Updated January 4, 2021
Uyghurs in China
Uyghurs (also spelled “Uighurs”) are a Muslim ethnic
to the region; Hans now constitute about 40% of the XUAR
group living primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous
population and form the majority in Urumqi, the capital.
Region (XUAR) in the far northwest of the People’s
Republic of China (PRC). They have garnered the attention
Since an outbreak of Uyghur demonstrations and ethnic
of U.S. policymakers, particularly since 2018 following
unrest in 2009, and sporadic clashes involving Uyghurs and
reports of the mass internment of Uyghurs in “reeducation”
Xinjiang security personnel that spiked between 2013 and
centers. The detentions are part of a PRC government effort
2015, PRC leaders have sought to “stabilize” the XUAR
to systematically transform the thought and behavior of
through large scale criminal arrests and more intensive
Uyghurs and forcefully assimilate them into Chinese
security measures aimed at combatting “terrorism,
society, which some observers believe may result in the
separatism and religious extremism.” Three violent
destruction of Uyghur culture and identity. The U.S.
incidents in China in 2014 purportedly carried out by
government has responded by implementing targeted
Uyghurs against Han civilians were described by some
restrictions on trade with Xinjiang and imposing visa and
outside observers as acts of terrorism. Some experts argue
economic sanctions on some PRC officials.
that the PRC government has used counterterrorism as a
pretext for carrying out forced assimilation policies.
Uyghurs speak a Turkic language and practice a moderate
form of Sunni Islam. The XUAR, often referred to simply
Forced Assimilation
as Xinjiang (pronounced “SHIN-jyahng”), is a provincial-
Since 2017, in tandem with a new national policy referred
level administrative region which comprises about one-
to as “Sinicization,” XUAR authorities have instituted
sixth of China’s total land area and borders eight countries.
measures to assimilate Uyghurs into Han Chinese society
The region is rich in minerals, produces over 80% of
and reduce the influences of Uyghur, Islamic, and Arabic
China’s cotton, and has China’s largest coal and natural gas
cultures and languages. The XUAR government enacted a
reserves and a fifth of its oil reserves. The XUAR is a
law in 2017 that prohibits “expressions of extremification”
strategic region for the PRC’s Belt and Road Initiative,
and placed restrictions, often imposed arbitrarily, upon
which involves Chinese-backed infrastructure projects and
dress and grooming, traditional Uyghur customs, and
energy development in neighboring Central and South Asia.
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 government
campaigns to forcefully reduce birth rates among Uyghurs
and to promote marriages between Uyghurs and Hans.
Beginning in 2016, Chen Quanguo, the newly appointed
Communist Party Secretary of the XUAR, stepped up
security and surveillance measures aimed at the Uyghur
population. Such actions included the installation of
thousands of neighborhood police kiosks, more intrusive
monitoring of Internet use, and the collection of biometric
data for identification purposes. The central government

sent an estimated one million officials and state workers
Sources: CRS, using U.S. Department of State Boundaries; Esri;
from outside Xinjiang, mostly ethnic Han, to live
Global Administrative Areas; DeLorme; NGA.
temporarily in Uyghur homes to assess their compliance
with government policies.
All or parts of the area comprising Xinjiang have been
under the political control or influence of Chinese,
Mass Internment
Mongols, and Russians for long spans of the region’s
By some estimates, between 2017 and 2020, Xinjiang
documented history, along with periods of Turkic or
authorities arbitrarily detained an estimated 1.5 million
Uyghur rule. Uyghurs played a role in the establishment of
Turkic Muslims, mostly Uyghurs and a smaller number of
two short-lived, semi-autonomous East Turkestan
ethnic Kazakhs, in “reeducation” centers. Detainees, some
Republics in the 1930s and 1940s. The PRC asserted
of whom may have engaged in religious, cultural, or
control over Xinjiang in 1949 and established the XUAR in
scholarly activities that the government now deems as
1955. Uyghurs once were the predominant ethnic group in
extremist, are compelled to renounce many of their Islamic
the XUAR; they now constitute roughly 45% of the
beliefs and customs and political views as a condition for
region’s population of 24 million, or around 10.5 million.
their release. They reportedly are forced to undergo self-
The government long has provided economic incentives for
criticisms and express their love of the Chinese Communist
Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group in China, to migrate
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Uyghurs in China
Party (CCP). According to some former detainees,
paramilitary organization with major economic interests in
treatment and conditions in the centers include factory
the XUAR. The State Department has additionally
labor, crowded and unsanitary conditions, food deprivation,
announced visa restrictions against Xinjiang officials and
beatings, and sexual abuse.
their immediate family members pursuant to other
authorities.
In the second half of 2019, PRC officials claimed that most
detainees had been released, although many Uyghurs living
Import Restrictions. Beginning in October 2019, U.S.
abroad say that they still have not heard from missing
Customs and Border Protection has issued a series of
relatives in Xinjiang. According to some reports, many
announcements blocking the import of certain goods
detainees likely have been formally convicted of crimes and
suspected of involving Xinjiang-related forced labor. The
placed in higher security facilities. Some reeducation
actions, taken pursuant to the forced labor import ban under
centers appear to have been decommissioned, while dozens
Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930, have targeted cotton,
of new or repurposed facilities resembling prisons have
apparel, hair products, and computer parts produced by
appeared. The government has relocated other former
specific Chinese companies. Also targeted have been any
detainees and their families to special residential
products made with labor from a specified reeducation
compounds and restricted travel in and out.
center in Xinjiang, and, most notably, cotton and cotton
products originating from the XPCC. Multiple bills in the
Forced Labor
116th Congress would have sought to strengthen efforts to
Many Uyghurs reportedly have been assigned to factory
prevent Xinjiang forced labor imports.
employment in Xinjiang and other PRC provinces under
conditions that indicate forced labor. According to some
Export Controls. Since October 2019, the U.S.
research reports, the central government has promoted the
Department of Commerce has added a total of 52 PRC
movement of large numbers of Uyghurs, including former
companies and public security entities to the Bureau of
detainees, into the formal workforce, particularly into
Industry and Security (BIS) “entity list” under the Export
textile, apparel, footwear, and other labor-intensive
Administration Regulations (EAR) for their connection to
industries. Uyghurs who refuse to accept such employment
PRC human rights abuses, with 48 of these specifically
may be threatened with detention. In addition to labor,
related to Xinjiang. The actions impose licensing
factory employment often involves heavy surveillance and
requirements prior to the sale or transfer of certain U.S.
political indoctrination during and after work.
items to these entities, with a presumption of license denial
for most items.
Selected U.S. Responses
Legislation. On June 17, 2020, President Trump signed the
East Turkestan Islamic Movement
Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (P.L. 116-145)
The PRC government has attributed some past deadly
into law. The act aims to impose visa and economic
incidents in the XUAR to the “East Turkestan Islamic
sanctions on PRC officials determined to be responsible for
Movement” (ETIM), which it portrays as a Uyghur
human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim
separatist and terrorist group with ties to global terrorist
minority groups in Xinjiang. The act also mandates the
organizations. The U.S. government designated ETIM as a
Department of State, the Director of National Intelligence,
terrorist organization under Executive Order 13224 in 2002
and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, respectively, to
(to block terrorist financing) and in 2004 placed ETIM on
submit reports to the relevant congressional committees on
the Terrorist Exclusion List, which bars members of
the following: (1) human rights abuses in Xinjiang,
terrorist groups from entering the United States. In
including detention and forced labor; (2) the security and
November 2020, the Trump Administration removed ETIM
economic implications posed to the United States by PRC
from the Terrorist Exclusion List, stating that “for more
policies in Xinjiang, including a list of Chinese companies
than a decade, there has been no credible evidence that
involved in constructing or operating internment camps or
ETIM continues to exist.”
providing mass surveillance equipment; and (3) U.S. efforts

to protect Uyghur-Americans and ethnic Uyghurs from
At its height from the late-1990s through the early-2000s,
China residing in the United States from harassment or
ETIM was a small, loosely organized and poorly financed
intimidation by officials or agents of the PRC government.
group based in Afghanistan and Pakistan that lacked
weapons and had little contact with global jihadist
Targeted Sanctions. In July 2020, the Trump
organizations, according to some experts. The Turkestan
Administration designated six current and former CCP
Islamic Party (TIP), which some reports refer to as the
officials in Xinjiang, including XUAR Party Secretary
successor to ETIM, emerged around 2004. TIP purportedly
Chen Quanguo (a member of the CCP Politburo), for
had stronger links to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, but was
sanctions pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818. E.O.
primarily engaged in the production of videos promoting
13818 implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights
attacks against PRC targets, and lacked its own capacity to
Accountability Act (Title XII, Subtitle F of P.L. 114-328),
carry them out.
which authorizes the President to impose both economic
sanctions and visa denials or revocations against foreign
Thomas Lum, Specialist in Asian Affairs
individuals or entities responsible for human rights abuses
Michael A. Weber, Analyst in Foreign Affairs
or corruption. Also designated under E.O. 13818 were the
IF10281
Xinjiang Public Security Bureau and the Xinjiang
Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a state-run
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Uyghurs in China


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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10281 · VERSION 40 · UPDATED

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