The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) hosted a panel discussion on the destruction and desecration of Uyghur mosques and shrines on Tuesday, October 29th. The event was moderated by Brian Johnson, Vice President of Programs at NED; with panelists Bahram Sintash, Research Partner at Uyghur Human Rights Projects; Alim Seytoff, Director of Uyghur Service at Radio Free Asia; Elise Anderson, 2019 Liu Xiaobo Fellow with the Congressional-Executive Commission on China; and Omer Kanat, Director of Uyghur Humans Rights Projects.
The panel opened with remarks from President of NED, Carl Gershman, who discussed how the destruction of faith is a crime against humanity and a form of cultural genocide. Gershman really focused on the importance of understanding that the systematic step-by-step actions China has taken should be condemned harshly by the international community, as China is perpetrating a cultural genocide of the Uyghur minority.
Bahram Sintash, the author of the report being discussed, presented his findings of the systematic destruction and desecration of Uyghur mosques, as well as other religious sites in the Uyghur region of China. Sintash was able to document the quick systematic destruction of close to 150 mosques including 12 of the most iconic mosques of the region, many of which survived the Cultural Revolution and were hundreds of years old. In many large cities in the region, the government is also destroying Uyghur neighborhoods and rebuilding new more traditional Chinese architecture in its place.
The other panelists then offered their commentary about the importance of Sintash’s study and research. The common thread among the panelists was that collecting interviews from Uyghurs who had seen the destruction of the mosques was incredibly important in helping to show that China is perpetrating cultural genocide. The panelists were also adamant that the photographic proof via satellite imagery from Google would be critical for garnering more immediate international attention. Another common theme among the panelists was that the report showed the exact systematic way China was erasing the Uyghur minority from the country, namely through camps and by getting rid of Uyghur architecture and language.
The panel then accepted questions from the audience. A few of the question topics included: the ability to get reliable information out of the Uyghur region, how the Uyghurs are preserving their culture, why the broader Muslim world is not responding more harshly, and what is being done with the relics from the destroyed mosques. The panelists responded that it is becoming progressively harder to receive information out of the region due to safety concerns for the Uyghurs, so they are turning to Kazakhs and others who have been released from camps. In regards to how they are preserving their culture, the panelists said it will begin to fall more on the Uyghur diaspora to keep the language alive and that those in the region are resilient, so they will find a way. With respect to why there is not a stronger response from the broader Muslim world, the panelists discussed how many Muslim-majority countries want to avoid the human rights question, how Chinese ambassadors are extremely active lobbyists in those countries, and that most Muslim-majority countries have close relations with China so they do not want to upset those ties. Lastly and unfortunately, they were unable to offer any insight as to what the Chinese are doing with the relics from the destroyed mosques.
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