The Associated Press over the weekend reported that China has cut the Uighur birth rate through IUDs, abortion, and sterilizations. The Uyghurs are Turkic-speaking Muslims who mostly live within China’s Xinjiang region in the country’s northwest. They are one of the Muslim minorities targeted by the Chinese Communist Party for persecution.
“While individual women have spoken out before about forced birth control, the practice is far more widespread and systematic than previously known, according to an AP investigation based on government statistics, state documents and interviews with 30 ex-detainees, family members and a former detention camp instructor. The campaign over the past four years in the far west region of Xinjiang is leading to what some experts are calling a form of ‘demographic genocide,'” the Associated Press writes.
Nury Turkel, Commissioner for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and Chairman of the Board for the Uyghur Human Rights Project confirmed the sterilizations in an interview with Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, on his Washington Watch program on Wednesday.
He said he was not surprised by the report.
“The Uyghur people have been crying out loud for international law support. And asking for the for the international community, particularly those of us who are in the free societies, to pay attention to the Uyghur grievances. In the last 20, 30 years, the forced abortion, stabilization issue was part of the Uyghur life from the very beginning.” Turkel said.
“So when you look at the the, the actions as well as the policy objectives, being imposed upon the Uyghur people by the Chinese Communist Party, it is evident that they wanted to get rid of this population that has centuries old, ethno-traditional life, culture, history and contribution to the civilization,” he added.
Listen to the entire segment below:
