Why Doesn’t the World Care More About the Uyghurs?
How Xinjiang fell by the wayside.
“One aspect of the Uyghur genocide that has always confounded me is why outrage among the global public has been so muted,” FP’s Amy Mackinnon wrote this week. Despite her hesitancy in broaching this subject with a Uyghur human rights advocate, Mackinnon recently posed this question to Nury Turkel, who is now the chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
“One aspect of the Uyghur genocide that has always confounded me is why outrage among the global public has been so muted,” FP’s Amy Mackinnon wrote this week. Despite her hesitancy in broaching this subject with a Uyghur human rights advocate, Mackinnon recently posed this question to Nury Turkel, who is now the chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Below, you’ll find Turkel’s three possible explanations for the world’s silence, as well as more essays and reporting exploring how—and why—Xinjiang has fallen by the wayside.—Chloe Hadavas
Oriana Fenwick Illustration for Foreign Policy
The Witness
Why is global outrage about the Uyghur genocide muted? Human rights advocate Nury Turkel has some ideas, FP’s Amy Mackinnon writes.
Uyghur men dance outside the Id Kah mosque in Kashgar, Xinjiang, where authorities have created a parallel universe for tourists and locals, on June 5, 2019. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images
UNESCO Made Ukraine a Priority, but Xinjiang Fell by the Wayside
Some cultures are protected more than others, FP’s Liam Scott reports.
Early on Sept. 1, a computer screen shows a long-delayed report on human rights in China’s Xinjiang region, released just minutes before U.N. rights chief Michelle Bachelet left her post. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
The United Nations Is Scared of Calling Out China’s Genocide
A long-delayed report on Xinjiang was an important step forward, but it has critical omissions, FP’s Azeem Ibrahim writes.
Protesters chant slogans and hold up flags in support of China’s Uyghur minority in Istanbul, on July 12, 2009.BULENT KILIC/AFP via Getty Images
Why Erdogan Has Abandoned the Uyghurs
As Ankara grows more economically dependent on Beijing, the Turkish government is no longer offering a safe haven or defending Uyghur rights, Kuzzat Altay writes.
A Uyghur man in Medina, Saudi Arabia, in 2019 holds his expired Chinese passport (red) and a one-way travel document (blue) issued in its place by the Chinese mission in Saudi Arabia.AFP via Getty Images
China’s Transnational Repression Gets Saudi Backing
Deporting Uyghur refugees is inhumane and illegal, Rayhan Asat writes.
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