People of the minority Uyghur ethnic group in China are the victims of genocide, say leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, with reports that at least 1 million are detained in internment camps. So why have more than 1,500 been forcibly returned to China over the last 25 years, according to a Wilson Center count? Deportations of members of the group, who are largely Muslim and hail from China’s western Xinjiang province, have been particularly notable from some Muslim-majority countries previously seen as sympathetic to their plight. The Uyghur Human Rights Project has estimated that nearly 300 Uyghurs have been detained or deported by Arab states at China’s urging since 2001. There are cases across the Muslim world. For instance, a handful of Uyghurs in Turkey seem to have been repatriated to China through Tajikistan in recent years, while others among the large emigrant community in Turkey have claimed they were harassed by authorities for speaking out against China. At least 20 Uyghurs were reportedly deported from Egypt in 2017, as were a small number of others in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia—including some who were in the Saudi kingdom on religious pilgrimage. Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia came under intense criticism for planning to repatriate four Uyghurs including a teenage girl (their removal has been delayed in response to the backlash). Uyghurs living in Afghanistan have also expressed concern that the new Taliban-led government could turn on them as it seeks to curry favor with China. The repatriations are part of a concerted effort by Beijing, under what it has described as a counterterrorism operation. The U.S. State Department claims the Chinese government has also harassed Uyghurs living abroad and sought to coerce them into spying on other emigrants using threats against their families in Xinjiang. For those forcibly returned, Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities face the prospect of prolonged detention and torture, including systematic rape, in so-called re-education camps. The Chinese government has denied allegations of human-rights abuses, but the situation loomed large over the recent Olympics in Beijing. In Washington and elsewhere, the forcible returns have been interpreted as human-rights abuses and a sign of Beijing’s growing transnational power. They have also prompted difficult questions about the role of Interpol, the international police-cooperation organization, which at times has assisted China in its efforts. China’s rise as a global power has had myriad repercussions, the forcible return of people likely to face severe persecution among them. Best regards,
Julian Hattem
Editor, Migration Information Source
[email protected] | 
