Uyghur Solidarity Aotearoa New Zealand are disturbed and upset at the news that Uyghur women are suffering a crime against humanity by horrific sexual abuse in the concentration camps in East Turkestan, also known as Xinjiang Autonomous Uyghur Region, due to China’s Governmental occupation and oppression. 
 

“We are horrified by the recent reports of sexual violence as an act of social control of Uyghur women” Uyghur Solidarity Aotearoa New Zealand Spokesperson Eliana Darroch says.
 

“We are aware of unconsented sterilisation and forced birth control, one of the factors which make it clear the Uyghur oppression is a genocide. These new reports by survivors and witnesses about appalling rape and abuse add another aspect of horror.
 

“The concentration camps were never “re-education” camps. They are places of mass imprisonment, torture, brainwashing, and human rights abuses. Rape is an act of physical, spiritual, emotional, and cultural domination. What is happening to these Uyghur women is a crime against humanity.
 

“The news of the way these women are being treated in the concentration camps is very difficult for us to process, as women, as feminists, as sexual assault survivors, as humans with empathy. 
 

“The extreme violence being put upon these Muslim women, because they are Muslim and a cultural minority in the eyes of China’s government, is a cruelty steeped in Islamophobia and imperialism. 
 

We hope that the witnesses’ reports will embolden the New Zealand government to take the plight of the Uyghurs into account with our country's ethical and moral obligations to the world. We have seen Jacinda Ardern extend support and compassion to the Muslim community in New Zealand, against Islamophobia. Jacinda Ardern is a strong woman who many look up to, and a feminist. We ask that this culture and attitude of kindness extends to Uyghur women, suffering indescribably, who need our international help the most. 
 

“We all need to work together internationally to hold a standard of human rights. Through the brave testimony of survivors we know that crimes against humanity are happening to the Uyghurs. Our government should be working through every available channel, at the United Nations, through human rights organisations, and with allies, to provide a lifeline and support for the Uyghur people. 
 

“This is the ‘Never Again’ moment of our generation. New Zealand can do more to support the Uyghur people.” 

Reference: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55794071

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