The Chinese government has been accused of genocide and human rights violations against the Uyghur Muslims. They are Turkic-speaking people primarily living in the Xinjiang region in the northwestern part of China. After the region became autonomous in the 1950s, there was a sudden influx of Han people (an ethnic Chinese group), reportedly directed by the government, into territories populated by the Uyghurs, write scholars Aaron Nair, Dr Karamala Areesh Kumar is Head, and Urvi Begum.

“This led to the dilution of minorities and thereby ensured that the Han people constituted two-fifths of the total population by the 20th century. This was one of the primary reasons for the dispute between the two communities, as the Uyghurs now faced economic and social repression, leading to wide-scale protests and dissent from their side.”

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“A […] way forward to end threats of militancy and terrorism would be first to free the Uyghur Muslims in the region and provide fundamental civil rights. The end of the detention camps [in China’s Xinjiang region] will also be a precedent for better regional stability.”