Click to expand Image A child rests near the entrance to a mosque, where a banner reads "Love the party, Love the country" in the old city district of Kashgar in western China's Xinjiang region, November 4, Imagine a country where practicing Islam is treated as a crime. A place so repressive that even listening to a religious sermon at a mosque or reciting a funeral prayer from the Quran in your home can land you in jail.
A place where crescents are removed from burial sites, Qurans and prayer mats are confiscated, and mosques are destroyed. A country that bans parents and teachers from introducing religion to children, even at home. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation OIC should use the full weight of its mandate to condemn this outrageous abuse. Chinese authorities have effectively outlawed the practice of Islam in this region. In Xinjiang, a population of 13 million ethnic Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims are subjected to forced political indoctrination, collective punishment, restrictions on movement and communications, heightened religious restrictions, and mass surveillance.
There have been reports of deaths in the camps, raising concerns about physical and psychological abuse, as well as stress from poor conditions, overcrowding, and indefinite detention. But what has become evident is that for the Chinese government, any expression of Muslim identity is synonymous with extremism. The Xinjiang authorities have made foreign ties to these countries -- which include Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, and Algeria -- a punishable offense.
Turkic Muslims who have been to these countries, have families, or otherwise communicate with people there, have been interrogated, detained, and even tried and imprisoned. OIC governments should view these actions as a direct affront to them that should result, at the very least, in a sharp diplomatic response to Beijing. At this meeting, the OIC has an opportunity to call on China to cease its campaign of repression in Xinjiang and immediately close all political education camps.
Given the scale and gravity of abuses that await Turkic Muslims in China, OIC members should pledge that they will not forcibly return any refugees and asylum seekers to China. It is also crucial for the OIC to support a resolution at the upcoming session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva to establish an independent, international fact-finding mission to investigate abuses in Xinjiang.
