Uyghur Issues 

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Latest news on Uyghurs, also spelled Uighurs, covering Uyghur Muslims and Muslims in Xinjiang, Chinese government policy, Uyghur camps and detention, forced labour, deportations, the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), human rights groups and the Uyghur diaspora.

The Uyghurs are a Turkic, mostly Muslim people with their own language, music and traditions, native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (officially written "Uygur") in north-west China. Official figures count more than 11 million Uyghurs in China, and communities also live in Turkey, Central Asia, Europe and North America. Some activists call their homeland East Turkestan.

International attention has focused on mass detention, surveillance and restrictions on religion and language in Xinjiang. Leaked records such as the Karakax List, which concerned one county, helped researchers document who was held and why. In 2022 the UN human rights office said the detentions may amount to crimes against humanity, and an independent tribunal in London found in 2021 that genocide had occurred. Several parliaments have used the word genocide, which Beijing rejects.

China says its policies are counter-terrorism and de-radicalisation measures, and describes the facilities as vocational training centres that have since closed. Rights groups and researchers dispute this and report continuing detention, prison sentences and controls on daily life. Ongoing stories include import bans over forced labour, supply-chain scrutiny, the deportation of Uyghurs from third countries and transnational repression of activists abroad.

Behind the headlines are families separated across borders and a diaspora that campaigns, documents and testifies. Economist Ilham Tohti, who received a life sentence in 2014, was awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize in 2019. Uyghur cuisine, music, scholarship and religious life are also part of the story, as communities work to keep their culture alive.

The Uyghurs trace their roots to the Silk Road oasis cities of the Tarim Basin and to the medieval Uyghur Khaganate, which fell in AD 840. The region later came under Chinese rule, and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was created in 1955. Questions of identity, autonomy and migration still shape the present.

Whether you follow human rights, China, trade or international law, it matters to stay informed. The NewsNow Uyghurs feed gathers the latest headlines on Uyghur and Uighur issues, Xinjiang, the Karakax detentions, forced labour and diaspora campaigns from reliable sources.