Updated January 28, 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 roughly 1.5 million Turkic
Uyghur rule. Uyghurs played a role in the establishment of
Muslims, mostly Uyghurs and a smaller number of ethnic
two short-lived, semi-autonomous East Turkestan
Kazakhs, in “reeducation” centers. Detainees, some of
Republics in the 1930s and 1940s. The PRC asserted
whom may have engaged in religious, cultural, or scholarly
control over Xinjiang in 1949 and established the XUAR in
activities that the government now deems as extremist, are
1955. Uyghurs once were the predominant ethnic group in
compelled to renounce many of their Islamic beliefs and
the XUAR; they now constitute roughly 45% of the
customs and political views as a condition for their release.
region’s population of 24 million, or around 10.5 million.
They reportedly are forced to undergo self-criticisms and
The government long has provided economic incentives for
express their love of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group in China, to migrate
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Uyghurs in China
According to some former detainees, treatment and
organization with major economic interests in the XUAR.
conditions in the centers include factory labor, crowded and
The State Department has additionally announced visa
unsanitary conditions, food deprivation, beatings, and
restrictions against Xinjiang officials and their immediate
sexual abuse.
family members pursuant to other authorities.
In the second half of 2019, PRC officials claimed that most
Import Restrictions. Since October 2019, U.S. Customs
detainees had been released, although many Uyghurs living
and Border Protection (CPB) has issued a series of
abroad say that they still have not heard from missing
announcements blocking the import of certain goods
relatives in Xinjiang. According to some reports, many
suspected of involving Xinjiang-related forced labor
detainees likely have been formally convicted of crimes and
pursuant to the forced labor import ban under Section 307
placed in higher security facilities. Some reeducation
of the Tariff Act of 1930. Most significantly, CPB in
centers appear to have been decommissioned, while dozens
January 2021 issued a region-wide order to block the
of new or repurposed facilities resembling prisons have
import of cotton and tomato products originating in
appeared. The government has relocated other former
Xinjiang. Prior orders targeted certain products from
detainees and their families to special residential
specified companies or other entities in Xinjiang.
compounds and restricted travel in and out.
Export Controls. Since October 2019, the U.S.
Forced Labor
Department of Commerce has added a total of 52 PRC
Many Uyghurs reportedly have been assigned to factory
companies and public security entities to the Bureau of
employment in Xinjiang and other PRC provinces under
Industry and Security (BIS) “entity list” under the Export
conditions that indicate forced labor. According to some
Administration Regulations (EAR) for their connection to
research reports, the central government has promoted the
PRC human rights abuses, with 48 of these specifically
movement of large numbers of Uyghurs, including former
related to Xinjiang. The actions impose licensing
detainees, into the formal workforce, particularly into
requirements prior to the sale or transfer of certain U.S.
textile, apparel, footwear, and other labor-intensive
items to these entities, with a presumption of license denial
industries. Uyghurs who refuse to accept such employment
for most items.
may be threatened with detention. In addition to labor,
factory employment often involves heavy surveillance and
Atrocities Determination. On January 19, 2021, the State
political indoctrination during and after work.
Department announced that it had determined that the PRC
had committed crimes against humanity and genocide in
Selected U.S. Responses
Xinjiang, and called on multilateral and juridical bodies to
Legislation. On June 17, 2020, President Trump signed the
pursue accountability. The determination may portend
Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (P.L. 116-145)
additional U.S. policy actions.
into law. The act aims to impose visa and economic

sanctions on PRC officials determined to be responsible for
East Turkestan Islamic Movement
human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim
The PRC government has attributed some past deadly
minority groups in Xinjiang. The act also mandates the
incidents in the XUAR to the “East Turkestan Islamic
Department of State, the Director of National Intelligence,
Movement” (ETIM), which it portrays as a Uyghur
and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, respectively, to
separatist and terrorist group with ties to global terrorist
submit reports to the relevant congressional committees on
organizations. The U.S. government designated ETIM as a
the following: (1) human rights abuses in Xinjiang,
terrorist organization under Executive Order 13224 in 2002
including detention and forced labor; (2) the security and
(to block terrorist financing) and in 2004 placed ETIM on
economic implications posed to the United States by PRC
the Terrorist Exclusion List, which bars members of
policies in Xinjiang, including a list of Chinese companies
terrorist groups from entering the United States. In
involved in constructing or operating internment camps or
November 2020, the Trump Administration removed ETIM
providing mass surveillance equipment; and (3) U.S. efforts
from the Terrorist Exclusion List, stating that “for more
to protect Uyghur-Americans and ethnic Uyghurs from
than a decade, there has been no credible evidence that
China residing in the United States from harassment or
ETIM continues to exist.”
intimidation by officials or agents of the PRC government.

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


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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10281 · VERSION 42 · UPDATED

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