Uyghur Muslims face mass atrocities, if now no longer genocide, on the palms of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). With Chairman Xi Jinping journeying Saudi Arabia this week to fulfill with Arab leaders, those Muslim-majority nations have an possibility to endorse for oppressed Muslims. Their fellow believers in China want their help.
China’s abuse of Uyghur Muslims is properly documented, however unfortunately, maximum Muslim-majority countries were silent. Indisputable proof from the United Nations documented a strugglefare towards religion. In August 2022, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued an evaluation on human rights in Xinjiang. Months withinside the making, it found:
“Serious human rights violations were devoted in XUAR withinside the context of the Government’s utility of counter-terrorism and counter-‘extremism’ strategies. The implementation of those strategies, and related regulations in XUAR has brought about interlocking styles of extreme and undue regulations on a extensive variety of human rights. These styles of regulations are characterised through a discriminatory component, because the underlying acts frequently without delay or not directly have an effect on Uyghur and different predominantly Muslim communities.”
While now no longer going as some distance as to label the scenario as “genocide,” it turned into nevertheless a damning evaluation of the remedy of Uyghurs due to their faith and ethnicity, documenting mass detentions, bans on prayer, sexual assaults, own circle of relatives separations, and different varieties of persecution. Other files exposed through activists display how Xi driven regulations to spoil Islam withinside the western kingdom of Xinjiang, in which 12 million in general Muslim Uyghurs stay. In this marketing campaign of destruction, the authorities forces loads of hundreds into “reeducation” camps. Families are damaged apart; allegations of torture and rape are common. In addition, Tibetan Buddhists, Christians, Falon Gong and others have suffered mightily.
Yet, no matter those facts, exceptionally few Muslim governments have spoken out. Activists argue they have got deserted the Uyghurs. Many had been disenchanted through the incapability of the UN Human Rights Council to comply with a easy dialogue at the UN’s document on Uyghur persecution in China. The final results passed off whilst no Muslim-majority kingdom voted in favor. Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Sudan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Uzbekistan all voted “No.” Just modifications could have made a difference.
In contrast, Muslim countries have rightly denounced Burma’s persecution of Rohingya Muslims and discriminatory regulations in Europe and North America. But withinside the face of present day genocide in China, they’re silent in the direction of Beijing’s regulations. And the silence is deafening.
The loss of motion is a choice, one they have got made for a few time. When I visited the headquarters of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Saudi Arabia in my former diplomatic position that specialize in non secular minorities for the State Department, I invited the OIC to sign up for U.S. condemnations of Beijing’s abuses. Unfortunately, my overture turned into met with well mannered silence. Instead, OIC participants regarded the opposite manner or actively expressed assist for China’s regulations.
Notably, silence in preference to advocacy isn’t restricted to the Muslim world; many non-Muslim governments additionally succumb to China’s intimidation and greenback diplomacy. Democracies which includes Argentina, Brazil and India abstained at the Uyghur document vote on the Human Rights Council. Hungary has blocked European Union complaint of China.
Yet, the United States, Canada and plenty of in Europe are taking steps towards China — talking out and disengaging economically and technologically — due to the genocide and rights crackdown. This can not be the West’s combat by myself.
Muslim countries talking out could make a difference. China fears dropping the Arab world. In October, China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, defined Saudi Arabia as a “priority” of their local diplomatic strategy. The reality that Saudi Arabia is the biggest oil exporter to China is a substantial reason.
Consequently, the leaders assembly with Xi in Saudi Arabia have leverage — possibly extra than they realize. Muslim nations becoming a member of as a block with Western complaint could surprise Beijing. It should in all likelihood motive China to extrade path and permit Uyghur Muslims to stay out their religion peacefully. China responds to power, and there may be power in numbers. What is lacking is the voice of governments representing Muslim-majority countries. We understand complaint through the West by myself isn’t working.
Uyghur Muslims face torture, mistreatment or even death. The dire scenario in China affords an possibility for Muslim-majority nations to illustrate a dedication to their co-religionists and fundamental human dignity. With Xi’s conferences in Saudi Arabia, now’s the time for them to step forward.