CSW - everyone free to believe

Over one million people have been placed into camps in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region*, China, targeted because of their ethnicity and religion, predominantly Muslims from Uyghur and other ethnic minorities. As we continue to advocate on China, we ask what’s really happening to religious freedom, not only in Xinjiang but across that vast nation. And how can we respond?

Having a religious book in your home, gathering with others to worship, or simply having relatives abroad… these are all freedoms we take for granted and yet in Xinjiang, these are all considered reasons to place you in a ‘re-education camp’. The Chinese government claims that the camps are vocational training centres and that they are combating extremism. In reality, this is a human rights crisis. Uyghur families are torn apart, as parents are sent to the camps and children are taken away to state orphanages. One Uyghur worker reported children as young as six months ‘locked up like farm animals in a shed.’

Once inside the camps, they can be held there indefinitely. Abdurahman Tohti hasn't seen or heard from his wife and children for almost four years. Originally from Xinjiang, he and his family were living in Istanbul when, in August 2016, his wife Peride took their two very young children to Xinjiang to visit family. In January 2019, a video appeared online of his four-year-old son in what appeared to be a state-run Chinese orphanage. His children would not know him if he saw them today: Tohti says he has ‘lost everything’.  

By no means are Uyghurs the only people facing religious persecution in China

Following other faiths can be difficult, especially for those who dare to speak up for religious freedom. Pastor Wang Yi of Early Rain Church was tried on Boxing Day 2019 and later sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of ‘inciting to subvert state power’ and ‘illegal business operations’. In reality, all he did was speak up for churches and Christians in China.

‘Separate me from my wife and children, ruin my reputation, destroy my life and my family – the authorities are capable of doing all of these things. However, no one in this world can force me to renounce my faith.’ - Pastor Wang Yi

The impact on children 

The Chinese government prevents parents from passing on their faith to their children. Christian children are often forbidden from attending church, while Uyghur children sent to state-run facilities are cut off from their language, culture and religion. The Chinese authorities also use education as a tool to pressure people to stop standing up for human rights. Six-year-old Quanquan, son of imprisoned human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, was stopped from going to school as a way to put pressure on his dad. And all over China, teachers are under pressure not to attend church, while schools carefully keep tabs on the religious beliefs of students and staff.

*Also referred to by many Uyghurs as East Turkestan.

** Untold Stories was originally published in July 2022.