Take Action for Human Rights

China's Government Must Allow Reunion of Uyghur Families

Some Uyghur parents have been separated from their children as a result of the unprecedented crackdown on ethnic populations in Xinjiang. With your voice, we can push the Chinese government to end this separation.

Mihriban and Ablikim fled from Xinjiang to Italy in 2016 after being harassed by police and pressured to give up their passports. They left their four children in the temporary care of grandparents, but soon afterwards the grandmother was taken to an internment camp while the grandfather was interrogated by police. In November 2019, they received a permit from the Italian government to bring their children over. However, the four children – aged between 12 and 16 – were seized by police and sent to an orphanage and boarding school in Xinjiang when they traveled to the Italian consulate in Shanghai to apply for visas.

Mihriban and Ablikim’s story is tragically not unique. Many Uyghur parents overseas have had to leave one or more children in the care of family members in Xinjiang. Some parents have since learned their children were taken to state-run “orphan camps” or boarding schools after the relatives taking care of them had been detained.

Sign the petition to call on the Chinese government to ensure that children in Xinjiang are allowed to be reunited as promptly as possible with their parents and siblings already living abroad.

⬇ Make Your Voice Heard ⬇

President of the People’s

Jinping

President of the People’s Republic of China

Dear President Xi Jinping,

I am alarmed to learn of the reports that some Uyghur parents have been separated from their children for years as a result of the unprecedented crackdown on ethnic populations in Xinjiang.

Since 2017, an estimated one million or more people have been arbitrarily detained in “transformation-through-education” or “vocational training” centers in Xinjiang, where they have been subjected to various forms of torture and other ill-treatment, including political indoctrination and forced cultural assimilation. This mass detention campaign combined with systematic repression have prevented Uyghur parents from returning to China to take care of their children themselves, and made it nearly impossible for their children to leave China to reunite with them abroad. Some Uyghur parents believe their children may have been taken to state-run “orphan camps” or boarding schools when the relatives taking care of them were detained.

I therefore call on you to ensure that children are allowed to leave China to be reunited as promptly as possible with their parents, if that is preferred by them, as well as with siblings already living abroad.

Yours Sincerely,

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