Updated July 13, 2020
Uyghurs in China
Uyghurs (also spelled “Uighurs”) are an ethnic group living
indicates that criminal arrests in Xinjiang increased from
primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
approximately 14,000 in 2013 to 228,000 in 2017.
(XUAR) in the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) far
northwest. Uyghurs speak a Turkic language and practice a
Two prominent Uyghurs serving life sentences for state
moderate form of Sunni Islam. The XUAR, often referred
security crimes are Ilham Tohti (convicted in 2014), a
to simply as Xinjiang (pronounced “SHIN-jyahng”), is a
Uyghur economics professor who had maintained a website
provincial-level administrative region which comprises
related to Uyghur issues, and Gulmira Imin (convicted in
about one-sixth of China’s total land area and borders eight
2010), who had managed a Uyghur language website and
countries. The region is rich in minerals, produces over
participated in the 2009 protests. In September 2017,
80% of China’s cotton, and has China’s largest coal and
former Xinjiang University President Tashpolat Teyip, an
natural gas reserves and a fifth of its oil reserves. The
ethnic Uyghur, was convicted of separatism in a secret trial
XUAR is a strategic region for the PRC’s Belt and Road
and received a death sentence with a two-year reprieve. His
Initiative, which includes Chinese-backed infrastructure
status is unknown.
projects and energy development in neighboring Central
and South Asia.
Since 2017, in tandem with a new national policy referred
to as “Sinicization,” XUAR authorities have instituted
measures to assimilate Uyghurs into Han Chinese society
and reduce the influences of Uyghur, Islamic, and Arabic
cultures and languages. The XUAR government enacted a
law in 2017 that prohibits “expressions of extremification”
and placed restrictions, often imposed arbitrarily, upon
dress and grooming, practices of traditional Uyghur
customs, and adherence to Islamic dietary laws (halal).
Thousands of mosques in Xinjiang reportedly have been
demolished or “Sinicized,” whereby Islamic motifs and
Arabic writings have been removed. There have been
reports of a government campaign to forcefully reduce birth
rates among Turkic Muslims in the region.

Beginning in 2016, the newly appointed Communist Party
Sources: CRS using U.S. Department of State Boundaries; Esri;
Secretary of the XUAR, former Tibet Party Secretary Chen
Global Administrative Areas; DeLorme; NGA.
Quanguo, stepped up security and surveillance measures
aimed at the Uyghur population. Such actions included the
All or parts of the area comprising Xinjiang have been
installation of thousands of neighborhood police kiosks,
under the political control or influence of Chinese,
more intrusive monitoring of Internet use, and the
Mongols, and Russians for long periods of the region’s
collection of biometric data for identification purposes. The
documented history, along with periods of Turkic or
central government sent an estimated one million officials
Uyghur rule. Uyghurs played a role in the establishment of
and state workers from outside Xinjiang, mostly ethnic
two short-lived East Turkestan Republics in the 1930s and
Han, to live temporarily in Uyghur homes to assess their
1940s. The PRC asserted control over Xinjiang in 1949 and
compliance with government policies.
established the XUAR in 1955. Uyghurs once were the
predominant ethnic group in the XUAR; they now
Mass Internment
constitute roughly 45% of the region’s population of 24
By some estimates, since 2017, Xinjiang authorities have
million, or around 10.5 million, as many Han Chinese, the
arbitrarily detained 1.5 million Turkic Muslims, mostly
majority ethnic group in China, have migrated there,
Uyghurs and a smaller number of Kazakhs, in “reeducation
particularly to the provincial capital, Urumqi. Many
camps.” The facilities also have held many prominent
Uyghurs complain that Hans have benefitted
Uyghur intellectuals. PRC officials describe the facilities as
disproportionately from economic development in Xinjiang.
“vocational education and training centers” where
Human Rights Issues
“trainees” study Chinese, learn job skills, undergo “de-
extremization” and are to be “cured of ideological
Since an outbreak of demonstrations and ethnic unrest in
infection.” Some may have engaged in religious and ethnic
2009, and clashes involving Uyghurs and Xinjiang security
cultural practices that the government now perceives as
personnel that spiked between 2013 and 2015, PRC leaders
extremist, or as manifesting “strongly religious” views or
have sought to “stabilize” the XUAR through more
thoughts that could lead to the spread of religious
intensive security measures aimed at combatting “terrorism,
separatism and religious extremism.” PRC official data
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Uyghurs in China
extremism or terrorism. Detainees reportedly are compelled
Chinese companies involved in constructing or operating
to renounce many of their Islamic beliefs and customs.
internment camps or producing mass surveillance
equipment for Xinjiang; and U.S. efforts to protect Uyghur
Forced and Involuntary Labor
Americans and ethnic Uyghurs from China legally residing
In July 2019, Xinjiang officials claimed that most detainees
in the United States from harassment or intimidation by
had been released, although many Uyghurs living abroad
officials or agents of the PRC government.
say that they still have not heard from missing relatives in
Xinjiang. According to some reports, the government has
On July 9, 2020, the Trump Administration designated four
begun to move large numbers of Uyghurs, including many
current and former Communist Party officials in Xinjiang,
former detainees, into textile, apparel, and other labor-
including XUAR Party Secretary Chen Quanguo (a member
intensive industries in Xinjiang and other PRC provinces.
of the CCP Politburo), and the Xinjiang Public Security
Uyghurs who refuse to accept such employment may be
Bureau, to be sanctioned pursuant to Executive Order
threatened with detention. In addition, they continue to be
(E.O.) 13818. E.O. 13818 implements the Global
heavily monitored outside of work, and are required to
Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which was
attend political study classes at night. In March 2020, the
enacted as part of the National Defense Authorization Act
Congressional-Executive Commission on China released a
for FY2017 (P.L. 114-328) and authorizes the President to
report, “Global Supply Chains, Forced Labor, and the
impose both economic sanctions and visa denials or
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.” A study by the
revocations against foreign individuals or entities
Australian Strategic Policy Institute identified nearly 120
responsible for human rights abuses or corruption. The
Chinese and foreign companies, including global brands,
State Department also announced that it was publicly
that the institute alleges directly or indirectly benefit from
designating three of the officials for visa restrictions
Uyghur labor in potentially abusive circumstances.
pursuant to Section 7031(c) of the Department of State,
Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations
Selected U.S. Responses
Act, 2020 (Division G of P.L. 116-94) due to their
In October 2019, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
involvement in gross violations of human rights; these
announced that it had blocked certain shipments of goods
designations additionally extend visa restrictions to the
suspected of involving forced labor from five countries,
officials’ immediate family members.
including China, pursuant to the forced labor import ban in
Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930. The Chinese goods,
Pending Uyghur-related legislation includes the Uyghur
sportswear made for a U.S. company, were suspected of
Forced Labor Prevention Act (S. 3471 and H.R. 6210),
using forced labor from a Xinjiang reeducation camp.
which among other provisions would create a presumption
of denial of import into the United States of items
In October 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce
produced, wholly or in part, in Xinjiang or by certain
announced that it would add 28 PRC entities to the Bureau
Xinjiang-related entities pursuant to Section 307 of the
of Industry and Security (BIS) “entity list” under the Export
Tariff Act of 1930.
Administration Regulations (EAR), for their connections to
PRC human rights abuses against Uyghur and other Turkic
Alleged Terrorism
Muslims in Xinjiang. The action imposes licensing
The PRC government has attributed numerous past deadly
requirements prior to the sale or transfer of U.S. items to
incidents in the XUAR to the East Turkestan Islamic
these entities. In May 2020, the Commerce Department
Movement (ETIM), which it portrays as a Uyghur separatist
placed an additional nine PRC entities on the list.
and terrorist group with ties to global terrorist
organizations. The U.S. government designated ETIM as a
In October 2019, the State Department announced visa
terrorist organization under Executive Order 13224 in 2002
restrictions (under the Immigration and Nationality Act)
(to block terrorist financing) and placed ETIM on the
against an unspecified number of Chinese government and
Terrorist Exclusion List in 2004. ETIM is not on the
Communist Party officials who are believed to be
Department of State’s narrower “Foreign Terrorist
responsible for, or complicit in, the detention or abuse of
Organization” (FTO) list. Roughly 100 Uyghurs from
Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang. The department
China entered Islamic State territory during 2013-2014,
subsequently announced restrictions on additional
according to the New America Foundation.
unspecified Party officials in July 2020.
At its height, ETIM, whose members reportedly spent time
On June 17, 2020, President Trump signed the Uyghur
in Afghanistan and Pakistan from the late-1990s to the mid-
Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 into law (P.L. 116-145).
2000s, was a small, loosely organized and poorly financed
The act aims to impose visa and economic sanctions on
group that lacked weapons and had little if any contact with
PRC officials determined to be responsible for human rights
global jihadist groups, according to some experts. The U.S.
abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups
government “identified sufficient evidence” to consider
in Xinjiang. The act also mandates the Department of State,
three violent incidents in China purportedly involving
the Director of National Intelligence, and the Federal
Uyghurs as terrorist attacks in 2014. The lack of available
Bureau of Investigation, respectively, to submit reports to
information has made it difficult to verify most other PRC
relevant Congressional committees on the following:
accounts of alleged terrorist activity.
human rights abuses, including detention and forced labor;
the security and economic implications posed to the United
Thomas Lum, Specialist in Asian Affairs
States by PRC policies in Xinjiang, including a list of
Michael A. Weber, Analyst in Foreign Affairs
https://crsreports.congress.gov

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Uyghurs in China

IF10281


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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10281 · VERSION 38 · UPDATED

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