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News Investigation Story: Uyghur Athlete Delivers Olympic Torch

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News Investigation Story: Uyghur Athlete Delivers Olympic Torch

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Uyghur skier, who became the face of China's Winter Olympics and carried the Olympic torch 'disappears' after finishing 43rd in her Nordic combined debut

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Uyghur skier, who became the face of China's Winter Olympics and carried the Olympic torch 'disappears' after finishing 43rd in her Nordic combined debut

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Dinigeer Yilamujiang finished 43rd in cross-country skiathon Olympic debut

The 20-year-old is one of six athletes from Altay Prefecture in Northern Xinjiang

After finishing, she vanished from spotlight and managed to escape journalists

She lit flame in 'China's propaganda attempt to deflect guilt of genocide claims'

Western leaders boycott ceremony over China's persecution of Uyghur Muslims

An Uyghur athlete who became the face of China's Winter Games after lighting the Olympic flame at the Opening Ceremony has 'disappeared' from the spotlight.

Dinigeer Yilamujiang, 20, from the Altay Prefecture in Northern Xinjiang, finished 43rd in her cross-country skiathon Olympic debut on Saturday and has since vanished from the limelight.

She quietly slipped away after the event alongside three other Chinese athletes through a 'mixed zone', which allows athletes to pass through without having to answer questions from the media.

Ms Yilamujiang, who is the only athlete of Uyghur heritage, became the main focus of the Olympics following her controversial appearance at the Opening Ceremony - which rights groups have since criticised for 'giving a political message'.

Following her prominent appearance on television, state media ran videos of Ms Yilamujiang's family cheering and clapping as they watched the ceremony onscreen - which many claimed was staged.

Chinese film director Zhang Yimou, the man behind the mind-blowing Beijing 2008 opening ceremony, which also took place in the Birds Nest stadium, masterminded the event - promising it would be 'a bold and unprecedented way to light the Olympic flame.'

Beijing Olympics organisers declined to comment on Ms Yilamujiang's disappearance at a press conference on Saturday - but the IOC confirmed mixed-zone rules remain in place despite the pandemic, according to the WSJ.

In an article published by the Communist Party-run Xinjiang Daily, Ms Yilamujiang said: 'China has done everything possible for me, and what is left for me to do now is to train hard and bring glory to the country.'

During another video posted by the newspaper, Ms Yilamujiang's mother added: 'Thanks to the country for giving my daughter such an important mission.'

In response to claims that Ms Yilamujiang's inclusion was a political stance, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said she had 'every right' to participate.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said: 'Obviously the opening ceremony is something that the organising committee put together and there's creative input. We are involved to a certain extent.'

'This is an athlete who is competing here, she is competing this morning. She has every right, wherever she comes from, whatever her background, to compete... and to take part in any ceremony.'

Ma Haiyun, an expert on Xinjiang and an associate professor at Frostburg State University in Maryland, said Ms Yilamujian's appearance was 'political'.

He said: 'By selecting a Uyghur athlete to light the torch, China is trying to address criticism by the West about genocide or persecution of the Uyghurs, and about sinicisation of ethnic minorities.

'But I don't think this can have much effect on the West, which tends to think most of what China puts up is a show anyway'.

The Communist Chinese regime chose an Uyghur athlete to light the Olympic torch alongside Zhao Jiawen, 21, who is a Chinese athlete also in the Nordic combine.

There were just a handful of foreign dignitaries at the ceremony as most Western leaders boycotted over China's human rights record and persecutions of Uyghur Muslims in eastern Xinjiang province.

Activists and U.N. rights experts say at least one million Muslims are being detained in camps in the remote western region of Xinjiang, with activists and some Western politicians accusing China of using torture, forced labour and sterilisations.

China denies any human rights abuses in Xinjiang and says its camps provide vocational training and are needed to fight extremism.

Another moment of tension came as Taiwan's athletes entered the stadium as 'Chinese Taipei'. Taiwan views itself as a self-governing nation, but Beijing views it as a breakaway province and has threatened to 'reunify' it by force. The team was set to boycott the games over their team name, but were told by organisers they had to attend.

The world leaders were joined in the stands by just a handful of 'select' guests as the event takes place inside a Covid-secure bubble to comply with China's strict zero Covid policy.

Meanwhile Xi Jinping received a standing ovation as he arrived to watch some 3,000 performers take part in the opening ceremony, which also featured goose-stepping People's Liberation Army soldiers hoisting the country's flag as the national anthem played.

Tickets for the opening ceremony as well as other Games events were not sold publicly with only those specially invited able to attend due to fears of the spread of Covid, leading to concerns that an absence of euphoric crowds may impact the atmosphere inside stadiums. No international fans are allowed at the Games.

But also missing are government officials from Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, United States and India who are initiating a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics over China's human rights record, particularly over its treatment of the Uyghurs.

They are a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority group in the Xinjiang autonomous region of China, which the UN has claimed have been subject of severe human rights violations at the hands of the state.

China has denied the allegations and warned nations taking part in the boycott that they will 'pay a price' for their 'mistake.' But athletes from those countries will be participating in the Games.

High stakes international politics also featured behind the scenes of today's opening ceremony which was attended by guest of honour, Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

He met his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping ahead of the event taking place to discuss the international crisis unfolding in Ukraine, which according to reports from both countries, has 'brought them together.'

Putin is also using his visit to the Winter Games to meet the leaders of 20 other nations in what is being viewed as a diplomatic push to win them over as tensions in Ukraine continue to simmer.

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Uyghur skier 'disappears' after finishing 43rd in Nordic debut

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Dinigeer Yilamujiang finished 43rd in cross-country skiathon Olympic debut The 20-year-old is one of six athletes from Altay Prefecture in Northern Xinjiang After finishing, she vanished from spotlight and managed to escape journalists She lit flame in 'China's propaganda attempt to deflect guilt of genocide claims' Western leaders boycott ceremony over China's persecution of Uyghur Muslims An Uyghur athlete who became the face of China's Winter Games after lighting the Olympic flame at the Opening Ceremony has 'disappeared' from the spotlight.

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Uyghur organizations applaud the U.S. diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics

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Uyghur organizations applaud the U.S. diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics

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Uyghur rights organizations are applauding the U.S. government's decision not to send any diplomatic or official representatives to Beijing for next year's Winter Olympics.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the diplomatic boycott was prompted by the Chinese government's "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses," referring to the region in southwest China with a large population of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, such as Kazakhs.

The Uyghur Human Rights Project, a U.S. advocacy organization promoting the rights of the Uyghurs and other Muslim groups in Xinjiang, hailed the U.S. diplomatic boycott.

The organization emphasized that all governments should refuse to participate in the "spectacle of 21st-century genocide games."

"The Chinese government is using the 2022 Winter Games as a showcase for its world leadership. A diplomatic boycott sends a strong signal: governments refuse to give a green light to the Uyghur genocide," Omer Kanat, executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, said in a statement.

Campaign for Uyghurs, an organization advocating for the human rights and freedoms of Uyghurs, said "the Uyghur genocide has cast a shadow over these games and made it morally untenable for them to occur in standard operation."

"We reject that there can be a symbol of peace when the camps and surveillance apparatuses there stand as monuments to atrocity. We reject the Olympic games in the midst of a genocide," the organization's executive director Rushan Abbas said in a statement.

Abbas said this move sends a solid warning to Chinese officials that the diplomatic boycott shows the U.S. rejects the Chinese government's conduct, and said she hopes other governments also join the boycott.

Likewise, the World Uyghur Congress, an international organization calling for Uyghur rights, said "while we welcome the announcement by the US as an important first step in ensuring that the international community stops legitimising the Chinese government's genocide and crimes against humanity, we continue to urge governments around the world to take further bilateral and multilateral action."

The announcement made Monday by the White House comes nearly two months before the games are set to begin.

Even though the Biden administration will not send any government representatives to the Games, U.S. athletes are still expected to compete.

"The athletes on Team USA have our full support," Psaki told reporters during Monday's press briefing. "We will be behind them 100% as we cheer them on from home. We will not be contributing to the fanfare of the Games."

Rights groups have sounded the alarm for years about the Chinese government's treatment of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, which they say dramatically worsened starting in 2017. According to Amnesty International, hundreds of thousands of people there are subject to mass imprisonment and torture.

"U.S. diplomatic or official representation would treat these Games as business as usual," Psaki said, in the face of China's "egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang. And we simply can't do that."

China's government has criticized the boycott, saying the U.S. should "refrain from politicizing sports."

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Uyghur organizations applaud the U.S. diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics

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Uyghur rights organizations are applauding the U.S. government's decision not to send any diplomatic or official representatives to Beijing for next year's Winter Olympics. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the diplomatic boycott was prompted by the Chinese government's "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses," referring to the region in southwest China with a large population of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, such as Kazakhs.

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Activists rally in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, calling for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics due to concerns over China's human rights record.

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Activists rally in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, calling for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics due to concerns over China's human rights record.

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China kicked off the 2022 Winter Olympics on Friday with a pared-back but visually stunning opening ceremony and a defiant message to the world leaders boycotting it.

After a brisk, snowflake-themed show that emphasized youth and "ordinary people," the Games were declared officially open by Chinese President Xi Jinping, prompting a burst of fireworks over the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium in central Beijing.

The final step was to deliver the ceremonial flame, a moment that often carries symbolic weight based in part on who is selected for the task.

Chinese officials chose two athletes, one of whom was Dinigeer Yilamujiang, a Uyghur cross-country skiier from the western Chinese region of Xinjiang.

The Chinese government's treatment of the Uyghurs has been described by the U.S. government and others as genocide, contributing to a diplomatic boycott of the Games by the U.S. and other countries.

Beijing has repeatedly denied any mistreatment of the largely Muslim minority and insists its actions in Xinjiang have been taken to combat terrorism.

The pair placed the flame inside a giant snowflake, a closely watched moment with symbolic weight in more ways than one.

"This was a riposte to President Joe Biden for skipping these Olympics and a message to the West: China won't be lectured to on human rights, or on any other issue," said Andy Browne, editorial director of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum and a China expert who appeared on NBC's broadcast of the ceremony.

China is aiming to impress billions around the world with these Games, and perhaps momentarily transcend the fraught geopolitical atmosphere and strict Covid-19 restrictions that have characterized the runup to the competition.

With temperatures appropriately below freezing in the Chinese capital, the ceremony began with an opening sequence focused on youth and spring. The Olympics start on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, China's biggest holiday, which is also known as Spring Festival.

Though Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and IOC President Thomas Bach were among those watching from the stands, the crowd was limited due to Covid restrictions.

Instead the focus was on a spectacular technology-driven visual show that featured fireworks and a light show before culminating with a block of ice that was "broken" by ice hockey players, giving way to five snow-white Olympic rings.

The Parade of Nations then took place, with athletes wearing masks alongside their winter coats.

The order of appearance was determined by stroke number in the first character of each country's name in Chinese, with Turkey going second after Greece, which always enters first as the nation where the Olympics began.

Because China is the host country, its 176 athletes went last, entering the stadium to loud cheers and waves from Xi.

The artistic show had a seasonal theme throughout, with snowflakes representing each country coming together to form one giant, 3-D snowflake projected on the floor of the stadium - a high-definition LED screen that is among the largest in the world at almost 125,000 square feet.

Four-time Olympic bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor and five-time Olympic curler John Shuster were chosen to be the flag bearers for Team USA at the opening ceremony. However, three-time Olympic speed skater Brittany Bowe walked on behalf of Meyers Taylor after she recently tested positive for the coronavirus.

The Winter Olympics are far smaller than the summer edition, with about 90 countries attending the Beijing Games, compared with more than 200 that sent athletes to Tokyo last year. Many countries in Beijing are represented by a single athlete, including Albania, East Timor, Ghana, India, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.

Far larger delegations are representing Winter Olympics powerhouses like the U.S., Germany, Canada and Norway - the country with by far the most medals in the history of the event. Athletes from Russia, another country that dominates winter sports, are once again competing under the banner of their national Olympic committee after a doping scandal.

'The ceremony overall was a scaled-down affair compared with past years, amid drives by both the IOC and the Chinese government to promote sustainability and rein in excess.

Though it began and ended with fireworks, there were only about 10 percent as many as the last time Beijing hosted the Olympics in 2008, according to Reuters. Renowned Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who directed that ceremony as well as this one, told Chinese state media that the performers in this year's show would be "ordinary people."

"The world is turning its eyes to China, and China is ready," Xi said Thursday ahead of the launch. "We will do our best to deliver to the world a streamlined, safe and splendid Games."

In stark contrast to the epic 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, which ran for about four hours, this year's pageantry was simplified and shortened to less than 100 minutes because of the pandemic and the cold weather, according to Xinhua, China's state-run news agency.

Only 3,000 performers, of which teenagers made up the vast majority, took part, compared with 15,000 in 2008, Xinhua said.

The sea of spectators in 2008 was also missing after China barred international fans, and Olympic organizers said they would not be selling tickets to the general public in China.

Along with Biden, the leaders of Australia, Britain and Canada were absent from the opening ceremony. On Thursday, India said the top diplomat at its embassy in Beijing would also not attend after the torch relay featured a Chinese soldier who was injured in a deadly 2020 clash between troops on the Indian-Chinese border.

Putin, the Russian leader, was in Beijing, however, in a show of unity with China amid Moscow's standoff with the West over Ukraine.

The two leaders met before the opening ceremony on Friday, issuing a joint statement in which they declared their opposition to any expansion of NATO as well as independence in any form for Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing claims as its territory.

The Games come at a time when Russia and China have become increasingly confrontational toward the West, and all eyes will be on Russia to see if it chooses to take advantage of the start of the Olympics, and the world's distraction, to invade Ukraine, as it did in 2008 when it invaded the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

In the weeks leading up to the Games, there were scattered protests around the world against the decision to have Beijing host.

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Uyghur athlete delivers Olympic flame in opening ceremony after global criticism of China

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China kicked off the 2022 Winter Olympics on Friday with a pared-back but visually stunning opening ceremony and a defiant message to the world leaders boycotting it. After a brisk, snowflake-themed show that emphasized youth and "ordinary people," the Games were declared officially open by Chinese President Xi Jinping, prompting a burst of fireworks over the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium in central Beijing.

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Olympic Officials Dismissed Beijing Games Human Rights Concerns

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Olympic Officials Dismissed Beijing Games Human Rights Concerns

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Calling it the "genocide Olympics," dozens of human rights groups have urged the IOC to move the games to a different country, with some comparing the upcoming competition to the one held in Nazi Germany in 1936. The US and Canada have publicly called China's treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang a genocide.

In response to a detailed list of questions for this article, the IOC said it factored in NGOs' views on issues including human rights for the Beijing Games. The committee said it raised these issues with the government and local authorities, who assured it that they would respect the Olympic Charter.

"Given the diverse participation in the Olympic Games, the IOC must remain neutral on all global political issues," the IOC said in an email. "Awarding the Olympic Games to a National Olympic Committee does not mean that the IOC agrees with the political structure, social circumstances or human rights standards in its country."

The IOC upholds human rights principles outlined in the Olympic Charter, it said, and "takes this responsibility very seriously."

"At the same time," it said, "the IOC has neither the mandate nor the capability to change the laws or the political system of a sovereign country. This must rightfully remain the legitimate role of governments and respective intergovernmental organisations."

The IOC has repeatedly emphasized its neutrality in response to questions about the ethics of holding the games in China. But in the private video call on Oct. 6, 2020, IOC officials went further.

The call, which lasted more than an hour and was attended by a group of six activists and five IOC officials, started out hopeful but ended up strained, according to some of the activists on the call.

The officials argued that the Olympics could be a catalyst for better infrastructure. They pointed to the 2008 Summer Olympics, arguing that when Beijing hosted that year, it spurred improvements in infrastructure and air quality.

"They still have issues of air quality, but for the first time, they were mentioning that the blue sky is called 'Olympic Blue' because ... it was the first time they could see blue air in Beijing," one official said, according to the notes.

Teng Biao, one of China's best-known human rights lawyers, was on the call. He told BuzzFeed News he was not impressed.

"It's too difficult to defend the Chinese government in terms of human rights or rule of law," Teng told BuzzFeed News. "So they can only find something like environmental policies."

"Holding the Olympics in Beijing again can be seen as an endorsement of the CCP's atrocities including the Uyghur genocide," he said.

Teng lived in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics and said that, like other human rights lawyers, he was banned from travel, detained and tortured while in police custody ahead of the games. He said he told the officials that his experience shows that holding the Olympics in Beijing again can bring harm. Police could not be reached for comment. But IOC officials seemed indifferent, Teng said.

Samaranch, the IOC's coordination commission chair, said during the call that the games are "an extraordinary force for good," bringing together people of different races and religions "and even political systems, ladies and gentlemen, even political systems," according to the notes seen by BuzzFeed News.

"The world lives under many political systems," he added. "We cannot go and say and endorse one or the other."

Zumretay Arkin, program and advocacy manager at the World Uyghur Congress, told the IOC officials on the call that she has missing relatives in Xinjiang. She said the officials told her they were sorry to hear it, but the world is a complicated place - a recollection echoed by the notes as well as other activists present at the meeting.

Arkin told BuzzFeed News she strongly disagreed with the IOC officials. "Everything got worse since 2008," she said. "We have a full-on genocide, we have people in concentration camps, and you're telling us the situation didn't get worse?"

"We are suffering from these policies," she added. "You would never think about hosting the games in North Korea or some other places. Why is China different?"

Dorjee Tseten, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, said he told the officials that he and others have risked retaliation for themselves and their families to publicly protest the IOC's decision. He also noted that many Buddhist monks and other ethnic Tibetans have been detained or killed during the government's decadeslong campaign. Violent demonstrations broke out in Tibet ahead of the 2008 Games, and at the time the president of the IOC said the protests were a "crisis" for the organization. But the officials on the video call didn't seem to care, Tseten said.

"I was shocked," he said. "How can I explain the cold faces? They were not even acknowledging the suffering."

Arkin, Teng, and Tseten said discussions with the IOC have continued since October, including in a second call this month, but Arkin said nothing substantial has changed. Politicians in the US and Europe, including former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, have in recent months called for governments to boycott the games. Critics say that might unfairly penalize athletes. But activists say they see a diplomatic boycott as their only option, since it's unlikely the IOC will move the games.

Human rights groups are also seeking to pressure companies such as Airbnb to sever sponsorship ties with the 2022 Games.

Tseten and others who were involved in protests leading up to the 2008 Games say China's crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong and the abuses in Xinjiang mean they're even less defensible this time around.

"We told them, at the end, this will be a genocide games," Tseten said. "And in history, the IOC will go down as part of that."

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Activists Call Beijing 2022 The "Genocide Olympics." IOC Officials Dismissed Their Concerns.

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Calling it the "genocide Olympics," dozens of human rights groups have urged the IOC to move the games to a different country, with some comparing the upcoming competition to the one held in Nazi Germany in 1936. The US and Canada have publicly called China's treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang a genocide.

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China using Olympics as a propaganda tool

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China using Olympics as a propaganda tool

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A Uyghur refugee and human rights advocate said she's worried the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will benefit the communist regime's credibility.

"I know that the Chinese government wants zero discussion on human rights during this Olympics," Jewher Ilham told Fox News.

The Games kicked off in Beijing on Friday morning, marking the first time China has hosted the Winter Olympics. The Biden administration announced a diplomatic boycott against the Games in December over human rights abuses against the Uyghur population in the Xinjiang region.

"I'm afraid China's government will use the Olympics as a propaganda tool," Ilham said. "It's very concerning."
WINTER OLYMPICS 2022 OFFICIALLY OPEN, MEDAL EVENTS AROUND THE CORNER: LIVE UPDATES
"I'm afraid this Olympics, it will be another tool for the Chinese government to use to justify their actions and ... to claim that people are indeed living in a happy place and they're financially stable and there are no human rights abuses happening," she continued.

While discussing the boycott, White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the Chinese government's "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses."

"U.S. diplomatic or official representation would treat these Games as business as usual in the face of [China's] egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang," Psaki said. "And we simply can't do that."

WATCH HERE:

Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom joined the U.S. in its diplomatic boycott to protest the human rights violations. Athletes from those countries will still participate.

"Hopefully these diplomatic boycotts will give dozens more athletes the courage to speak out about these abuses and also to call on corporate sponsors to end their complicity in Uyghur forced labor," Ilham told Fox News.

Still, she's concerned China will benefit.

" With the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese government had attracted lots of business opportunities and also showed the world that China is indeed a nice place to live," Ilham told Fox News.

The advocate's father, Ilham Tohti, was a Uyghur scholar dedicated to bridging the gap between the Uyghur people and the Han Chinese. Authorities apprehended Tohti in 2013 at a Beijing airport as the father and daughter attempted to travel to Indiana University so Tohti could pursue a fellowship.

That was the last time Ilham saw her father.

"Because I was a teenager, I appeared as no threat to the Chinese government," she told Fox News. "They allowed me to leave, and that was my last goodbye to my father."

Ilham flew to the U.S. and has not been able to return to her home in China since.

Tohti was sentenced to life in prison the next year on charges of "separatism" for his writings promoting peace between Uyghurs and Han Chinese.

"The Chinese government claims that my father is a separatist, someone who advocates for violence and someone that promotes extremism, but these are all completely nonsense accusations," Ilham said.

No one from her family has seen her father since 2017.

"We don't know if he has been transferred to another prison, a camp, or if he's even alive," Ilham said.

Her cousin was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being was caught with a photo of Tohti.

"The Uyghurs have been oppressed since decades ago," Ilham said. "It's nothing new to us."

"I grew up in a system that does not grant the freedom of speech, freedom to press," she continued, noting "all the censorship and surveillance."

"We grew up to it, we are used to it," Ilham told Fox News. "But the level of surveillance and repression is just rising year by year and day by day."

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Daughter of imprisoned Uyghur scholar concerned China using Olympics as a propaganda tool

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A Uyghur refugee and human rights advocate said she's worried the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will benefit the communist regime's credibility. "I know that the Chinese government wants zero discussion on human rights during this Olympics," Jewher Ilham told Fox News.

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Smith, S and Jett, J (2022, February 4). Uyghur athlete delivers Olympic flame in opening ceremony after global criticism of China Retrieved from: NBC News.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/winter-olympics-opening-ceremony-beijing-china-rcna14511

Lin, L and Yu, E (2022, February 6) A Uyghur Skier Became the Face of China’s Winter Olympics. The Next Day, She Vanished From the Spotlight. Retrieved from: The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-uyghur-skier-became-the-face-of-chinas-winter-olympics-the-next-day-she-vanished-from-the-spotlight-11644157693

BBC News (2021, June 21) Who are the Uyghurs and why is China being accused of genocide? Retrieved from: BBC News https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-22278037

Sahakian, T (2022, February 4) Daughter of imprisoned Uyghur scholar concerned China using Olympics as a propaganda tool Retrieved from: Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/world/daughter-of-imprisoned-uyghur-scholar-concerned-china-using-olympics-as-a-propaganda-tool

Rajagopalan, M (2021, March 21) Olympic Officials Dismissed Beijing Games Human Rights Concerns In A Video Call, Documents Show Retrieved from: Buzzfeed News https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meghara/beijing-2022-olympics-ioc-activists-genocide-call

Frederic J. Brown (2021, December) Image. Retrieved from: NPR/ Getty Images https://www.npr.org/2021/12/06/1061956487/uyghur-organizations-diplomatic-boycott-beijing-olympics

Franklin, J (2021, December 6) Uyghur organizations applaud the U.S. diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics Retrieved from: NPR https://www.npr.org/2021/12/06/1061956487/uyghur-organizations-diplomatic-boycott-beijing-olympics

Terry, K (2022, February 6) Uyghur skier, 20, who became the face of China's Winter Olympics and carried the Olympic torch 'disappears' after finishing 43rd in her Nordic combined debut Retrieved from: Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10482873/Uyghur-skier-20-disappears-finishing-43rd-Nordic-combined-debut.html

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Who are the Uyghurs and why is China being accused of genocide?

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Who are the Uyghurs and why is China being accused of genocide?

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China has been accused of committing crimes against humanity and possibly genocide against the Uyghur population and other mostly-Muslim ethnic groups in the north-western region of Xinjiang.

Human rights groups believe China has detained more than one million Uyghurs against their will over the past few years in a large network of what the state calls "re-education camps", and sentenced hundreds of thousands to prison terms.

A series of police files obtained by the BBC in 2022 has revealed details of China's use of these camps and described the routine use of armed officers and the existence of a shoot-to-kill policy for those trying to escape.

The US is among several countries to have previously accused China of committing genocide in Xinjiang. The leading human rights groups Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have published reports accusing China of crimes against humanity.

China denies all allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. The Chinese government - speaking after details of the Xinjiang Police Files were published - said the peace and prosperity brought to Xinjiang as a result of its anti-terrorism measures were the best response to "all sorts of lies".

Who are the Uyghurs?

There are about 12 million Uyghurs, mostly Muslim, living in Xinjiang, which is officially known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

The Uyghurs speak their own language, which is similar to Turkish, and see themselves as culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian nations. They make up less than half of the Xinjiang population.

Recent decades have seen a mass migration of Han Chinese (China's ethnic majority) into Xinjiang, allegedly orchestrated by the state to dilute the minority population there.

Uyghur activists say they fear that the group's culture is under threat of erasure.

Where is Xinjiang?

Xinjiang lies in the north-west of China and is the country's largest region. Like Tibet, it is autonomous, meaning - in theory - it has some powers of self-governance. But in practice, both regions are subjected to major restrictions by the central government.

Xinjiang is a mostly desert region and produces about a fifth of the world's cotton. Human rights groups have voiced concerns that much of that cotton export is picked by forced labour, and in 2021 some Western brands removed Xinjiang cotton from their supply chains, leading to a backlash against the brands from Chinese celebrities and netizens.

In December 2020, research seen by the BBC showed that up to half a million people were being forced to pick cotton in Xinjiang. There is evidence that new factories have been built within the grounds of the re-education camps.

The region is also rich in oil and natural gas and because of its proximity to Central Asia and Europe is seen by Beijing as an important trade link.

In the early 20th Century, the Uyghurs briefly declared independence for the region but it was brought under the complete control of China's new Communist government in 1949.

The UK parliament declared in April 2021 that China was committing a genocide in Xinjiang.

A UN human rights committee in 2018 said it had credible reports that China was holding up to a million people in "counter-extremism centres" in Xinjiang.

The UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the files contained "shocking details of China's human rights violations".

Earlier, leaked documents known as the China Cables made clear that the camps were intended to be run as high security prisons, with strict discipline and punishments.

People who have managed to escape the camps have reported physical, mental and sexual torture. Women have spoken of mass rape and sexual abuse.

Anti-Han and separatist sentiment rose in Xinjiang from the 1990s, sometimes flaring into violence. In 2009 about 200 people died in clashes in Xinjiang, which the Chinese blamed on Uyghurs who wanted their own state. But in recent years a massive security crackdown has crushed dissent.

Xinjiang is now covered by a pervasive network of surveillance, including police, checkpoints, and cameras that scan everything from number plates to individual faces. According to Human Rights Watch, police are also using a mobile app to monitor people's behaviour, such as how much electricity they are using and how often they use their front door.

Since 2017, when President Xi Jinping issued an order saying all religions in China should be Chinese in orientation, there have been further crackdowns. Campaigners say China is trying to eradicate Uyghur culture.

The Xinjiang Police Files, which all date from before 2019, shed further light on Uyghurs being punished for alleged crimes that took place years ago. Many appear to have been targeted for their mobile phone use, for listening to "illegal lectures" or not using their phones enough, which is regarded as a sign the user is trying to evade digital surveillance.

What does China say?

China denies all allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. In response to the Xinjiang Police Files, China's foreign ministry spokesman told the BBC that the documents were "the latest example of anti-China voices trying to smear China". He said Xinjiang enjoyed stability and prosperity and residents were living happy, fulfilled lives.

China says the crackdown in Xinjiang is necessary to prevent terrorism and root out Islamist extremism and the camps are an effective tool for re-educating inmates in its fight against terrorism.

It insists that Uyghur militants are waging a violent campaign for an independent state by plotting bombings, sabotage and civic unrest, but it is accused of exaggerating the threat in order to justify repression of the Uyghurs.

China has dismissed claims it is trying to reduce the Uyghur population through mass sterilisations as "baseless", and says allegations of forced labour are "completely fabricated".

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Who are the Uyghurs and why is China being accused of genocide?

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China has been accused by the US of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Muslim minority group.

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A Uyghur Skier Vanishes From The Spotlight.

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A Uyghur Skier Vanishes From The Spotlight.

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ZHANGJIAKOU, China-She was the face of Friday's Olympic opening ceremony: a young Uyghur athlete from Xinjiang, the center of human-rights allegations dividing China and the West, carrying the Olympic flame for the host nation.

By Saturday, the 20-year-old cross-country skier, Dinigeer Yilamujiang, had given the slip to an eager global press, her lackluster finish in her Olympic debut barely mentioned in the Chinese media.

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A Uyghur Skier Became the Face of China's Winter Olympics. The Next Day, She Vanished From the Spotlight.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
ZHANGJIAKOU, China-She was the face of Friday's Olympic opening ceremony: a young Uyghur athlete from Xinjiang, the center of human-rights allegations dividing China and the West, carrying the Olympic flame for the host nation. By Saturday, the 20-year-old cross-country skier, Dinigeer Yilamujiang, had given the slip to an eager global press, her lackluster finish in her Olympic debut barely mentioned in the Chinese media.