Receiving the 2019 Sakharov Prize on behalf of her father, academic Ilham Tohti, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment in China, Jewher Ilham called on the European Parliament on Wednesday 18 December to act in favour of the Uighur Muslim minority that is being persecuted in China.
“The Uighur people need you”, she told MEPs in her acknowledgment speech, saying that the Sakharov Prize brought the attention of the EU and the world to the plight of more than 1 million Uighurs imprisoned in internment camps “in which they are forced to abandon their religion, language and culture and are subjected to forced labour, and where people are tortured and some have died”. “Today, there is no freedom for Uighurs in China, not at school, in public, or even at home. My father, like most Uighurs, has been described as a violent extremist and is considered a sick person who needs to be healed and whose mind needs to be cleansed”, said Ms Ilham.
“Is the way the Chinese government treats Uighurs problematic in your opinion? If you think so, please work on a solution!”, the young woman asked the MEPs, going on to propose concrete actions. She said MEPs should use their laws to hold Chinese officials accountable, and that companies should not be complicit in the persecution of Uighurs by Chinese authorities.
“This is not a fight against China, but to defend human rights”, Ms Ilham said. She recalled that it was not only Uighurs who are being held in internment camps. Kazakhs, Uzbeks and Kurds are also imprisoned there “for being themselves”. Human rights defenders and lawyers are in prison for protecting the rights of other human beings. And Tibetans, Hongkongers and Chinese Christians continue to struggle to protect their identities and fundamental human rights, she said.
The young woman also returned to her father’s struggle, whom she has not seen since 2013 and from whom she has not heard since 2017. A father who, “for more than 20 years”, has spared no effort to defend the rights of the Uighurs so they could live in harmony with the Han Chinese, she explained. “I’m sure my father was scared, but he overcame it in order to find a solution, no matter what the cost”, she said. According to her, her father believes that problems should be solved and that an unresolved problem can lead to a bigger problem.
“His struggle and the suffering he has endured remind us that we must fight for freedom of thought, a fundamental right that sometimes comes at the cost of human lives”, said Ms Ilham.
EU must move from words to action, say MEPs
While it may have been a coincidence in the calendar, a few hours later, MEPs debated the ‘China cables’, an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that revealed, at the end of November, how the Uighurs’ internment camps operated.
The political group leaders denounced the situation in Xinjiang, which was described by Phil Bennion (Renew Europe, United Kingdom) as “the worst human rights violation in the world today”. They called for the immediate closure of the internment camps and the release of those who are imprisoned there for no reason, beginning with Ilham Tohti.
MEPs urged the EU not just to talk, but to act. Several of them called for the EU to punish those responsible for the Uighurs’ situation. They also want EU exports to China of products and services used for cyber surveillance to be banned, as well as dual-use goods and imports into the EU of products resulting from forced labour. “No company, no society, not one of us can benefit from forced labour, and it is up to everyone to take responsibility”, said Isabel Wiseler-Lima of Luxembourg on behalf of the EPP.
These remarks should be reflected in the resolution that Parliament will vote on Thursday 19 December concerning the Uighurs’ situation. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)