is essential to effective and meaningful public participation in environmental affairs. Therefore, respect for the principle of access to and freedom of information is necessary for the public to evaluate environmental policy and to seek forms of redress. Public participation allows for the development of a democratic form of governance that places individuals and communities as key stakeholders in environmental matters thus forming a broad legitimacy for policy formation. Without land, there is no life: Chinese state suppression of Uyghur environmental activism concludes with the following key recommendations for the Chinese government: Guarantee the fundamental right of the Uyghur people to participation and consultation in the decision-making process regarding environmental impacts of development and agricultural planning as outlined in international and domestic legal instruments. Open public forums for genuine and meaningful debate on environmental issues. This includes the freedoms to seek, receive and impart information online. Uyghurs should be free to conduct research into the causes of environment degradation in East Turkestan and to access government information on the environment. Respect the fundamental rights to freedom of assembly and association. International human rights standards assert the right for individuals to form non-governmental organizations to monitor the state’s compliance with environmental benchmarks.
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