To deliberate and help improve China’s internal matters in the Xinjiang Province, Tetso College reached out to Rushan Abbas, founder and executive director of Campaign for Uyghurs, as the resource speaker on the topic ‘Uyghurs in Crisis: Forced Labor & Genocide Targeting Women’ in an international DOT Talks webinar held on 17th September 2020.
Rushan Abbas shared on the current dire situation of the Uyghur people, including the ways that China’s actions constitute genocide. She spoke on her personal story of her sister’s abduction by the Chinese authorities, and the particular ways that Uyghur women have been brutalized and oppressed under the Chinese regime, as well as the complicity of Western countries and businesses.
Rushan who has been a campaigner for the human rights of Uyghur people and worked with members of the US Congress stated that there is a deliberate attempt by the Chinese government to eliminate and suppress Uyghur Muslims.
“Uyghur women are forbidden from giving birth and millions of Uyghur men are languishing in concentration labour camps. Millions are sent out to factory jobs where they are forced to work as slaves. Mothers are forcibly separated from their children who are often placed in government-run orphanages while the parents are sent to work in the concentration camps,” she said.
During the course of the webinar, questions were also raised on US’ foreign policy towards Uyghurs and the Chinese government. Further, Rushan urged the participants to engage personally with the tangible steps that each of us can take to end this rapidly escalating genocide.
The webinar was attended by research scholars, academicians, activists, lawyers, and students from India as well as other parts of the world.