China to utilise Beijing Olympics to 'whitewash' Uyghurs genocide, say rights activists

Several Uyghur activists and other human rights activists have argued that Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 hosted by China will implicitly approve the rights violation of the Muslim ethnic minority in the Asian country. According to ANI, during a webinar, Ilshat Hassan Kokbore, Vice-Chairman of the World Uyghur Congress Executive Committee noted that since the early 2000s, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has conveniently labelled Uyghurs as “terrorists” due to their ethnic identity. He also said that China will use the games for "whitewash of genocide", of Uyghurs, Tibetans, and other persecuted populations.

The webinar titled ‘CCP's Uyghur Genocide and Diplomatic Boycott of the Beijing Olympics’ was conducted by independent foreign policy think tank Red Lantern Analytica on 27 January. 

Red Lantern Analytica had convened a panel discussion, including experts of Uyghur rights, Chinese domestic security and civil rights activists. Kokbore who is also the Vice-Chairman of the World Uyghur Congress Executive Committee, said that ever since Chinese conquered Xinjiang, the Uyghurs have been subjected to ‘genocide’ sponsored by China. 

"Since the early 2000s, following 9/11 incident, the Chinese Communist Party has conveniently labelled Uyghurs as 'terrorists' due to their Muslim identity. Chinese authorities have imprisoned Uyghur academics and suppressed any criticism," he said.

According to Kokbore, since the occupation, not only did the residents in China’s illegally occupied regions have suffered threats and ill-treatment along with the residents of neighbouring South-Asian countries. He went on to attack the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and said that the committee had legitimised Chiese atrocities just as they did with Nazis at the 1936 Olympics, stated ANI. He noted that the CCP will utilise the Olympics to veil the genocide of Uyghurs, Tibetans, and other persecuted populations.

1.8 million Uyghurs were transferred to concentration camps

According to the report, Dr. Erkin Sidick, Senior Advisor to the World Uyghur Congress and Founder of the Uyghur Projects Foundation (UPF), noted that around 1.8 million Uyghurs were transferred to Concentration Camps and an additional 2.1 million were subjected to organ harvesting. Sidick said, “Up to 4 million Uyghurs are detained in camps and forced labour facilities. Around 14,000 forced labour factories are estimated to exist in occupied Xinjiang alone.”

UPF Founder also said that the number of Uyghurs slain and disappeared in the Chinese-sponsored Uyghur Genocide is more than that of the Holocaust, stated ANI. The third speaker of the webinar, Julie Millsap, an advocate for Uyghur human rights stressed how China failed to learn from its past mistakes and has continued to murder people and hold them captive in concentration camps. She even charged China with mass genocide against the Muslim ethnic minority group of Uyghurs. According to Millsap, the Foreign Olympics Committee is "corrupt" and she hopes for foreign organisations to impose pressure on the Chinese government and intervene to alleviate humanitarian conditions. 

(Image: AP)