Washington, DC [US], May 16 : The Centre for Uyghur Studies (CUS) has published a new report entitled "Breaking the Roots: China's Use of Boarding Schools as a Tool of Genocide Against Uyghur Muslims." The report highlights one of the most concerning and overlooked facets of China's oppressive measures against the Uyghur population: the state-sponsored boarding school system specifically aimed at Uyghur children in East Turkistan also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
The report provides a thorough analysis of how the boarding school system functions as a tool of cultural genocide within the Uyghur homeland, tracing the origins of China's assimilation efforts against the Uyghurs, including how narratives of "counter-terrorism" have been employed to legitimise oppressive policies following the events of 9/11.
The report outlined how these institutions are utilised not as places for education and growth, but as mechanisms of enforced assimilation, aimed at obliterating Uyghur identity, language, and culture starting from a young age.
For hundreds of years, the Uyghur people have preserved a unique cultural and ethnic identity. Nevertheless, under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party, their very existence is jeopardised through systematic initiatives that encompass mass migration of Han Chinese, internment camps, and now, the extensive adoption of coercive boarding schools, according to CUS.
The report discussed the implementation of boarding schools, detailing how children, some as young as those in primary school, are forcibly removed from their families and placed in state-operated institutions, as highlighted by CUS.
The report emphasises Educational Indoctrination, explaining the curriculum and atmosphere within these schools, where speaking the Uyghur language is prohibited, familial relationships are demonised, and allegiance to the state is ingrained. Eyewitness testimonies have been presented, featuring firsthand accounts from survivors of these institutions, providing credible and emotional perspectives on the lasting psychological and cultural harm inflicted on Uyghur youth.
Uyghur parents frequently find themselves unable to communicate or obtain information about their children, many of whom are cut off due to their parents' detention in internment camps. In these boarding schools, children are systematically stripped of their heritage, language, and faith, as noted in the CUS report.
Specialists and scholars in international law have recognised this situation as a clear example of cultural genocide, reflecting a deliberate attempt to eradicate the identity of an ethnic group by focusing on its youngest and most defenceless members, as stated in the CUS report.
In the CUS report, Executive Director Abdulhakim Idris remarked, "What is occurring to Uyghur children in these so-called 'boarding schools' is not education; it is forced assimilation, cultural obliteration, and psychological harm. By severing children from their families, languages, and identities, the Chinese government is perpetrating a serious injustice that fits the criteria for genocide. The international community cannot remain passive in the face of this systematic obliteration of an entire people's future."
The report concluded with a pressing appeal for the international community to unite in support of the Uyghur people, acknowledge the gravity of these offences, and advocate for accountability and justice.
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