Uyghur concentration camp survivor Tursunay Ziyawudun Tursunay Ziyawudun (D-N.Y.) appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee for an online hearing on May 6, 2021.
“The situation there was bad and dirty. We were told that we had ideological problems, that we were to be educated, and that if we asked questions, we would be beaten.”
“It was very crowded in there. There was a bucket in the corner of the room that served as our toilet, and there were many cameras in the room watching us.”
“We were starved every day, and each meal was a bowl of soup like water and a loaf of bread. We were also injected with unknown drugs.”
“Every day we had to keep pledging our allegiance to the Chinese Communist government and rejecting our own beliefs. We have to watch never-ending videos of Xi Jinping.”
This is what a Xinjiang Uighur concentration camp survivor told the U.S. Congress about her experience of being held in the camp twice.
On Thursday (May 6), the House Foreign Affairs Committee held an online hearing titled “Atrocities against Uighurs and Other Minorities in Xinjiang.
Tursun Nayi (D-NY), who introduced herself from East Turkestan, said that she is a member of the Uyghur minority. Tursunay Ziyawudun testified before Congress for the first time as a survivor of a Uighur concentration camp, telling lawmakers from firsthand experience what happened in the camps that was not known to the outside world. The Uighurs refer to the Xinjiang region as East Turkestan.
Also participating in the hearing by video were Nury Turkel, chairman of the board of the Uighur Human Rights Project. Nury Turkel, president of the Uighur Human Rights Project Board of Directors, and Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service History at Georgetown University. James Millward, professor of history at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.
Zia Oudin, who does not speak English, spoke through an interpreter throughout the presentation and took questions. She told the congressman that conditions in the camp were terrible. After she was first incarcerated, she was released about a month later because of health factors. However, on March 8, 2018, she was imprisoned again. That time she was locked up for up to 10 months.
“The camp I was sent to the second time was much worse and left scars in my heart that I can’t forget,” Ziauddin went on to begin describing the sexual abuse she experienced, and the sexual assault violence she witnessed.
“Girls would be taken away and left for days at a time before they would return. I saw many girls go crazy because of this,” Ziauddin said, “and I was taken away with another woman. I had electric rods inserted into my lower body and I could hear another girl screaming in the next room and I knew the guards had raped her.”
Zia Gudin went on to describe how girls were forced to be sterilized in the camp. “At one point, an order came down that all the girls were to be sterilized or have an IUD placed. Many of the young girls cried and screamed as they were told that they would be sterilized and never be able to have children,” Ziyawuddin said.
In December 2018, Zia’udin left the camp. Before leaving, she said she was warned that if she spoke about what happened in the camp, “there would be serious consequences.” So even after leaving the camp, she knew she wasn’t really free until she arrived in the United States.
In 2020, Tursunnai. Zia’udin became one of the few concentration camp survivors who had a chance to make it to the United States. She decided to speak out about these experiences. Ziauddin emphasizes that she is not seeking pity from the community, but rather to stand up for those who cannot speak out.
Earlier this year, Ziauddin gave an interview to the BBC, revealing for the first time to the international media the full extent of her experiences in the camps and their circumstances. That report, released on February 2, quickly set off a wave of interest in Uighur human rights issues in Xinjiang and touched the most sensitive nerves of Beijing authorities. “A spokesman for the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign ministry had taken my picture at a press conference and called me a liar,” Zia Gudin said.
However, the Chinese government’s response to the attack did not faze Zia Gudin. “As a survivor, for the sake of those who didn’t survive, I think I have to speak out,” Zia’udin said.
“I hope the world will wake up to the fact that the world should not tolerate continued genocide in the 21st century.”
“The (Chinese) government’s goal is to destroy every one of us, every one of us,” Ziauddin continued, shouting at members of Congress, “and now that you have heard my testimonial statement, I hope you will take action.”
After listening to Ziauddin’s opening statement, members of Congress from both parties expressed considerable shock and disbelief.
Rep. Meeks, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, chaired the Xinjiang human rights hearing on May 6, 2021 online.
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Zia-ud-Din, “I was deeply moved by your testimony. No one should have to go through the kind of horrible treatment you have been subjected to.”
Meeks went on to say that hearing first-hand accounts from those who experienced it was especially important to Congress given Beijing’s information blackout in the Xinjiang region.
“Especially because the Communist authorities have been keeping journalists, researchers and people on the ground from going (to find out). So it’s vital for us to hear from you about those experiences,” Meeks said.
“I’m touched by your personal experience, the courage and bravery to come forward and tell the truth, even though the threat from the Chinese Communist Party is so real,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the ranking Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said of Zia Wu Ding.
House Foreign Affairs Ranking Republican Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on May 6, 2021, for a hearing on human rights in Xinjiang.
McCaul went on to ask Zia-ud-Din, “Can you explain to us why the Chinese Communist Party views Uighur Muslim culture and religion as a threat? Does it even need to treat them in a way that sets up concentration camps and commits such horrible crimes?”
“I don’t know what the exact reason is, but they really seem to think we are horrible,” Zia Gudin replied, “When I was still in the camp, we had nothing on us and the guards had weapons, but the way they treated us seemed to feel like we were horrible. I felt like they wished to remove us from the face of the earth, and I didn’t understand that.”
Bipartisan call to launch independent investigation to push for multilateral sanctions
At the hearing, Meeks called for the United States to lead an independent international investigation into the human rights crisis in Xinjiang.
“The Chinese Communist government has adopted a strategy of distortion and disinformation. They have labeled any concerns about human rights abuses as lies and rumors, and have also imposed unfounded sanctions on organizations and individuals calling for investigations into those atrocities, and have prevented and obstructed any independent investigations into human rights abuses from taking place,” Chairman Meeks said.
He further stated, “We call on the administration to direct the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations to urge that body to open an investigation into ongoing human rights violations and to initiate multilateral sanctions against China in the U.N. Security Council.”
Republican U.S. Rep. McCaul from Texas said at the meeting, “The genocide committed by the Chinese Communist Party itself against Uighurs and other minorities is the moral test of our time.”
Congress is considering a number of human rights bills related to the border
The House and Senate of Congress are currently deliberating on a number of bills related to human rights in Xinjiang Uighurs. The House Foreign Affairs Committee on April 21 passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) without opposition, as well as a resolution condemning the Chinese Communist authorities for genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious groups.
After passing the House Foreign Affairs Committee, both bills were sent to the floor for further votes.
The Forced Uighur Labor Prevention Act contains a “rebuttable presumption” that all goods produced in the XUAR are presumed to be manufactured by forced labor unless “clear and convincing” evidence is presented to rebut the presumption. unless “clear and convincing” evidence is presented to rebut the presumption, then all goods are prohibited from entering the United States.
The bill also authorizes the President to impose sanctions on anyone who imposes forced labor on Uighur and other Muslim populations in Xinjiang, and requires listed U.S. companies to disclose financial information about their contacts with the Chinese companies and entities involved.
In addition, Democratic members of Congress introduced the Uyghur Human Rights Protection Act (UHRPA) in the House and Senate in March and April of this year, respectively, which aims to place persecuted Uyghurs in the second priority refugee category and provide assistance and protection to Uyghurs who wish to seek asylum. However, no progress has been made on this bill since its introduction.
Growing International Concern over Human Rights Crisis in Xinjiang
There is growing international concern about human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party in Xinjiang. The New Zealand Parliament passed a motion Wednesday declaring that serious human rights abuses have been committed against Uighurs in the Communist Party’s Xinjiang region. The Chinese Embassy called it interference in China’s internal affairs.
However, the text passed by the New Zealand Parliament on Wednesday removed the word “genocide” from the New Zealand Action Party’s original proposal and simply referred to it as “serious human rights abuses.
Late last month, the British House of Commons also unanimously deemed the Communist Party’s crackdown on the Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang a genocide and condemned Beijing’s actions in the strongest possible terms. This move by the British Parliament has increased pressure on the Johnson administration to step up its criticism of Beijing.
In addition to Britain, parliaments in European countries such as the Netherlands and Lithuania have introduced similar motions, with plans to find that Beijing authorities’ suppression of Uighur human rights in Xinjiang constitutes genocide.
The U.S. State Department said in March that Secretary of State Blinken agreed with the Trump administration’s determination that the Communist government’s treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang constitutes genocide and crimes against humanity. State Department spokesman Ned Price told a regular State Department press conference on March 9 that the Biden administration supports the Trump administration’s last-minute decision before the end of his term that the Chinese Communist Party committed genocide in Xinjiang.
Recent Comments