Official Government Policy
One of the most pressing and provoking issues to the Uyghurs in
East Turkestan is the recent transfer of young, unmarried and mostly
teenage Uyghur girls to 'work' in factories located in China's eastern
provinces.[1] Since June 2006, a new policy to recruit and transfer
young Uyghur women has been implemented in East Turkestan, especially
in the southern area of the region where the Uyghur population is in
the majority, in the name of "providing employment opportunities and
generating income" for the poor farming families who live there. The
eventual goal of this policy, as part of the 11th Five Year Plan of
the Chinese government, is to transfer some 400,000 young Uyghur women
from these farming families to China's eastern provinces.[2]
Local authorities consider the transfer of the Uyghur labor force
into China's eastern provinces as one of the most important policies
of the government, and they have expressed zero tolerance to any kind
of opposition to it. Speaking at the Xinjiang Kashgar to Tianjin Labor
Force Transfer Group Leaders Cadres' Conference in April 2007, Shi
Dagang, Party Secretary of the Kashgar Region, said, "Transferring the
rural labor force is an all-inclusive and major directional policy,
closely tied to the future development of our region. Allowing the
Uyghur public to work in the exterior through various means is an
important step toward generating more income for the farmers and
developing the Uyghur people. Whomever obstructs the Uyghur public
from working in the exterior will become the criminal of Kashgar and
the criminal of the Uyghur people."[3]
Large-Scale Transfer of Young Uyghur Women
Already, hundreds of thousands of young Uyghur women have been
transferred from East Turkestan into Beijing, Tianjin, Jiangsu,
Qingdao, Shandong, Zhejiang, and other locations. The Xinjiang Daily
reported on March 20, 2007 that there had been 240,000 instances of
the transfer of the local labor force from the Kashgar Region to
China's eastern provinces in 2006.[4] Since Han Chinese girls living
in East Turkistan are not recruited and transferred to work under this
new policy, it is assumed that most, if not all, of these transferred
women are Uyghur.
The situation of Yopurgha County of Kashgar Region is one typical
example of the rise in the eastward transfer of young, female Uyghurs.
In 2006 alone 2,450 young Uyghur women, mostly 15- to 22-year olds,
were transferred to Shandong Province to 'work.'[5] But these types of
figures have been increasing rapidly in 2007. In Payziwat County, the
number of Uyghur women transferred, mainly to Tianjin Zhongji Xunqing
Clothing Ltd., had already reached 3,000 for the year 2007 in
March.[6] In March 2007 alone, 696 young women were transferred from
this county.[7] In Yengishahar County, 186 Uyghur women have been
transferred in 2007.[8] It is expected the total number of young women
who are involved in this type of transfer will increase to up to 8,000
by the end of 2007.[9] In Yarkan County, 500 young women were
transferred in March to work at the Qingdao Xinyungan Clothing
Factory.[10] In February, 500 were transferred to the Zhejiang
Province Bofa Office Supplies Group Holdings Company and the Qingdao
Xinyungan Clothing Factory.[11] Furthermore, official plans call for
the transfer of a total of 6,000 young Uyghur women from Yarkan County
in 2007.[12]
Official Involvement and Harassment
In order to facilitate such large-scale transfers, local county
and village officials, backed by regional and autonomous governments
and through the use of aggressive propaganda and even coercive
measures, have been heavily involved in forcing Uyghur farmers to
allow their daughters to be recruited and transferred to China's
eastern provinces to 'work.'[13] Chinese officials have admitted that
they forced farmers to send their daughters to 'work' in China's
eastern provinces because they would have been removed from their
posts if they had refused to do so.[14]
Tursun Barat, the village head of the Number Eight village in
Yarkan County, said, "We did force the girls to go."[15] Barat also
said that one county official, who refused to force farmers to send
their daughters away, was removed from his position.[16] Village
officials in the neighboring Number Nine village threatened farmers
with the confiscation of their farming lands and the destruction of
their houses.[17] The farmers' daughters were threatened with the
confiscation of their resident registration cards and the refusal to
issue them marriage certificates.[18] Awut Teyip, the head of the
Number Nine village, while denying any responsibility to the parents
of transferred young women, said, "Our job is to follow central
directives without asking any questions."[19]
Treatment of Young Uyghur Women after their Transfer
In order to entice Uyghur parents to send their daughters to
China's eastern provinces, they are told that their daughters will be
given 500 yuan (approx. US$65) per month in the early months of the
training period and then 900 to 1,100 yuan (approx. US$125 to $135)
for their work per month.[20] However, once the young women are
transferred, the treatment they experience is completely different
from what they have been promised. Their salaries are not paid on
time.[21] They are forced to work up to 12 hours each day.[22] They
are not even allowed to speak in Uyghur, either at work or in their
free time.[23] In addition, they are not allowed to freely return to
their hometowns.[24]
As a result of such harsh treatment, several Uyghur women
have fled to East Turkestan. Patigul Yunus and Patigul Siyit are two
of the 228 Uyghurs women who were transferred from Yarkan County to
Shandong Province, and later to the city of Qingdao on March 28,
2007.[25] The two girls fled to the regional capital of Urumchi, not
their hometown, after they were mistreated by both company officials
and officials who had accompanied them during their transfer.[26]
Recently, another young woman, 19 years old, fled to East Turkestan
with six others.[27] She told the Radio Free Asia Uyghur Service in an
interview that the young women had given alcohol to their directors in
order to make them intoxicated at a party one night, and that they
fled the following morning with the help of Uyghurs who were doing
business near the factory where they had been working.[28] She also
said that the Uyghurs who helped them were threatened with arrest for
providing them with assistance, so they left the area as well.[29]
Parents Feel Remorse
Many Uyghur farmers whose daughters have been transferred to
China's eastern provinces are speaking out against such transfers and
feeling a great deal of remorse for sending their own children to
places they have never seen or even heard of. For instance, Aynisa
Tohti's father does not know which province his daughter, along with
212 other young women, was transferred to by village officials in
March.[30] He said he was forced to let his daughter leave and feels
great regret for sending her to an unknown location.[31] He stated
that he wanted his daughter to come back but did not know how to bring
this about.[32] Aynisa's father is only one of hundreds of thousands
of Uyghur parents who feel tremendous remorse for sending their
daughters to China's eastern provinces to 'work.'
Uyghur Tradition and Official Motives
Traditionally, the Uyghur people do not send their children,
especially young females, to distant lands, except for sending them to
get a higher education. The transfer of young Uyghur women has
therefore become a major concern among Uyghurs, not only for those
farmers whose daughters have been transferred to China's eastern
provinces but also among Uyghur intellectuals, both in East Turkestan
and abroad. Many Uyghurs see such transfers as an attack on the honor
of Uyghur women and the dignity of Uyghur men. Many also see this as
one of the most humiliating and provocative policies to date on the
part of PRC government authorities. In the Uyghur culture, it is a
most humiliating and provocative act to take Uyghur women against
their will from the Uyghur community without paying due respect for
the way of life and values of the Uyghur people. Most Uyghurs view the
transfers as just this type of act.
While Uyghurs do not have a tradition of compelling women to stay
at home and prohibiting them from working outside the home, as in some
Middle Eastern cultures, and they welcome the opportunity to let their
daughters work outside the home, many ask the question of why their
daughters were not given local jobs, or even sent to get an education,
since most are of school age. They suspect that government authorities
have ulterior motives in offering local jobs to Han Chinese settlers
while simultaneously sending their daughters to cities and towns in
eastern provinces. They do not seem to be content with the stated
reasons that the authorities provide to justify the transfers.
However, Uyghur parents seem to be uncomfortable with sending their
children to China's eastern provinces regardless of the motives of the
PRC government authorities.
At present, local and central government authorities continue to
aggressively implement a policy of transferring young Uyghur women
despite Uyghur resistance and resentment to the policy. It seems
unlikely that the PRC government will soon change the policy and stop
the transfer of Uyghur girls into China's eastern provinces. But this
policy has already backfired and unnecessarily increased tensions
between the Uyghurs and the government. The further pursuit of this
imprudent policy would be perceived as an extreme insult by the Uyghur
people in East Turkestan, justifiably exacerbating their feelings of
repression and their mistrust of Chinese government authorities.
Continuation of the policy would certainly not bring about genuine
"ethnic harmony" in East Turkestan, as PRC authorities have recently
touted as one of their primary goals. Instead, it would only deepen
the sense of extreme mistrust of government officials felt by the
Uyghur community, further marginalize the Uyghur people and possibly
lead to social unrest.
Recommendations
In light of the ethnic marginalization and Uyghur mistrust
of government officials in East Turkestan and the deeply offensive
nature of the large-scale transfer of Uyghur girls into China's
eastern provinces, the Chinese government should:
- Immediately stop the implementation of this policy
- Immediately return the Uyghur girls to their hometowns
- Compensate the girls for their work and travel expenses
- Send them to local schools or offer them local jobs
- Punish officials who have forced girls to be transferred
against their will
[1] Radio Free Asia (RFA), Uyghur Girls Transferred to Mainland China,
Jan. 17, 2007.
[2] RFA, Chinese Authorities Planned to Transfer 400,000 Uyghur Women,
Sep. 27, 2006.
[3] Emphasis added, 喀什地区经济信息中心, 新疆喀什在津务工领队干部座谈会上的发言（节选), Apr. 17,
2007, at http://www.kashi.gov.cn/Article/200704/2026.htm
[4] RFA, Last Year Female Labor Force Transfer from Kashgar Reached
240,000, Mar. 19, 2007
[5] RFA, 2,450 Persons Transferred to Work in Mainland Last Year
alone, Jan. 14, 2007 and RFA, Uyghur Girls Transferred to Mainland
China, Jan. 17, 2007.
[6] RFA, Last Year Female Labor Force Transfer from Kashgar Reached
240,000, Mar. 19, 2007.
[7] Id.
[8] Xinjiang Daily, Uyghur Girls Arrived in Our Workshops, Apr. 03, 2007.
[9] RFA, What are the Transferred Uyghur Youth Going through in
Mainland, Apr. 03, 2007.
[10] RFA, 500 Uyghur Girls Transferred to Chinese Provinces, Mar. 30, 2007.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] RFA, Uyghur Girls Transferred to Mainland China, Jan. 17, 2007
[14] RFA, Revealed Secrets: Real Stories of Uyghur Girls Forced to go
to Chinese Provinces–II, Jun. 21, 2007.
[15] Id.
[16] Id.
[17] RFA, Revealed Secrets: Real Stories of Uyghur Girls Forced to go
to Chinese provinces–I, Jun. 20, 2007
[18] Id.
[19] Id.
[20] RFA, Revealed Secrets: Real Stories of Uyghur Girls Forced to go
to Chinese provinces–II, Jun. 21, 2007
[21] Id.
[22] RFA, A Uyghur 'Worker ' Girl's Story who was Forced to Flee from
China, Jun. 28, 2007.
[23] 喀什地区经济信息中心, 新疆喀什在津务工领队干部座谈会上的发言（节选), Apr. 17, 2007, at
http://www.kashi.gov.cn/Article/200704/2026.htm
[24] Id.
[25] RFA, Revealed Secrets: Real Stories of Uyghur Girls Forced to go
to Chinese provinces – II, Jun. 21, 2007.
[26] Id.
[27] RFA, A Uyghur 'Worker ' Girl's Story who was Forced to Flee from
China, Jun. 28, 2007.
[28] Id.
[29] Id.
[30] RFA, Revealed Secrets: Real Stories of Uyghur Girls Forced to go
to Chinese provinces – II, Jun. 21, 2007.
[31] Id.
[32] Id.
If you want to lodge a complaint with the U.N., go to http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/petitions/index.htm#communcications
19 June 2008
Editor-in-chief: Willy Fautré
Email: info@hrwf.org
Website: http://www.hrwf.net>
