A statement released this Wednesday (19) by the organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), in collaboration with the Norwegian organization Uyghur Hjelp, revealed that Chinese communist authorities operating in the Xinjiang region have changed the names of villages inhabited by Uyghurs. and other ethnic minorities, replacing them with terms that reflect the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
According to HRW, of the 25,000 Uighur villages in Xinjiang, listed between 2009 and 2023 by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, 3,600 had their original names changed. 630 of those who had their names changed originally had names that referenced Islam or Uyghur culture and history.
According to HRW, most of these villages were given names such as “Happiness”, “Unity” and “Harmony”, slogans propagated by the CCP.
Maya Wang, acting director for China affairs at HRW, commented that the changes appear to be part of the Chinese regime’s efforts to erase the cultural and religious expressions of Uyghurs.
“Chinese authorities have changed hundreds of village names in Xinjiang, from names rich in meaning for Uyghurs to names that reflect government propaganda,” Wang said in the statement.
As HRW revealed in the statement, “any mention of Uighur history, including the names of their kingdoms, republics, and local leaders before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and words such as orderwhich means “palace”, sultan It is begwhich are political or honorific titles, were also changed”.
“Authorities also removed terms in village names that denote Uyghur cultural practices, such as mazar, [que é um] sanctuary, and dutara traditional string instrument that is at the heart of Uighur musical culture,” says HWR.
The Xinjiang region is home to around 11 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities, who human rights organizations and the US accuse of being persecuted and repressed by Xi Jinping’s communist regime.
Accusations related to mass detentions, political indoctrination, forced labor and family separation in the region have already been cited by several authorities. More than 1 million Uighurs and other ethnic minorities are estimated to have been detained in concentration camps, described by authorities as “vocational training centers.”
“Concerned governments and the UN human rights office must intensify their efforts to hold the Chinese government accountable for its abuses in the Uighur region,” Abduweli Ayub, founder of Uyghur Hjelp, said in the statement,
“They must take advantage of the upcoming sessions of the UN Human Rights Council and all high-level bilateral meetings to pressure Beijing to release the hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs still unjustly imprisoned as part of its abusive campaign,” he added.
#China #replacing #Uyghur #village #names #terms #reflect #communist #ideology