Uighurs persecuted by the Chinese government

HUMAN Rights Day gave us an opportunity to reflect on how fortunate we are that our Constitution, now 25 years old, has given us these rights, and also to reflect on people who lack them, such as the Uighurs who have been herded into mass internment camps in China.

Their crime?

They are Muslim. Acknowledging the history of Jewish persecution throughout the ages, South African-born British chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has spoken out about their persecution.

“Can it be true that, in our modern, sophisticated world, men and women are still beaten if they refuse to renounce their faith?,” he wrote.

“That women are forced to abort their unborn children and are then sterilised to prevent them from becoming pregnant again?

“That forced imprisonment, the separation of children from their parents and a culture of intimidation and fear have become the norm?

With Ramadaan coming next month, will the Uighur Muslims be allowed to fast?

During apartheid, the world united to condemn the lack of human rights in South Africa, but it is afraid to antagonise China’s rulers.

A coalition of US Muslim organisations including the Council on American-Islamic Relations have accused the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation of not speaking out because they have been cowed by China’s power.

The Jewish community will be celebrating Passover soon – our feast of freedom, the liberation from slavery in Pharoah’s Egypt, but in China the religious practices of the Uighur Muslim minority have been criminalised.

The British Jewish Board of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl has written to the Chinese ambassador to the UK citing “similarities” between the treatment of Uighurs and Nazi persecution.

This year at Passover many Jewish families will be rejoicing in our Constitution that has given our community freedom of religion, opinions and beliefs.

We shall also be thinking of the 1 million Uighur Muslins imprisoned in what are called “transformation through education centres”, and denied the basic human rights that we were celebrating on Human Rights Day.

As we celebrate, the Cape SA Jewish Board of Deputies will also be hoping that the world will think more of the human rights and religious freedom of the Uighur Muslims than of the economic power of China and that our country will add its voice to those who condemn the persecution of the Uighur Muslims.

TZVI BIVIK | Chairman, Cape SA Jewish Board of Deputies