Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights 55th Session Geneva, August 2003. Item 4: Economic, social and cultural rights

Statement of the Transnational Radical Party
delivered by: Enver Can

Thank you, Mme President,

I am pleased to speak on item 4 on behalf the Transnational Radical Party of which I am a member of its general council.

Living in the colonial province named Xinjiang (that means New Territories) Uighur Autonomous Region, my people, the Uighurs, are experiencing a life and daily struggle for survival. Their fundamental rights and freedoms, be they civil, political or social, cultural and economic are systematically violated in a country that has ratified the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights therefore recognizing their very existence and announcing its political will to incorporate such provisions in its national system.

It is very common in today’s Eastern Turkestan that Uighurs are arrested, imprisoned and even executed by the Chinese authorities just for demanding their rights guaranteed under the Chinese Constitution. The Uighurs are persecuted just because they advocate the adherence to international norms and plead to share equal rights with the Chinese in their political, economic, cultural and social life. The Uighurs are often portrayed as separatist, and as a people that resort to violence to reach its objective. The Uighurs, and the fact that I, as well as dozens of others that belong to the Estern Turkestani community living abroad, have become members of an organization, such as the TRP, which observes Gandhian non-violence in its activities should prove the contrary.
The question of the respect of economic, social and cultural rights, should be traced back to the creation of the Xinjiang’ Uyghur Autonomous Region. In fact, Mr. Wang Lequan, Chinese party secretary of ‘Xinjiang’, has been quoted as saying that it was a mistaken idea to develop the region first, and then deal with the separatist problem. Speaking at the ‘Xinjiang’ Political Consultative Conference held in Urumchi, Wang said, “At present, some people mistakenly hold the idea that ‘Xinjiang’s first priority is to develop the economy. They think the problem of stability will disappear as soon as local economy developed and peoples’ livelihood got better. This is an extremely wrong and dangerous idea.” Wang stated that, “Neither the development of economy in ‘Xinjiang’ will destroy the ethnic separatist forces, nor will it let those separatist forces give up their separatist activities and dream of independence.”
Since the founding of the autonomous region, Beijing has systematically fabricated all sorts of historical facts to justify its claim that "Xinjiang" is part of China since ancient times. Thus China has distorted the Uyghur history and rewrote it for the best interest of the Chinese State and destroyed the Uyghur, also in its cultural, social, and therefore, economic identity, through the effective elimination of Uyghur language, scriptures, culture, tradition and, last but not least religion.

Today, the Uyghurs have no religious freedom at all. Any religious activity that is not approved by the authorities is illegal. Religious ceremonies like “burials” are closely monitored by States’ authotiries, building of mosques and observance of the Holy month of “Ramathan” are severely restricted and the teachings of Islam to children is prohibited. Party members and government officials, professors, teachers and University students are not allowed openly to practice religion.

The Uyghurs also have no right to keep their culture alive. Cultural activities such as mashraps have been banned in 1997. Uyghur language is no longer the official language of the autonomous region. Neither the government nor the educational system uses the Uyghur language in East Turkestan. All the documents are written specifically in Chinese without any Uyghur translation. The signs in the streets are not in the Uyghur language. All the universities use the Chinese language for instruction and that only.

Chinese authorities burned Uyghur historical books in 2002 in order to destroy Uyghur culture and history. The Uyghur people have never seen this kind of unprecedented destruction and consider this a form of cultural genocide.
According to sources from Kashgar, Chinese authorities have decided to destroy all of the historical Uyghur buildings, which reflect the rich architectural characteristics of Uyghur Culture, starting from 26th of February. Local state-run TV has already begun to show the so-called new face of Kashgar City, and how it would look after the destruction of those centuries-old houses. Kashgar, as an ancient Uyghur city located on the historical Silk Road, is the center of Uyghur culture, religion, and history.
As a part of the so-called "Strike Hard Campaign", the Chinese authorities are doing their best to destroy the Uyghur cultural heritage all over Eastern Turkestan, violating the relevant constitution and charters of UNESCO that China signed on December12,1985.
The first article of UNESCO Convention regarding the protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage adopted in November 1972, puts the historical and cultural architectures of the Uyghur people in Kashgar City as historical sites for protection for their universal values. Article 1 considers ancient buildings and monuments as cultural heritage. Article 4 urges each State Party to ensure the identification, protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations of the cultural and natural heritage. Therefore, the intentional destruction of ancient Uyghur buildings and sites in Kashgar City by the Chinese authorities runs counter to the spirit of the convention adopted by UNESCO and signed by China.
The very individual identity of the Uyghurs is being questioned. In fact, Chinese authorities in Eastern Turkestan recently demanded the indigenous Uyghurs to start the process of changing their names from the Uyghur language into Chinese Pinyin on June 1,2003, an official Chinese document said.
A document entitled “The Implementation of Transliterated Minority Names into Chinese Pinyin” stated that all Uyghur people must officially begin to change their names into Chinese pinyin no later than September 2003. It said that the newly born Uyghurs must begin the process on June 1 and the school age Uyghurs should start no later than September 1.
This policy contradicts the Chinese Constitution and the Autonomous Law because both of them promote the development of indigenous languages recognized by China without official intervention. Therefore, this is a systematic attempt by the Chinese authorities to further dilute the Uyghur identity and sinify them into greater Chinese culture and is a violation of the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
According to the Chinese Constitution, every nationality has the right to freely use and develop its own language, and the state respects the use and development of minority languages. According to Autonomous Law, the Uyghur language is the official language of “Xinjiang” Uyghur Autonomous Region, and its status is equal to Chinese language. The Chinese government has already replaced the Uyghur language in East Turkestan in matters of administration, education, media, and communications.
Mme President, The Transnational Radical Party urges the Sub-Commission to use its expertise to reach out to UNESCO to put pressure on the Chinese authorities to immediately halt the destruction of ancient Uyghur architectures in Kashgar City in order to ensure the survival of this unique historical and cultural heritage, which has been preserved by the Uyghur people for centuries. The TRP also urges the sending of a formal delegation to Kashgar city before the destruction of valuable historical relics and symbols of the ancient Silk Road culture.

Moreover, the Sub-Commission should look into the state of the educational system in the region with a view of urging Chinese authorities to repeal the decision to abolish teaching in Uyghur language at the University level.
Finally, the TRP, should like to take this opportunity to announce the preparation of a document for the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, urges the creation of a special rapportuer to assess the situation in East Turkestan in order to document the violations of cultural, social and educational rights of the Uyghur people.