Joint Congressional Human Rights Caucus (CHRC) &
Congressional Children's Caucus (CCC)

Crackdown on Human Rights in China: The “War on
Terrorism Excuse.”

Please join the Congressional Human Rights Caucus at a
briefing on the human rights situation of the Uighur
minority in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in
the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The briefing will
take place on Wednesday, October 16, 2002, at 11:00
a.m. in room 2200 Rayburn HOB.

The Uighur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang (XUAR) has a
long history of ethnic struggle for cultural
recognition and independence from Chinese rule. During
the 1930s and 1940s, two independent Republics of
Eastern Turkestan were formed to resist Chinese rule,
but were short-lived. Only in 1949 -- with the creation
of the PRC -- did the central Chinese government
establish full control over the region. Much like the
Tibetans, the turkic Uighurs in Xinjiang have struggled
for cultural survival in the face of a government-
supported migration of Hun Chinese. Xinjiang has a
population of 18 million and is home to several Muslim
ethnic groups, of which the eight million Uighurs are
the largest. The percentage of ethnic Han Chinese has
grown from 6 percent in 1949 to 40 percent at present,
now reaching some 7.5 million people. Several short-
lived groups sprang up in Xinjiang to protect its
cultural identity, sometime resorting to violence. Once
a hint of a political independence movement was
displayed by the XUAR, the PRC government pursuit a
policy of harsh repression, torture, arbitrary arrests
and executions. Amnesty International reports the use
of extremely brutal methods of torture in the XUAR,
which it could not identify anywhere else in the PRC.

After the attacks on September 11th, the PRC has used
the pretext of the War on Terrorism to further increase
their crackdown on the Uighurs. On December 29, 2001,
the Standing Committee of the National People's
Congress amended the Criminal Law of the People's
Republic of China, giving authorities even wider
powers. Indeed, extremists of an “Eastern Turkistan
Islamic Movement (ETIM),” which also has a chapter in
Xinjiang, have fought in Afghanistan, resulting in the
U.S. and U.N. designation as a terrorists group.
However, according to human rights groups, the PRC
reportedly detained several thousand people under the
new legal authority, and scores were charged or
sentenced under the Criminal Law. At the same time, the
government has further restricted the religious rights
of the Muslim population in the XUAR, closing mosques,
increasing official controls over the Islamic clergy in
the region, and detaining or arresting religious
leaders deemed to be ''unpatriotic'' or subversive.

In addition, the PRC continues to detain Ms. Rebiya
Kadeer, a prominent Uighur business woman, who was
sentenced in March 2000 to eight years in prison for
allegedly leaking “state secrets.” She was on her way
to meet with a delegation of staff from congressional
offices and the Congressional Research Service to
provide them with public information when she was
arrested.

To discuss these important issues, we will welcome to
the Caucus:

T. Kumar, Amnesty International

Four Uighur activists**


We look forward to seeing you at this important
briefing. For further information, please contact
Maryamu Aminu (Rep. Lantos) at x5-3531, or David
Dettoni (Rep. Wolf) at x5-5136.


TOM LANTOS       FRANK WOLF
Co-Chair,    CHRC Co-Chair, CCC