The best welcome for refugees from China’s genocide is protection

Twenty years ago I left my Uighur homeland. Like many Uighurs, I fled the Chinese government’s brutal persecution, knowing that I may never return.

Yet, even here in the UK, I don’t feel safe from the pernicious reach of the Chinese state. Today, the Chinese government is carrying out a hidden campaign of intimidation against British Uighurs on our soil.

In 2013, I was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. With no family in the UK to take care of me, I asked my sister to visit. The Chinese government refused her a passport to travel. I had already paid a terrible price for my activism, but worse was to come.

Later, my mother died. My only comfort was speaking to my family. This too was taken away from me.

I tried to reach everyone I had numbers for, and eventually got through to my eldest brother. I asked why no one was answering, and he replied: “They did the right thing, leave us in God’s hands, and we will leave you in God’s hands too.” I said nothing as I understood the threats they must have received.

That was my last contact with my family. I still don’t know if they are safe or in the region’s so-called ‘reeducation camps’, where Uighurs are tortured, indoctrinated, and enslaved.

Even when silent, British Uighurs are not safe from harassment. One woman received texts every day from Chinese police urging her to spy on other Uighurs in the UK. The texts would contain the ominous warning: “Remember your mother and your sisters are with us.”

She developed anxiety and heart difficulties, and finally cut off all communication to save herself and her family from further harm.

Students at British universities are often prize targets for the Chinese authorities. One revealed how she was called to the Chinese Embassy. She was pressured into writing a piece for a newspaper declaring there to be no re-education camps in the Uighur region. She too received threats to her family in China.

When I advised students to speak out, they were too fearful of bringing further trouble to their family.

Uighurs that do visit their family in our homeland face further blackmail.

My friends report how they were intimidated by police on their return. They were offered rewards to act as informers on other British Uighurs, and were interrogated on their relationship to me and other activists.

The British Government could do much more to hold the Chinese government to account for its persecution of Uighurs.

As a growing list of governments have declared a genocide is ongoing against Uighurs, the UK Government continues to block the “genocide amendment” to the Trade Bill – which would allow British judges to give an impartial legal opinion on the abuses.

And we have still not banned goods made from Uighur forced labour.

Of course this isn’t just about Uighurs. The whole British Chinese community is targeted by China.

Exiled Hong Kong activists report being followed by suspected Chinese agents and receive messages threatening abduction.

As thousands of Hong Kongers flee to Britain over the next few years, the intimidation campaigns here will only increase.

The best welcome Britain can give to Chinese refugees is the protection, peace and security we so desperately need.

Today, the Chinese government is carrying out a hidden campaign of intimidation on UK soil