Uighur Women Subjected to Sterilization Surgeries

The Chinese Embassy of the United States tweeted an article on Thursday, from the state-owned English newspaper China Daily, which relied on a report by the state thinktank, Xinjiang Development Research Centre. The article claimed that the government implemented “family planning” and “safe, effective and appropriate contraceptive measures” that has led to ‘gender equality”, emancipation, and the promotion of reproductive health. This is purportedly done to counter extremism, making Uighur women no longer “baby-making machines”. 

It goes on to add that a growing number of people in the Xinjiang region saw the advantages of fewer but better births and were thus deciding to marry and have children later in life; attributing the shift to a personal preference from Uighur women, rather than government policy. Twitter initially kept the tweet up but removed it after mounting pressure, citing that the tweet violates its policies on dehumanization.

This comes less than six months after a global investigation by The Associated Press which found that hundreds of thousands of Uighur women aged 18 to 59 years were subjected to and coerced into receiving sterilization surgeries and forced birth control (IUD). This was further corroborated by a 32-page report by German researcher Adrian Zen, as well as countless victim and eyewitness accounts, such as the one by Qelbinur Sidik. They were regularly made to take pregnancy tests, which if found positive led to forced abortions. Uighur women and other minorities were threatened with internment in detention camps for refusing to abort pregnancies that exceed birth quotas. They could also face fines and prison sentences if considered as having too many children.

According to the Zen report, population growth in Xinjiang, which has the largest Uighur population in China, has seen an unprecedented decline. Growth rates fell by 84% between 2015 and 2018 and further declined in 2019, indicating severe abnormalities. The claim by the Chinese government to rebrand forced sterilization as feminism could be regarded as an attempt to cover up gross human rights atrocities in the region. To strictly control and restrict reproduction upon a certain ethnic group and religious minority, or else face persecution, can be regarded as a “demographic campaign of genocide”, which urgently requires international action. The Misbar team, therefore, concludes, that given the counter reports, the claim in the article tweeted is untrue.