Indoctrination and Torture: Stories of a Genocide From Uighur Women in China | Nursimangul Abdurashid and Mihrigul Tursun

Nursimangul Abdurashid and Mihrigul Tursun, two Uighur women, are risking their lives to share harrowing accounts of discrimination, death and torture suffered by the Uighur community in China.

In the province of Xinjiang in northwestern China, it’s been reported that at least one million Uighurs are detained in "re-education" camps — where Chinese authorities have committed human rights abuses against ethnic Uighur Muslims. 

Despite making up less than 2% of the national population, Xinjiang’s prison population grew eightfold from 2016 to 2017, making up 21% of all arrests in China. Between 2017 to 2019, more than 80,000 Uighurs were forced to work in factories across China for little to no pay. Many argue that what the Uighurs are enduring is not simply a violation of human rights or even ethnic cleansing, but meets the United Nations definition of genocide. 

But who are the Uighurs? And what actually happens in these re-education camps? In this episode, we answer these questions and unpack the complex history of Xinjiang region. We discuss cultural intolerance and how an anti-Islamic rhetoric after 9/11 led to the Chinese government’s detention of ethnic Uighur Muslims.

Featuring policy and advocacy insights from experts: Nury Turkel, Commissioner of United States Commission on International Religious Freedom and James A Millward, Professor of Inter-Societal History at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Hosted by: Hazami Barmada, Founder & CEO, Humanity Lab Foundation and co-Executive Producer of Finding Humanity Podcast.

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FOR ADDITIONAL LEARNING ON THIS TOPIC, view our free educational toolkit and "policy deep-dive" document. We invite you to use this episode/toolkit for continued learning, advocacy and activism.

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Speaker Biographies:

MIHRIGUL TURSUN is a Uighur Human Rights Advocate & Prison Survivor

Former Uyghur detainee in one of the re-education camps in Xinjiang, China. Tursun was taken into custody several times, including at one of a network of political "re-education camps." One of her sons died under mysterious circumstances while she was in the custody of Chinese authorities in 2015. In 2018, Mihrigul Tursun gave testimony at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. She testified that detainees in the camps are beaten, starved, electrocuted, and strip-searched. She then testified before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China about her experience over a series of three internments. In December 2018, Tursun received a Citizen Power Award. She also appears in What Has Happened to Me – A Testimony of a Uygur Woman, a Japanese comic book recounting her story by artist Tomomi Shimizu. It has become a viral hit on the Internet.

NURSIMANGUL ABDURASHID is a Uighur Human Rights Activist

Activist, marketing executive, mother of one child. Both parents and two brothers are arbitrarily detained. And she is one of the desperate Uyghurs fighting for freedom for their loved ones.

JAMES A. MILLWARD is a Professor of Inter-Societal History at the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

James A. Millward 米華健is Professor of Inter-societal History at the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, teaching Chinese, Central Asian and world history. He also teaches in the program of the Máster Oficial en Estudios de Asia Oriental at the University of Granada, Spain. His specialties include Qing empire; the silk road; Eurasian lutes and music in history; and historical and contemporary Xinjiang. He follows and comments on current issues regarding Xinjiang, the Uyghurs and other Xinjiang indigenous peoples, and PRC ethnicity policy.  Millward has served on the boards of the Association for Asian Studies (China and Inner Asia Council) and the Central Eurasian Studies Society, and was president of the Central Eurasian Studies Society in 2010. He is series editor for the "Silk Roads" book series published by Chicago University Press.   His publications include The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction (2013), Eurasian Crossroads: a history of Xinjiang (2007), New Qing Imperial History: The Making of Inner Asian Empire at Qing Chengde (2004), and Beyond the Pass: Economy, Ethnicity and Empire in Qing Central Asia (1998). His most recent album, recorded with the band By & By, is Songs for this Old Heart.  Jim's articles and op-eds on contemporary China appear in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The New York Review of Books,  and other media.  He has appeared on the PBS Newshour, the Sinica Podcast, All Things Considered, Al Jazeera, i24 News and other broadcast programs and networks.  Twitter: @JimMillward

NURY TURKEL is the Commissioner of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom and Board Chair of the Uyghur Human Rights Project

Nury Turkel is the first U.S.-educated Uyghur-American lawyer and human rights advocate. He was born in a re-education camp at the height of China’s tumultuous Cultural Revolution and spent the first several months of his life in detention with his mother. He came to the United States in 1995 as a student and was granted asylum in 1998. In May 2020, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) appointed Turkel as a Commissioner to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). In September 2020, Turkel was named one of the TIME 100 Most Influential People in the World. Turkel received an M.A. in International Relations and a J.D. from the American University in Washington, DC. As an attorney, he specializes in regulatory compliance, federal investigation and enforcement, anti-bribery, legislative advocacy, and immigration. In addition to his professional career, Turkel has devoted his time and energy to promoting Uyghur human rights and supporting American and universal democratic norms. Turkel currently serves as the Chairman of the Board for the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), which he co-founded in 2003. He also served as the president of the Uyghur American Association, where he led efforts to raise the profile of the Uyghur people in the United States, including organizing and leading the campaign that achieved the March 2005 release of a renowned Uyghur prisoner of conscience, Ms. Rebiya Kadeer. Since 2011, he has successfully represented a substantial number of Uyghur political refugees with their asylum applications in the United States. In addition to his advocacy work in the United States, Turkel has engaged in policy and legislative advocacy in the European Union and the Australian Parliament. He serves as a legal and policy adviser to the past and present presidents of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), an organization that serves as an umbrella organization for the Uyghur community and advocacy groups promoting universal human rights. Turkel successfully represented Dolkun Isa, WUC’s current president, to restore his travel privileges to the United States. He has also assisted Uyghur refugees in the United States, Europe, and Turkey. Turkel has published policy-oriented commentaries and op-eds in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, Foreign Policy, The Independent, The Hill, and The Diplomat. Turkel has spoken at numerous policy forums, academic institutes, and human rights conferences, regarding the mass internment of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in China. He has appeared on major media outlets including CNN, BBC, Fox News, Al Jazeera, Australian ABC, Sky News, France 24, and TRT World. He has testified before Congress, including most recently before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China in October 2019, speaking about Uyghur internment camps, and advocating a legislative response to China’s atrocities. Many of his recommendations have been incorporated into U.S. laws and pending bills relating to Uyghurs and China in Congress, including the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (Public Law 116-145). Twitter: @nuryturkel, @uscirf

HAZAMI BARMADA is the Founder and CEO of the Humanity Lab Foundation and Executive Producer and Host of the Finding Humanity Podcast

Hazami Barmada is a social entrepreneur, thought-leader, and public affairs and social impact expert recognized by Forbes as an “inspirational agent of change.” She has consulted for many leading global brands including the United Nations, United Nations Foundation, Aspen Institute, and the Royal Court of the Sultanate of Oman. She has held many positions at the United Nations including serving as the Coordinator for the United Nations Secretary General's World Humanitarian Summit, Advisor to the first-ever United Nations Secretary-General's Youth Envoy, and a member of the UN's SDG Strategy Hub. Hazami is the Founder and CEO of the Humanity Lab Foundation and is the host and co-Executive Producer of the Finding Humanity Podcast. Hazami has a Masters from Harvard University where she was an Edward S. Mason Fellow in Public Policy and Management. She studied social and public policy at Georgetown University and has a BA from Rhodes College in Anthropology & Sociology. Twitter @hazamibarmada; Instagram @hazami

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