The Modern Genocide of the Uyghur People

Family policy matters in engaging and informative weekly radio show and podcast produced by the North Carolina family policy Council hi this is John Ralston, presidency, family, and were grateful to have you with us for this week's program is our prayer that you will be informed, encouraged and inspired by what you hear on family policy matters and that you will fold better equipped to be a voice of persuasion for family values in your community, state and nation, and now here's our house to family policy matters.

Tracy David Briggs, thanks for joining us this week for family policy matters. Genocide is a word that often conjures up images of past atrocities, including the Holocaust and Rwanda. But despite the illusion that genocide is a thing of the past. Tragically, it is not. There is 1 Currently Taking Pl. in Western China. According to the ethics and religious liberty commission since 2017, the Chinese Communist Party has waged a systemic campaign of oppression and persecution against Uighur Muslims will Chelsea Patterson so black is policy director for the ethics and religious Liberty commission's Washington DC office and she's been following this story closely. We are grateful to have her join us today. Chelsea tell us what we know about the horrific treatment of China's Uighur population you will think you for having me, and there is a lot you unpack here like you mentioned in your introduction Chinese communist party is waging what the US has determined to be a genocide with population though fuming back out and a 30,000 foot view the weaker Muslim population within a prominent and Western China called Shenyang which will get into it a bit, but they are and make it and religious minority in China and think about four years ago the Chinese party had dramatically been carrying out a campaign of internment forced labor force sterilization, etc. though dive into those a little bit that the Chinese Communist Party has placement needed between one and 3 million Uighurs into what they have called reeducation camp, but before you know, for they are concentration camps because they are being forcibly removed from their homes and place into the Cheops unit they use these camps to break Uighur family apart. In some cases where Uighur husband have been to the young China has been ethnically on man to live with the weaker wives and forcibly procreate with them and in some cases where both the mother and father are detained, Uighur children had been you government run quote boarding school that there essentially orphanages wear that the children live there been locked in a detailed report of rape and torture in the camp and then one you know the CPP has determined that Uighur had graduated from one of these camps, they will be sent to work in the forced labor factories. It's important to note that China is the world largest cotton producer in the vast majority of cotton confirmation John where these leaders are there there forced to labor with little or no pay and then China you as a woman.

This one's especially heartbreaking but forcibly paralyzing women or subjecting them to forced IUDs supports abortion. There is a an excellent report from then to the German reporter, a researcher and he he did a great report that he found that between 2015 and 2018. Should John placed more than eight times more IUDs per capita than the entire rest of the country so I get there is there's a lot going on and another thing to know very that even if Uighurs haven't been placed into the internment can weaker and really anyone in China is subjected to the surveillance state and you know their phones are monitored their movement or monitor their is a very there.

There is no such thing as a private life and Uighurs especially are being closely watched and targeted in engine. John so why is this population being targeted in this way do we know we do so Beijing will delete that impede the Uighurs is that protest and as a terrorist and of the initial reasoning. They gave so 2009, there were some classes.

Engine John, the Chinese government blamed Uighurs.

You Uighurs want their own state. The that region is semiautonomous. There's a lot of geopolitics going on, but it is important to note that six 2017 president. She's thinking issued an order thing that all religion in China should be Chinese in orientation, so send over the past decade, China has cited what happened over a decade ago and why they're there, specifically targeting weaker but the government approach to religion writ large weather Uighur Christian column would whatever religion someone is practicing in China, they are tightening and cracking down right now it is the weaker culture and the weaker population of something else. Note that very important about that particular region is China's geopolitical economic plan called the Bell and Road initiative. It's essentially their modern version of the silk Road and it flows right through. Should John big decade long economic initiative and it flows right solutions honestly need that region to be very tightly controlled so there's multiple reasons why there targeting the beaker population right now some economics trying to set aside or make Chinese in character or form any religious belief, and, you know, of course, they are persecuting Christians, Catholics, many other religious groups in China as well but they have ratcheted up the persecution towards the beaker was also a weekly radio show and podcast host. This is just one of the many ways of educating citizens across Mr. a lot about policy issues that impact a lot of families vision is to state a nation where God is on religious freedom sources family strong and wanted more information about his family and how you can help us to achieve this incredible vision for state and nation.

Visit our website and see families on board and see family.org and be sure to sign up to receive our email updates and action alerts course reflection publication family North Carolina magazine. We also look for you to follow us on Facebook and Instagram, so we may think that China is just way over there and it doesn't have a lot of effect on us. But what kinds of implications do you think what's happening over there can have on Christians and people of faith in our country and and and even across the world several things so referencing back to the belt and Road initiative, the Chinese government will give a lot of role and financial incentives to developing nations, but they have really sunk their economic into countries and that there are certain countries that are ready to criticize the Chinese government and China is exporting its view of human rights, or lack thereof. It surveillance technology is exporting its values to other nation and nations that have a strong economic ties to the Chinese government will be less quick to criticize will be less quick to stand up to the Chinese government so there you know there's a very real possibility that you know those those government again that that human rights approach again tongue-in-cheek will be exported to other countries and then you know many Uighurs you live in the United States through our lives and Western countries where they themselves are not in Kenya they're afraid to criticize and to speak up because they're afraid of what the Chinese government will you to their families or friend back in China we know whether if they criticize their families will be locked up flipping there's a lot of fear involved in a lot of economic your financial strongholds that the Chinese government has been here, systematic, and as well. There a lot of businesses I'm you mention governments, but of course there are a lot of businesses in the US who are hesitant to criticize China because of their ties to that country.

So it it does infiltrate even further response official response has the US had to the situation in China. The United States has issued several grounds of sanction. The US has human rights sanction called global net fee to apply to several top ranking Chinese official and Chinese government entities responsible for the rights abuses and religious freedom violation on anything since her to fold their financial and then there are visa restrictions or these official being able to travel United States so that the US is issued several rounds of of those and then to the Treasury Department both during Pres. Trump administration and then under the current administration has issued several orders on imports from the should John trying to counter them on the issue of forced labor and the products that we are bringing into our our country it is illegal to import products made with forced labor and so we are trying to counter China on on.aspect as well and then on the last day of of Trump administration and office secretary Mike Pompeo made the official determination of genocide and the US was the first country to describe what the. The Chinese government is doing as a genocide and keynote determination like that is not made lightly or quickly. The US has only made five or six. It's quite small.

Genocide determination since since the term was first adopted and then about two weeks ago will countries issued multilateral sanctions, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Canada have specifically viewed joint multilateral sanction and then several other countries are strongly condemning China's actions as well so I think there is there's a growing consensus among Western countries that it would have to be in together and we have to be very old and countering China. What can we as individual citizens, as Christians, fellow human beings do to respond to this atrocity and come to the aid of the weaker people you know the first thing I would say is to pray our prayers matter and it is one of the one of the first things that we should do when we hear about anything like this is Primus before the Lord and ask him to change the hearts of the Chinese government for these people to be free because they are fellow image errors and we ought to pray for the persecuted people abroad and in China and for the weaker people. We should pray that they hear the good news of the gospel and that they come to know Jesus as their personal savior. On the next thing we can do is advocate. We can all pick up the phone or student email to our local representative or senator is ask them to support certain pieces of legislation such as the weaker force labor prevention act or prioritizing Uighurs and our refugee program. They are fleeing a genocide host meetings and invite a leaguer to speak to a local group and share their personal experience and there certainly are Uighurs that are fearful, rightly so, but there are other Uighurs who are very bold and wanting to share their story of wanting to tell others about what's happening. So I think you know prayer, advocacy and awareness are some excellent steps in the right direction towards helping our fellow image bearers. So where can the listeners go to follow this story and all your good work at the ER.

Elsie yes so they can go to our website ER LE.com and there they can sign up for our newsletters, our podcast and read articles that we put out about this issue in a number of others. Chelsea Patterson so public policy director for the ethics and religious liberty commission's Washington DC office. Thank you so much for being with us today on family policy matters. You been listening to family policy matters. We hope you enjoyed the program.

Employment student again next week to listen to the show will log into one more about NC families want to inform, encourage and inspire families across poster a lot of website it NC family.award that's NC family.org books again for listening and may God bless you and your family