WHEN HUMAN RIGHTS, NATIONAL IDENTITY, ETHNICITY, AND RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION COLLIDE

Abstract

As it is difficult to ascertain who might be guilty of the thought crime of harboring feelings of East Turkistani national identity, Uyghurs and other ethnically-Turkic people in the region that China calls “Xinjiang" have been targeted on the basis of their religion and ethnicity. The Chinese government fears that Uyghurs and other ethnically-Turkic people in the region might retain a separate national identity, viewing themselves as separate from the Chinese super-state. East Turkistan sits as the cornerstone of China’s Belt and Road Initiative — China's new “Silk Road” — and is a vast, resource-rich region that is China’s gateway to Central Asia and Europe. As nations in Global South attempt to grapple with this urgent human rights crisis, it is vital that human rights advocates and policy makers frame this issue in its most accurate terms by understanding the geopolitical factors at play and the history of this oppression.

Keywords

• china
• human rights
• religious freedom
• east turkistan
• uyghur
• muslims
• xinjiang
• bri
• global security