Xinjiang is China’s largest region by size, but of the 25 million people who live in Xinjiang, about 11 million are known as Uighurs. Though they are culturally and ethnically Central Asian, they speak a different language and most are Muslim – a religion that is monitored by Chinese public security officials. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, in 2017, the Chinese imposed a blunt government policy of forcibly assimilating Uighurs into larger Chinese society under the guise of a counter-terrorism campaign. The Chinese government long denied the detention camps existed, until irrefutable evidence emerged. Those few who have managed to escape the region have reported physical, mental and sexual torture, as well as abusive and violent attempts to reduce the Uighur population. As America re-takes its place as a leader among nations, stopping genocide and ethnic cleansing around the world needs to become a priority.
Velshi: Stop the Uighur Genocide
