Mass Detention and Forced Assimilation of Uyghur Children in China1 By Magnus Fiskesjö and Rukiye Turdush View Full Report One of history’s largest operations to confiscate children to force-assimilate them, is currently under way in China’s colonized territories. Organized by the Chinese government, this massive campaign forms part of a set of measures targeting twelve to fifteen million ethnic Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Turkic ethnicities who live in East Turkistan. This is a new, massive campaign launched in 2017, but it has roots in China’s settler-colonialist policies since 1949, and before. The current campaign affects many hundreds of thousands of
However, given the ongoing tragic atrocities faced by Uyghurs as a result of Chinese occupation and colonization, there are no alternative ways to preserve their existence as a nation and affirm Uyghur indigeneity to their homeland. They firmly believe that only Independence can be the last resort for Uyghurs facing China’s genocide. Therefore, Uyghurs strongly object to being classified as “indigenous peoples.”