Over 70 faith leaders publicly denounced China's persecution of Uighur Muslims, calling it “one of the most egregious human tragedies since the Holocaust.” In a strongly worded declaration, the faith leaders – who include Catholic bishops and priests, Protestant ministers, Muslim imams, Buddhist leaders and Jewish rabbis – also warned of a “potential genocide of the Uyghurs and other Muslims in China” if the atrocities committed by the Chinese Communist Party are left unchecked.
The faith leaders also underscored the plight of the Uighurs as unique compared to other persecutions and mass atrocities in other parts of the world. Further, they questioned the international community's inaction toward the issue, calling into question their willingness to “defend universal human rights for everyone.”
Their collective support, the faith leaders noted, extends not only to the Uighurs but to other belief systems that the CCP is cracking down on, including Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners, and the rising number of Christians in the country.
“We urge people of faith and conscience everywhere to join us: in prayer, solidarity and action to end these mass atrocities. We make a simple call for justice, to investigate these crimes, hold those responsible to account and establish a path towards the restoration of human dignity,” the faith leaders concluded.
Beijing goes for a scorched-earth policy against Uighurs
The CCP is looking to wipe the Uighur identity off the map by breaking their lineage and origin, as well as sever their connections and roots. In the statement, the faith leaders accuse Beijing of enforcing this directive without mercy, according to official documents.
To note, Uighurs and other Muslim minorities are incarcerated in prison camps, where they face starvation, torture, slave labor and forced organ extraction. Uighurs outside prison camps do not fare much better, as they are still denied basic religious freedom. The CCP has destroyed mosques and arrested people for religious expressions such as praying and fasting.
Even more disturbing, according to the faith leaders, is the fact that nearly 80 percent of Uighur women have undergone forced sterilization and invasive birth control procedures. (Related: China running a chemically-induced depopulation agenda against Muslims, whites.)
All aspects of Uighur life are monitored by the CCP using surveillance technology. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has confirmed this practice, saying that Beijing does not only surveil Uighurs but also people from other faith groups, such as Christians.
In a virtual hearing last month, USCIRF Vice Chair Tony Perkins said that the Chinese government has installed surveillance cameras across the country, with facial recognition systems being used to distinguish Uighurs from other ethnic groups. Perkins also cited China's use of the “Great Firewall” to censor blogs and social media ports promoting Uighur culture. During the hearing, Chris Meserole of the think tank Brookings Institution warned that other authoritarian regimes will look at Beijing's use of digital surveillance against the Uighur minority to crackdown on religious minorities in their region.
Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon in Myanmar, one of the signatories in the statement, has supported Muslims and other religious minorities in Southeast Asia, where they regularly face persecution and oppression. In his home country of Myanmar, Buddhist villagers have burned mosques to the ground. In Indonesia, members of the minority Ahmadiyya Muslim sect have been ruthlessly murdered.
Bo also pointed out that Christians in China face similar hardships. Crosses were removed from places of worship and churches, such as the Xiangbaishu Church in Jiangsu province, have been demolished.
Stay up-to-date with news about the CCP and its oppression of Uighurs and other minority groups at Tyranny.news.
Sources include:
USCRIF.gov 1 [PDF]
USCRIF.gov 2 [PDF]
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