Foundation for Uyghur Freedom

The Uyghur Situation in Xinjiang, China

Uyghurs have faced mass incarceration and internment, intimidation, the destruction of cultural sites and symbols, displacement, family separation, and forced assimilation. The Xinjiang province is dominated by concentration camps. It is estimated that up to 1.8 million Uyghurs have been detained in internment camps in Xinjiang.

We are a non-profit charity organisation raising awareness of the Uyghur genocide amongst the British public and lobbying the UK government to take greater action on this issue.

The aim of the camps as outlined in a 2017 report from the Xinjiang Ministry of Justice is to “wash brains, cleanse hearts, support the right, remove the wrong.” These camps involve brutal measures such as forced sterilisation, organ donation, systemic rape, torture, and indoctrination by CCP-instructed guards, all while both the province and the camps are ruled by extensive surveillance.

In recent years, the CCP has invested billions in building new infrastructure and industry in Xinjiang, attracting more Han migrants to the region. The CCP’s actions against the Uyghurs are much like the genocides carried out by other settler colonial powers throughout history. Beijing hopes to forcibly remove Uyghurs from Xinjiang, to crush the ethnic solidarity of the Uyghur people, and to turn their homeland into a Chinese commercial hub.

- UF Co-Director, Aimee Courtney